Shelving and Cataloging

[Osquevel]

After recently moving down to Virginia and getting confirmation this afternoon that the majority of my books (the ones I didn't take with me) are being shipped down this week; coupled with the completion of my first home-built bookshelf on Friday, it got me thinking about a topic that crops up here every once in a while: how does everyone shelve and catalog their books? I went looking for the previous discussions but was unable to find them

Shelving
I shelve my books in a very specific order: Enterprise, TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, NF, the other novel-only series; other SF series, fantasy series, modern series (i.e. Tom Clancy); then the rest are alphabetical by Author, then (in the past) title (but I'm thinking about changing that to publication date). I've created a very detailed shelving-number scheme. Actually, within each Trek series, ot generally goes numbered, novelizaitons, unnumbered, relaunch. This ordering plays into my...

Cataloging
I design web sites and database-based systems as a hobby and have been using a web-based database of my own design for several years now. Whenever I get a new book, I add it to the database and place it in its proper shelf order. I also keep track of the purchase date, price, etc. as well as whether i've read the book and if I feel inclined to write a review.

I'm curious what everyone else uses both as shelving schemes and as ways of keeping track of what books you have; and what books you want/need to complete your collections.

 

[Stevil2001]

All of my Star Trek mass market paperbacks are in boxes at the moment because I moved recently, and I don't have the shelving I need. But I have few enough trade paperbacks and hardcovers to make them easily shelved; there it runs TOS, TNG, DS9, VGR, ENT, NF, SCE, SNW, and then miscellaneous anthologies and such. Within each series, they're sorted by publication date. After that comes the YA novels (as well as the manga, since they're the same height), sorted the same way.

I still haven't decided how I'm going to shelve the MMPBs once I unbox them, but fortunately that's ages to come, since I'm in no hurry to spend money on a shelf at the moment.

The same shelves also have my science fiction and fantasy HCs/TPBs, sorted alphabetically by author. (MMPBs are still in boxes.) Star Wars also follows this same pattern of shelved large format books and boxed MMPBs. All of my Doctor Who novels are shelved, chronologically by Doctor, because I have so many fewer of them, rendering it feasible with my limited shelving space.

All of my "literature" books (general and historical fiction) are shelved together, by author. All of my nonfiction is also shelved by author, though there I separated the Star Trek, Star Wars, and Doctor Who books out into their own section.

And then there's the comics: DC in-continuity stories (by chronological order), DC non-continuity (by publication date), Marvel in-continuity (by chronological order), Doctor Who (by Doctor order), Star Trek DC TPBs, Trek Key Collection reprints, Trek Titan Books Comics Classics reprints (by series), Trek IDW TPBs (by publication date), Star Wars TPBs (by series), Star Wars Omnibus reprints (by publication date), and then various miscellaneous comics (by author).


All of my books are entered into my LibraryThing, an on-line book collection site that occupies more of my time than I'd care to admit. According to it, I have 1,270 books at present. It tracks authors, publication dates, and a few other things, and it also lets you archive reviews. I also have an Access database for each of the three main tie-in series that I collect, allowing me to track format, list price, series, Doctor and companions, and so on.

 

[KRAD]

I shelve all my books alphabetically by author, in two sets: one for MMPBs, and one for everything bigger. Everything's sorted that way, from Adams to Zukav.

 

[Starbreaker]

I just moved, so they're slopped up on the shelf, HCs on the top half of the case and paperbacks on the bottom.. I see no need to organize right now. Sigh...

 

[OmahaStar]

Well, for Trek, I use a simple system that covers everything *except* books by DeCandido. First are those books which are signed, then those books that are not signed. Then there are those by DeCandido, and they are on their own shelves, since there are so dang many. lol

Then all the B5 books, Doctor Whos, Charlaine Harris, in their own sections ... Others are pretty much wherever they'll fit.

 

[Trippy]

All of my books (I have probably 1000+ in total, not just SciFi) are shelved first by genre, then alpha by author's name. So I have a Chick Lit section, a Canadian author section, a Classics section, a Horror section and of course a SciFi section...among others

 

[KRAD]

Well, for Trek, I use a simple system that covers everything *except* books by DeCandido. First are those books which are signed, then those books that are not signed. Then there are those by DeCandido, and they are on their own shelves, since there are so dang many. lol

And, given how many books you hauled to Dragon*Con, they're all signed at this point, yeah? And thanks....

 

[Mike Farley]

I organize my books by putting them in a box then putting the box in the closet. THen when I want to find the book I look through every box in the closet before remembering that that particuar book in in a pile propped against my desk. But by that point I've already found 2 other books I want to read/reread.

 

[Saga]

i used to keep things pretty organized. by series and number when the books were numbered. now, my collection has managed to outgrow its space and most books are stacked into a pile on the floor. i think the three volumes of Star Trek manga ended up in said pile too.

 

[Timewalker]

I gave up shelving and cataloguing several thousand books ago...

Never mind shelving, I need another HOUSE!

 

[Trent Roman]

I shelve my books by subject, then in various ways most appropriate to that collection. Star Trek is its own subject, and is sorted alpha by title (because sorting that beast chronologically is too great a project), whereas Star Wars goes from earliest to latest, in-universe. Sci-fi (other than Star ----), fantasy and horror have their respective shelves, with no real organization except making sure series like Hitchhiker's stay together. There's a shelf for hard sciences, which is half paleontology and the other half fairly junior material. There are a few shelves for social sciences, organized by subject such that it relatively blends into each other: psychology - mythology/religion - sociology - anthropology - archaeology - history - political science - philosophy. Then there are the 'Literature' shelves, which are books for classes or otherwise material I don't exactly pull off the shelves for light bedtime reading, and that's sorted chronologically as well, from the classical epics to new releases. And then there are the various piles around the place, which are catch-as-catch-can-until-Trent-gets-his-lazy-ass-in-gear-and-sorts-this-shit-out.

For cataloguing, I only use an Access database with the basic bibliographic criteria; title/author/series (where applicable)/publisher/location/year.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[historypeats]

I still do TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, NF, SCE, SGZ, GKN, TTN, VAN. I include each of the "relaunches" at the end of each series. Then the other stuff - Section 31, The Lost Era, Gateways, etc. - I sort in alphabetical order of series. There are only a couple of MMPB outliers - KRAD's "Articles of the Federation" and MJF's "Starfleet: Year One" - under this setup. Something like Destiny goes in the alphabetical order of series section after Day of Honor.

I also don't own hardbacks. The trades and companions have a separate shelf, sorted the same way.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I tend towards placing my books in chronological order. Granted, that's a fairly daunting task with the numerous Trek books out there, but at least there are a few timelines available. It just starts getting troublesome when more books get produced after a timeline without giving an approximate time frame, so I always appriciate little historian's notes at the start of the book.

 

[Hardin]

I shelve by subject and, within the subject, alphabetically by author. Trek novels have their own sub-section in science-fiction, where at the moment they're ordered by series and then chronologically by publication, mainly because the relaunches and the Titan books look nicer this way. Companions, the encyclopedia and the likes are in the cinema/tv/photography section.

As for cataloging...none. There are over 5000 books in my house and the thought of entering that many data in some software makes me feel ill tbh. I didn't even finish cataloging my dvds and they don't go over 200 units. I guess I'm lazy.

 

[JD]

Most of my Trek and Star Wars book are done chronologically by series and in series, and for stuff like Mu and Mry U the series are together based on when they were published. For my non-Trek/Wars tie ins, or non tie ins it is based on when I bought them, unless it is a series, then it's in series order. I record all of my Trek books, on a list that another poster here (can't remember who sorry) provided me.

 

[captcalhoun]

non-contnuity TOS
TOS
VGD
NF
DS9
SCE
series-TNG
GKN
ATT
TNGR
TTN
Shatnerverse

 

[Osquevel]

non-canon TOS
TOS
VGD
NF
DS9
SCE
series-TNG
GKN
ATT
TNGR
TTN
Shatnerverse

Intriguing ordering. What do you classify as non-canon TOS?

 

[BrotherBenny]

Most of my Trek and Star Wars book are done chronologically by series and in series, and for stuff like Mu and Mry U the series are together based on when they were published. For my non-Trek/Wars tie ins, or non tie ins it is based on when I bought them, unless it is a series, then it's in series order. I record all of my Trek books, on a list that another poster here (can't remember who sorry) provided me.

That was probably me.

I have limited shelving space so stuff I've read and will not likely read again goes into boxes; stuff I've read goes on the shelf in series order (non-Trek) wherever there is shelf space. Trek stuff has its own shelving section and is limited so HC/TPBs go at the back and the MMPBs at the front in order of being read. I will do everything in some order at some point, once I have more shelving. Unread stuff is in two piles beside my bed.

 

[8of5]

My current order is roughly chronological, but also divided by series, so currently (and how I plan to do the next few books): Enterprise, TOS, Lost Era, early-TNG, early-DS9, early-Voyager, New Frontier, SCE, DS9 relaunch (including full Section 31 and Gateways miniseries), Voyager relaunch, A Time to..., Articles of the Federation, Destiny, A Singular Destiny, Titan, TNG relaunch.

Plus larger format books on a different shelf in a similar sort of order.

I'm doing that way because I want Destiny in the about the right chronological place but without breaking up the nice row of Titan spines or TNG relaunch titles. I've not decided yet whether I'll put the new Voyager books after Destiny or with the other Voyager relaunch titles…

 

[Christopher]

Because of my work and my apartment layout, I have two Trek bookcases separate from the rest of my fiction collection; the Trek stuff is in my main room next to my desk (along with nonfiction, reference, and college texts), and the rest is in my bedroom. I have one section for novels that I don't count in personal continuity, alphabetical by author and by series and publication date within each author. I have a shelf of non-personal-continuity comics, by series and more-or-less chronological within series. And I have multiple shelves for novels and anthologies that are in personal continuity, which these days are far more numerous than the rest. They're mostly ordered by internal chronology, but comics are separate (for shelf-height and neatness reasons), and so are TPB anthologies, collections, and books that span wide enough time periods to be difficult to place chronologically (such as the Brave and the Bold duology and Burning Dreams). I also have one shelf for small nonfiction and one for large nonfiction, necessarily separate due to available shelf options. Yeah, it's a mess.

As for cataloguing, I keep a chronology of episodes, films, and personal-continuity books, and it's become an increasingly massive, complicated document over the years. Originally I had separate on-paper chronologies for the various shows, then separate computer-file chronos. But eventually I decided to combine them into a single document so it would be easier to keep track of when episodes/books in different series took place relative to one another. Then that was so confusing that I had to introduce color-coding for the various series. The resultant document is even more of a mess than my Trek shelves.

In the past year or so, in response to the publication of the Mirror Universe and Myriad Universes anthologies, I've added two new sections to my chronology, one for the MU (including all the episodes and the current novel MU continuity, not alternate versions) and one for all other alternate timelines, including MyrU novels, alternate timelines featured in episodes (such as "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "Before and After"), and various novels and comics that have been contradicted by canon or modern novel continuity but could still be viable in alternate timelines. I haven't yet made any effort to physically create an alternate-timeline shelf in my bookcase to go along with this, since I can't really spare the space for it.