Update: As of August, all of the card catalogs listed have been sold, but don’t despair!  I will be publishing regular lists of card catalogs for sale throughout the country.  To stay updated, please feel free to sign up for Poetic Home’s RSS feed and leave a comment with your location so I can add it to the hunting list.  If you have a library card catalog for sale and would like to be featured, please email me for details.

Many of you asked, and now you shall receive — a regular compilation of library card catalogs for sale across the country!  Volume I of this series focuses on the West Coast, and I’ll make regular rounds traversing all the way across to the East Coast. If you would like for me to scout in a specific state near you, just leave a note in the comments, and I’d be happy to include it in my searches.

If you become the lucky owner of one of these, please do let me know, as I would LOVE to see photos of them in your homes!

In Arcata, California, this 72-drawer library card catalog cabinet on rollers is for sale for only $150!  Call Lee at (707) 407-7194 to snap up this amazing deal. (P.S.  Yes, you are welcome!)  SOLD

In Jackson, California at “Antiques Downstairs,” this vintage industrial metal library card cabinet is for sale for $150.  I’ve never seen a metal one before, and I love the combination of academic aura and industrial edge.  Call Laurie at (209) 418-8254.  SOLD

From the 1950s comes this card catalog with two filing cabinets no less, which was originally used in Chemawa Middle School in Riverside.  This is currently for sale in Redlands, California for $300.  SOLD

And for the greatest steal EVER, snap up this antique library card cabinet for only $40 in Fresno, California!  Call (559) 287-9648 and then give me a share of your first born child as a token of your appreciation   SOLD

In Tucson, Arizona, this three-section 56 drawer library card catalog is for sale for $550.  SOLD

This impressive, dramatically sized library card cabinet is for sale in Redmond, Bend, Oregon for $400.  SOLD

I hope you enjoyed Volume I of Poetic Home’s series of Library Card Catalogs for Sale!

If you find a library card catalog for sale, there are a plethora of ways you can repurpose these literary treasures.  I’ve blogged about a DIY card catalog coffee table and my library card catalog turned bookcase previously, and here are 11 more ways to use card catalogs in your home.   Tomorrow I look forward to sharing a new and fresh way I’ve repurposed one of my card catalogs — and I don’t think card catalogs have been used this way just yet!

I first used my library card catalog as a buffet in my dining room, holding my linens and silverware.  Tanna Clark uses hers for a similar purpose, organizing silverware in her kitchen.

This is one of my favorite uses for a library card catalog!  As a kitchen island topped with a butcher block, the small drawers and labels are perfect for holding and organizing your spices, as seen via DIY Ideas .

For holidays, fill your card catalog with flowers and plants, as seen in a wedding via josevillablog.

If you are like me and have a huge collection of vintage scarves, organize them by color or style in your card catalog, as seen via MadeWell.

Small card catalogs are perfect for storing makeup and cosmetics, as seen via lifeandlim.

Cultivate the naturalist within yourself and use your library card catalog to protect your delicate findings, as seen via Each Little World.

I guess I wasn’t the only one who saw the usefulness of the card catalog as a buffet, as seen via design*sponge.

Indeed, the card catalog makes an ever-so-useful organizer, as seen via Small Notebook.

Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles sisters support themselves by creating beautiful religious works of art, and they store their sewing and embroidery supplies by color in repurposed library card catalogs, via Hooked on Needles.

Could there be a more intelligent way to indulge in your favorite alcoholic beverages?  As seen via Apartment Therapy.

While this may not find a place in your home, reusing card catalogs as a station for the computer-assisted Dewey Decimal system is both ingenious and hilarious, as seen via Library By Design.

What do you get when you combine a group of artists, a library card catalog, and an exhibit at Burning Man?  A Curiosity Cabinet of the Collective Unconscious, of course!  About two dozen artists were each given a drawer to explore the collective unconscious, and the results are quite intriguing.  I would have loved to discover this creation at Burning Man, opening each creatively labeled drawer to discover the world inside.  I’ve picked two of my favorite drawers to share with you, but there are many more photos on the CCCU website.

Artist Treiops Treyfid aptly named his drawer “overwhelmed.”

The Zymoglyphic Museum curator created a “traveling crustacean mini-diorama.”

(P.S.  Thank you for your patience as Library Card Catalog Week turned into a two-week affair and now a month-long extravaganza.  I’ll be wrapping up the posts this week with a plethora of ideas for how you can repurpose library card catalogs, and I believe it will be worth the wait!)

Although it’s been five years since I left the hallowed hallways of Berkeley, the fall always reminds me of the promise of new knowledge.  For the fall issue of UPPERCASE magazine (which you can still enjoy through a subscription), I was inspired by the quintessential symbol of  timeless wisdom: library card catalogs.  Of course, in the spirit of Poetic Home, my article is filled with ideas on how to repurpose these wonderful biblio-antiquities.

Here is a closer look at the current rendition of my most recent library card catalog cabinet find.  It’s a cabinet of vintage curiosities for now, but I’m in the process of repurposing it for the baby’s nursery.

Does the fall remind you of back-to-school nostalgia too? It may be time for me to take a trip to the library this afternoon….

Although card catalogs do not need any further nostalgic appeal, Summerswann repurposed a thrifted card catalog (which she purchased for only $7!) into a unique coffee table.  After putting in hours of sanding and staining, she added mid-century modern inspired legs, and voila!  A fantastic repurposed conversation piece was born.  Not only does she have plenty of storage, but I especially love the original organization tags.