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Oops, I mean, subject matter and alphabetical by author.
And- spine color? Really? But I guess I should get it. When I went to military school we were made to arrange our books by height. Ugh!
And- spine color? Really? But I guess I should get it. When I went to military school we were made to arrange our books by height. Ugh!
The Dewey Decimal system is, by and large, a system of subject matter, but enables us to find a particular book on a particular shelf.
Subject matter is the easiest and most effective way of arranging books, movies, music because you have a general idea of what to look for and you can discover new things while browsing. The alphabet is seriously overrated.
Subject matter is the easiest and most effective way of arranging books, movies, music because you have a general idea of what to look for and you can discover new things while browsing. The alphabet is seriously overrated.
With a strong element of where one can find space to stick an extra book
This indeed a problem I encounter as well... if only bookspace was actually like L-space, it would warp to accommodate size, subject and overall mass.
I organize my bookshelves by what fits where. Authors are always contiguous, and I try to keep sci-fi with sci-fi, fantasy with fantasy, and other with other, but beyond those restrictions it's basically just "okay, Lois Bujold just doubled in size; I'm going to have to move China Mieville to another shelf."
I had had my library organized by the Library of Congress system, which unlike Dewey does not exempt works of fiction. It was gradually degrading over the years as I neglected to catalog new acquisitions. Then we moved, and just shoved the books onto shelves as we took them out of the boxes, the state of disarray in which they remain.
Err, I guessed from the comments that you mean, our personal bookshelves? (Unless we are librarians who run actual libraries? Which I'm not, sooooo.) I'd never call mine a library, heh. For the most part I organize things vaguely by subject, then by height. I don't like going, for example, shortTALLshortTALLshortTALL or whatnot. Put short books together and tall books together! Or have some kind of height gradient. But if subject relationships become too dispersed, that's also no good. Then you have the problem of, some books are too tall for a shelf at all, and must go on another shelf! (or must go sideways). ALSO! I like shelves to be horizontally full but not too packed, so books of different width may need to be distributed in order to ensure some kind of equal width-tightness of books on shelves.
And now I'm all staring at my shelf and getting really bothered by these books that are too tall and are currently situated sideways. *twitch*
And now I'm all staring at my shelf and getting really bothered by these books that are too tall and are currently situated sideways. *twitch*
Library of Congress classification.
Failing that (see also, my home) roughly according to genre, then author alphabetical, and I reserve the right to give certain authors pride of place.
Failing that (see also, my home) roughly according to genre, then author alphabetical, and I reserve the right to give certain authors pride of place.
My personal library is alphabetical by author, within categories (fiction, general non-fic, science, religion, sex, film theory, psych theory). I would expect a public library to be similar or on the dewey decimal system.
Long comment was long, and reflected that books have many uses in this house, that some of our collections are combined and some aren't, and that we have not nearly as many books now as we used to, owing to the magic of e-readers.
Then I realized that once you drill down to the level of "my books (being books that I am the only one in the house that would read them,)" they're "chronological according to last time picked up."
Guess I have something to do today!
Then I realized that once you drill down to the level of "my books (being books that I am the only one in the house that would read them,)" they're "chronological according to last time picked up."
Guess I have something to do today!
As a few others have said, alphabetically within categories. But I make exceptions for really tall books, which are generally treated as a category unto themselves, because if I tried to shelve them in with all the others it would (a) look funny, and (b) mean I would be able to fit fewer shelves on any given set of side supports, because they'd all have to be tall enough for the tallest books. So in practice I usually have one tall shelf at the bottom of any given bookcase (where the weight gives it extra stability, and then everything else is sorted first by category and then by author within each category.
Except that right now only parts of my shelves are organized that way. Somehow in this particular apartment I never quite finished the book organization. Hopefully I will remedy that with my next one.
Except that right now only parts of my shelves are organized that way. Somehow in this particular apartment I never quite finished the book organization. Hopefully I will remedy that with my next one.
By ease of access. Books that we want to get to often and easily are in the main living space as are new books and recent reads.
Other books are slightly further away and sorted roughly by topic/genre. But it's really a big treasure hunt.
Other books are slightly further away and sorted roughly by topic/genre. But it's really a big treasure hunt.
Color coordination makes me calmer.
Mine are loosely organized by interest and often internally by author, albeit not alphabetically. For example, all my old school textbooks and monographs are together by the classes I read them for. Thus, my environmental history class books are all together, but internally there is no system except aesthetic whim. All my Orwell books are together next to my Steinbeck books because they both wrote fiction during the same period. Huxley's Brave New World is next to Orwell's 1984 because it seems right. My Introducing _______ and ________ for Beginners books are all together. My Cartoon History of the Universe books bridge the graphic novel and history sections. Within this flexible system, I also consider color and height. My system is essentially "That seems right. I'll remember that's there."
Edited 2012-01-11 19:59 (UTC)
I am confused. I am also sad because I have been wanting to organise my books for about 15 years now. I finally have a library (/spare room) so can do so! But I am waiting for shelves to appear, as at the moment books are double thingied so I can't see them all. And Ihave got rid of about 150 books recently to make space. I used to have complicated systems based on author, subject and nice pretty colours on spines. Now everything is haphazard.
I once failed to get a job in a library because I could not shelve books in order. These days you have to have a postgraduate degree in librariness to work in a library, and the libraries are being closed down anyway.
I once failed to get a job in a library because I could not shelve books in order. These days you have to have a postgraduate degree in librariness to work in a library, and the libraries are being closed down anyway.
My books are organized mostly by subject, but there's exceptions, like I have a section for books written by people I know; and my spec fic paperbacks are on a separate shelf and organized by color.
I love the look of bookshelves organized by color and height, and I tend to have enough of a visual memory that i think I could probably still find what I was looking for if it was organized that way. Maybe someday.
I love the look of bookshelves organized by color and height, and I tend to have enough of a visual memory that i think I could probably still find what I was looking for if it was organized that way. Maybe someday.
I tend to put them in order by height. The tallest book is always on the left end. My books are also kept in different locations, depending on the subject: graphic design or productivity type books by the desk, cookbooks in the kitchen, all other books in the bedroom.
I don't own many books overall, though. 3 moves in one year plus being broke = most of my books are library books.
I don't own many books overall, though. 3 moves in one year plus being broke = most of my books are library books.
But your librarians in L-space have to be highly trained: combat, dog-sledding, demonology... really, it would just be simpler if they were an orang-outang or something....
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