IPhoto library is a behemoth on my MacBook pro -- help this Mac Grandma out

Don't laugh at me ( if you do, be really quiet about it!)
Here's the deal: Out of fear of losing photos, I have made a monster out of my iphoto library. It now takes up 34GB of space on my MacBook Pro. There are duplicates in there and well, it's a mess. (I have ghost images of some photos, for example).
I want to start fresh but not lose photos and data and album names. I have copied the iPhoto Library folder to DVD. I have run the backup program with iLife (to 300GB LaCie Extreme). I have even copied the iPhoto Library folder to the LaCie three times and each time renamed with the date (e.g. iPhoto Library 9/15/07; iPhoto Library 11/13/07, etc. ). Now I have so many duplicates, I don't trust the way I've used backup, and to top it all off - I have little to no space on my MacBook Pro. It's as slow as a my old Powerbook 180 running three programs at once.
1. How do I free up the space on my MBP and yet still work on current photos in iPhoto on it and adding to my iPhoto Library without carrying around every picture (and then some) I have ever taken on my laptop. Should I start from scratch with a whole new library? Then how do I work with old photos from the older iPhoto library.
2. What's the best way to back it up.
3. Would iLife '08 help or would that complicate matters?
4. Any advice on duplicates? How to I find duplicate photos, delete them, but make sure I have not lost the image and data?
Any help would be appreciated before my MBP with 1.99 GB left crashes.
Help this grandma out! I love Macs but I don't use them properly. Happy Holidays! Mrs. P.

Mrs. P
You've got a nice project to keep you busy over the xmas!
1. You MUST first make space on the disk - you're in immediate danger of a very serious OS crash if you don't. The fastest way to do this is to move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external disk:
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library Folder as an entity from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
To deal with duplicates: check out Duplicate Annihilator
Regards
TD

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