How I Built the Ultimate TBR List and Library Inventory Using Airtable

And yes, you can copy mine (as long as you promise not to judge me)

When it comes to being a bookworm, there’s one certainty: that your TBR (“to-be-read”) list / pile / shelf will always be out of control. The more you read, the more books get added to your list, and before you know it, you’re this guy:

(I love being this guy.)

Years ago, I used a to-do list to keep track of which books I wanted to read next. Eventually, as my list grew, I started adding due dates to them to keep track of the next month or so. And then everything got out of hand.

Because all of a sudden I was reading a few advanced reading copies (ARCs) — both print and NetGalley — each month. And I needed to keep track of when they were going to be published so I could read and review them before that. And I wanted to make sure I was pacing myself through my favorite prize lists — the Booker Prize, the Women’s Prize, the National Book Award, and the Hugo — throughout the year. And then there were library book due dates. And book club due dates. That’s a lot more than a simple list could handle.

At the same time, my library was growing rapidly. I found myself wondering what portion of my books I’d already read. Or worse, I’d be in a bookstore and find I couldn’t remember if I already owned a copy of the book in my hand (yes, really! lol). So I also needed a way to catalogue my personal library.

Enter: Airtable. This is a tool I use at work, and the part of my brain that loves to organize things into spreadsheets (what can I say, I went to business school) loves it oh, so much. Here’s how it works.

---

What is Airtable?

Airtable is a basically giant, flexible, user-friendly spreadsheet that you can slice and dice and filter and sort and view in all sorts of useful ways. It’s also free up to 1,000 records!

Speaking of which, here’s the lingo you need to know: Each row in your Airtable base is a record, and each column is an opportunity to categorize or add info to those records. That much is like a normal spreadsheet. But Airtable is even more powerful because you can do way more than just type into the cells — you can format the columns as things like dates, multi-select lists, single-select lists, URLs, numbers, checkboxes, and way more.

Airtable also lets you create views so you can access the information in more useful ways. For example, for my TBR list, I have views that group books (records) by which prize lists they’re on, or by the month in which I want to read them. I also have a view where each book appears on a calendar grid based on the day I hope to finish it, and then I can drag and drop them around however I need to.

Maybe for your records, you like “kanban” views, or galleries of cards, or even Gantt charts (now we’re getting crazy). The possibilities are practically endless.

So, how did I build my TBR?

So glad you asked. If you’d like to follow along with the explanation below, here’s a read-only link to view my actual base. (WELP, welcome inside my life lol. Don’t judge me — I’m ambitious!)

FYI: There is a mobile app, but if you’re going to follow along, I recommend opening it on desktop.

My Airtable TBR’s fields

• Book Title: This is the primary field of my base (which makes sense, because I want each book to be one record). It’s a short text field.

• Author: Self-explanatory. Another short text field.

• Target Date: The day I want to finish the book (which I always update to the day I *actually* finished the book once I’m done). This is a date field.

• Month: The month in which I plan to read the book, because I plan out my TBRs monthly. Keeping track of this separately from the target date allows me to assign books to future months without deciding on an exact date. It also allows me to group my main view by month. (I also added “Shortlist” and “Super Shortlist” options to this field for those bedside-table type books — the ones I want to remember to slot into a month soon.) This is a single-select field.

• Tags: Different types of books that I want to keep track of. This includes ARCs, NetGalley books, library books, book club books, prize lists, etc. This is a multi-select field.

• Due Date: If there’s a certain day when I must finish a book by, then I add it here. Things like library due dates or ARC publication dates. This is a date field.

• Number of Pages: So that I can make sure I’m not overloading myself (LOL what a joke). This is a number field.

• Audiobook Length: Similar to number of pages, since I listen to a lot of books while I read them! This is a time duration field.

• Notes: Just in case. This is a long text field.

• Read Checkbox: Once I’ve finished a book, I check this box, and then it gets filtered out of my main view. I have a different filtered view for finished books in case I want to look back. This is a checkbox field.

• Physically Own Checkbox: I use this to keep track of whether I have a physical copy of this book on my shelves.

• Audiobook?: I use a lot of different platforms to access audiobooks, and I love to listen along with books as I read them. This multi-select field allows me to track where I own or can access the audiobook.

• Signed? Checkbox: I offload books from time to time, and this checkbox helps me remember whether a copy is signed (so I can think twice about donating it!).

My Airtable TBR’s views

I’m constantly creating and changing views based on what info I need most, but right now, here’s what I’ve got. If you’re following along, you’ll see these listed along the left-hand side.

• Monthly TBR: This shows me all records that are assigned a calendar month, grouped by the Month field, with finished books filtered out. That way, I can see all the books I have planned for a given month. It’s permanently sorted by Target Date.

• Calendar: A calendar view of my TBR, with Target Date as the field the calendar is based on.

• Shortlist: Those I don’t have slotted into a month yet, but want to read soon.

• Finished This Year: This is basically the opposite of the Monthly TBR view. It’s all the books where the Target Date is within this calendar year AND the Read? checkbox is checked.

• A bunch of tag lists for prizes and challenges: These views are filtered so that books with a certain tag are showing, grouped by whether I’ve read them yet or not.

• My Library (Owned Books): All the books I physically own, grouped by whether or not I’ve read them.

• Preorders: I like to tag my books with a “Preorder” tag if I’ve ordered them ahead of publication (because sometimes I can’t remember if I did or not!). This view shows me that list.

• Netgalley/ARCs/Partner Requests: Here’s where I keep track of all the books that publishers have generously sent me. It’s a little chaotic in there, but it helps me sort through them from time to time!

• Read Books: All books that have the Read checkbox checked.

• Unread Books: All books that *don’t* have the Read checkbox checked.

• All Books: Everything in the entire base, sorted alphabetically.

FYI: If you’re following along with my live Airtable TBR, you’ll notice that I have these views grouped into sections. This is a premium feature you only get if you pay for an upgraded subscription.

CAN I JUST COPY YOURS?

Yes indeed! Here’s the link to the read-only version of my live Airtable base again.

Once you have it open, click the “Copy base” button up in the top left-hand corner. It will prompt you to sign up for a free account and duplicate my base into your account. Then you can get all my books, tags, etc. out of there and get yours in!

One thing to note: Airtable is only free up to 1,000 records. I have more than 1,000 records, and I do pay for a subscription. So the first thing you’ll need to do is dump some of those records out of your new base, or it might not let you edit. If it gives you trouble, here’s a dummy copy of my base with fewer records.

Happy planning and archiving! Let me know in the comments if you try it out.

---

As always, thanks for sharing your corner of the internet with me! It would mean a lot if you were to take a second to like this post.

Finally, if you like this newsletter, please send a few friends my way.

See you on Instagram!

— Deedi (she/her)