Organising your books

[Miss Chicken]

As some of you might be aware I am doing a major reorganisation of my home. Yesterday I started on the books.

This isn't that bad as it sounds. Because I have been putting my books on to LibraryThing I decided a while back to arrange my non-fiction by Dewey number and I have been either putting a sticker on the back of a book or writing the Dewey number inside the book. I have 90% of my books catalogued with the other 10%either in untidy piles on top of the bookcases or in a plastic crate beside the bookshelf. .

I have my fiction organise by author. At the moment I have my science fiction separate from other fiction but I plan to just put it in with all my other fiction tomorrow.

I decided however to look on YouTube for some tips and I was surprised to find that some people organise their books by colour, or size etc.

For example


[yt]yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOZt34r4hzw[/yt]

I do plan to put my quarto size and bigger books onto a separate shelf (in Dewey order).

I would be interest to see how others here organise books )or don't organise books).

 

[Gov Kodos]

Don't you just think books are so decorative? Have to watch Auntie Mame later, first for me is two fold, subjects and currently reading. Keeping the areas of interest together as well as the particular titles in the most use near to hand are foremost. After that, size I suppose, I hate the heights to be mismatched.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

With the printed books I have, I go first by size (small to large <-> left to right), then by author.

 

[MHT1138]

Most of my books are in boxes right now. And I have recently gone through my books and gotten rid of some, so they are even more disarray. Since i used to work in a bookstore, I arrange my books the way a bookstore does. Non fiction by subject, like self help, language, history, then by author's last name. Fiction is organized by genre and then author's last name.
Sometimes, to maximize space, I will organize my nonfiction by subject and then by size. This is helpful when I have books 2 or 3 deep on bookshelves.
The children's books I further break down into picture, intermediate, young adult, and nonfiction.
I love organizing my books, and with my experience working in a bookstore, I certainly have a lot of experience.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I also like organising books. I was a library technician and I did a fair amount of reshelving and cataloguing while I was one. This explains why I went by Dewey number.

 

[RoJoHen]

If I have a series of books, I make a point to keep them together. Otherwise, I arrange my books by size.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I do it by author. It's the easiest system for me. Then I put each author's books in the order in which they were written.

 

[Miss Chicken]

According to this woman you shouldn't keep books in your bedroom.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuSw_SBOgUQ&feature=related[/yt]

 

[Gov Kodos]

It's Gloria from Auntie Mame.

 

[CorporalClegg]

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who takes the dust jackets off his books.

People think I'm odd for doing that, but I've always found jackets to be silly looking.

At the moment I have way more books than I have space for, so most of them are just randomly stacked in corners.

I'm making an effort to get them all converted to eBooks, but many of them I purchased used. Can't buy eBooks at used prices.

I have a lot of antique books that I'll keep around for decoration--though some are in dire need of restoration, but most of the newer stuff I'll be glad to eventually part with.

A few years ago I would have never believed I'd ever say such a thing. I love books; there's just something about their smell and their feel that cannot be replicated. But I'm making an effort to consolidate the clutter in my life. With modern technology, books are the easiest thing to omit.

 

[Miss Chicken]

with reference to the Feng Shui video above


Oh dear, I stack my books both horizontally and vertically on my shelves - at least in the fiction bookshelves.

 

[Canadave]

I organize books by finding spaces. Then I fill said spaces with books.

This is why I have a Kobo.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I buy all my books in Kindle format now for reading on my iPad.

Unfortunately the iPad Kindle app doesn't allow for much organizing other than title or author - you can't create collections of books, like you can in the desktop app. I'm guessing that an actual Kindle device will allow such organizing, but I don't have one.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Yes, in with the Kindle you can organise by collection.

 

[Me-Ike]

According to this woman you shouldn't keep books in your bedroom.

Poor Castle. His feng shui is broken.

I reorganize my books whenever I feel like it. Sometimes I go by colour, sometimes by author (although even by colour I keep some addidional order).
Although, right now my books are lovingly organized by cartonage box. Hadn't had the opportunity yet of buying a bookshelf. ... actually, does anyone here have any great recommendations for how to build one oneself?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Milk crates.

 

[Me-Ike]

Milk crates.

I could definitely see that, but, a quick google search later, I wouldn't really know where to find those (or something similar).
When I have more time I'll search more extensively; I like the idea.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Any kind of boxes that are one up from a cardboard box. Packing crates etc..

My books are in complete chaos both in the book cases and elsewhere (read, everywhere).

This is my least offensive, neatest book case. I can't show you the others because it is way too embarrassing.



I want to see photos of peoples nice book cases.

Oh and that fuzzy thing in the bottom corner, that's the xmas tree. Yeah, waiting for easter to pack that baby up.

 

[Skywalker]

I go alphabetical by author, and then alphabetical by title if I have more than one book by the same author (unless the books are in a series, then I go by order of publication).

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I generally go with the bookstore method--subject, then author (or series). And I am also picky about getting things in chronological order.