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Living in a city without any appropriate library for a homeschooling family like us is not a barrier to get resources. It is not the age when we have to be able to access the traditional library to sit for hours reading anytime we want to read or anytime we need books. There are some options on homeschooling resources. With some pros and cons the digital resources are unavoidable the life of homeschooling families.

There are also more and more digital resource sales available online so that more people can get access to qualified and more economical products at the moment. On the other hand, the trend of the sales often makes us confused how to store the digital resources systematically and safely. Here are some tips for organizing the digital resources.

7 Tips for Organizing Digital Resources

Never forget to download your purchased digital files

There are some kinds of digital sales, the membership and the instant download digital resource sales. The membership sales usually have lifetime access, but the instant download sales usually have limited time to download. If you purchase the digital resources with a membership, it is still safe to leave the files in the membership dashboard, but if you purchase the digital stock with instant download, it is better to download them as soon as you get the download link. It must be very upset to get the download link to the resources don’t work while you still need to access them. However, even if you purchase the resources as a membership that has a lifetime access, I still suggest you to download all of the links that you have purchased. We don't know how long the membership site will be alive. Although I don’t need all of them, I don’t want to feel sorry for missing them one day for whatever reasons made by the hosts.

Prepare some external hard disks to back up your collection

It is not enough to download your digital resources in your computer hard disk. Even there might not be enough space for me to stock up all of my digital resources in my computer hard disk. In addition, you should not ever trust just one storage. Therefore, the use of external hard disk is really crucial to store your digital resource stocks. It is much safer to have more storage to back up your files. Even if you purchase kindle files, It is better to copy or download it in my 2 pieces of hard disks and to have them in other file forms to prevent the worst things happen. Determine one main storage as the master and don’t forget to get all of your duplicate storages updated.

Store the digital resources in the clouding storages

We are very lucky today to have some clouding storage. There are a lot of alternatives for the clouding storage at the moment. Dropbox, Box.com, 4Shared, etc have some free storages to save your digital resources. By storing the digital resources online, you can access them anywhere and anytime. Another point to use the clouding storage is to prevent losing the file damage in our private digital storage. Keep some copies in different storages to make sure they are safe.

Plan the file structure in the digital storages

Planning for the file management in the digital storage is very important. Can you imagine how confused you would be when you don't have any system to get the right file? It is similar with how you access you other files in the computer hard disk. The organized storage will help you to find the needed file much easily.

• Keep your digital resource files under appropriate directories based on the classification that you have settled by yourselves.
• It is easier to get the books among their same alphabets or topics rather than let them spreading around without any organization in the storages.
• Avoid any complicated directory organization or folder so you won’t get mixed up classifying the resources.
• Make similar directories to your main storage.
• Make list for your digital resource collection

Print Your List

As there are more and more digital resource sales available online, you might forget your digital resource collection in detail. You might also double purchase some resources later on. Therefore, having a file listing the title and the directories of your digital stockpile is very helpful to:

• Prevent double purchase
• Find out the title you want to read
• Handle the file organizing

Keep the list in a document keeper or clear holder and update them regularly.

Classify the Files Based on The Audience

Digital resources are not only limited to adults at the moment. There are a lot of kindle e-books for children available in Amazon already. Therefore, it is better to separate children and adults folders or storages. Here are some consideration for doing so:

1. prevent or minimalize the damage things
2. maintain age appropriate resources.
3. limit the access time.

Make a Rule

You might also make a rule and agreement with children or your spouse about some ways to access the digital resources. Here are some points you need to include in the rules:

1. Who can access
2. How to access
3. When to access
4. Where to access

It takes more time for you to schedule your digital resources, but it will take less time and money for you to access them. Therefore, your effort will worth it.

Today I would like to share a digital resource management file that my readers can use to control their digital resource inventory.

To edit it and use as your own, you must copy it first to your own Google Drive. Click File –> Make a copy. Look for it listed in your Drive as “Copy of Editorial Calendar Template.” Open it and go!