How do you organize your library?

[crispini]

By subject, alphabetically, dewey decimal? ;) I was just moving a bookshelf around and did a bit of rearranging. I have things sort of grouped according to categories. Then, depending on how large the category is, I have them alphabetized within the category. Here are my categories.

China
Thailand
Other travel
Art
SF
Mystery
General fiction
Buddhism
General spirituality / self improvement / yoga
House & garden
Hobbies: Cycling, sewing, birdwatching
Politics
Biography
Poetry and plays
General nonfiction
Activism and organzing.

What are yours?

[Lavender Brown]

1. Nonfiction by subject, fiction by time period

within that, by author. :hi:

[crispini]

2. By time period! That's interesting.

I do confess I find it a little odd to have Michel Chaubon next to Chaucer, but I don't think I have enough general nonfiction to do that. Need idea!

[RedCloud]

3. By size, so I can fit those damn shelves in better.

If you use the library of Congress system remember to classify all religions under "BS". Maybe those guys know something we ought to?

[SteppingRazor]

10. Exactly! I've got big hardcovers on one shelf...

little paperbacks on the shelf that only has about a 6-inch height, etc.

Within that, I generally group by a sort of vague author/subject combo. Political/journalistic books tend to be together, as does sci-fi/fantasy fiction. Classics are together -- usually on the paperback shelf -- as is other fiction, etc.

[Duer 157099]

11. Same here, size matters n/t

[crispini]

21. LOL,Library of Congress. A bit much perhaps?

:D

[file83]

67. In this order: SIZE, AUTHOR, TITLE

[chup]

4. I drive to it . It's already organized

[Shine]

41. Welcome to DU, chup!

:toast: Nice to see you!

[chup]

59. Thanks....this is most entertaining !!!

[Draill]

5. Nonfiction by dewey decimal

Fiction by genre and alphabetically by author's last name.

[Ariana Celeste]

6. Mine was pretty simple.

I don't have a bookcase now but the way I used to keep my books organized was simple.

Series> Alphabetical by Author> Trilogies, etc. in order

Fiction> Alphabetical by Author> Alphabetical by Title

Non-Fiction> Alphabetical by Author

[reyd reid reed]

7. Fiction alphabetically by author

Non-fiction by subject...then size.

That's ideally, though. Right now I've got a lot of 'em double-shelved and in stacks, in no particular order, waiting for my new bookshelf to get put together.

[crispini]

23. I hate double-shelving. I know it's necessary--

but the best feeling is when you have them all organized in the right way and NO double shelving! :D

[reyd reid reed]

36. I hate it, too

But it's even worse when you have to resort to stacks.

Sadly, I'm there.

I've really gotta get off my ass and put together the new bookshelf. First I have to find somewhere for it, though. THAT'S the kicker.

[AllegroRondo]

8. Nonfiction by subject, fiction by order I read them in.

Because I am much more likely to remember when I read a book than who wrote it.

[Richardo]

9. Color, then width.

Not really. :hi:

[Sugar Smack]

49. You're going to laugh at me, then.

I have so many books I picked out the ones that were pink, just for fun, and put them on a shelf of their own. It's a red-pink-purple spectrum.

After that it's:

hardcover reference on the top shelf
reference soft-cover:Europe
Opera
Football
Chess
Pool playing
Wine
Beer
Food
Writing reference
plays
foreign history & biographical history
folklore
field guides
philosophy
sociology
erotica
literature by period/country
pop novels
true crime
art books
books written in French
Hunter Thompson library
all other political books



:hi:

[Richardo]

50. .

:hi:

Tell us more about this eroica section. All Beethoven? :D

[Sugar Smack]

53. Whoa! You are GOOD.

:wow: :wow: :wow:

Well, I threw in a little Bartok. :rofl:

[azmouse]

12. The non-fiction books are on shelves

grouped according to subject... sports, history, music, autos, etc.
But my paperbacks are just piled on closet shelves waiting for me to get around to reading them. I always buy way more books than I can find the time to read.

[reyd reid reed]

16. So do I

But I just can't resist 'em. I can't get rid of them once I've read them, either. There's just something...comfortable...about knowing that they're there for me whenever I want them or need them.

[azmouse]

17. I have the books I've finished in plastic bins with lids

cause I can't bear to part with them either. I'm an addict.

[crispini]

24. Ah yes.

That satisifying feeling of Always Having Something To Read.

ahhhhhhhhhhh.

[azmouse]

27. A bibliophile always recognizes another bibliophile!

:toast:

[hedgehog]

20. I try to ration myself to non-fiction but then I will binge buy

I do go back to books I haven't read and find info I need at a later date though. I have to keep the books organized or I end up buying the same book again. I've done that 3 times in the last 30 years.

[crispini]

25. Oh, I've done that way more than three times.

I have two copies of Thomas More's "Utopia" right now. One's in the pile waiting to go back to Half Price Books. :D

[hedgehog]

28. Now I feel a lot better.

I thought I was the only person so absent minded.

[tjwmason]

13. I've got two systems in simultaneous use.

First there's the shelving system - non-fiction by subject (in some cases sub-subject and sub-sub-subject) in order of personal choice and fiction by author's name.

Then there's the more widely used - place where I last read the book system. This is a complex behaviourally based filing system, which consists of my dumping any given book on the floor when I put it down, there it remains until I want to read more of it - or (and this is far less common) I want to put it onto the shelf in its rightful place.

[crispini]

26. LOL, me too.

I try to keep the last category fairly small, though.

[jane_pippin]

14. Mine used to be organized like yours but now they're done by

piles around the house where ever they fit. It's sort of like a chronological record of what got read when in messy tower form. (It's not that I have a ton of books, it's that I have very little shelf space.)

[RebelOne]

15. By book size. Large ones graduating down to small ones.

Makes the book shelf look neater.

[hedgehog]

18. Sort of off topic, but did you ever notice

that some houses have books and some don't? They're like cats, after you hit a certain magic number, you're doomed and they just start showing up everywhere.

[crispini]

30. I don't really trust people

who don't like books. I always have a sneaking suspicion they will turn out to be Republicans. :D

[hedgehog]

31. I think I was scared by end- of the world scenarios

and feel a need to preserve traces of Western civilization for future generations!

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. By general topics for non-fiction. Fiction are arranged by size and author

Hardcovers together, paperbacks and trade paperbkacs together, for the fiction stuff.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

22. Organize?

:shrug:

:P :P

[hedgehog]

29. Well, don't you at least make a path through yours

so you can get to the bathroom at night?

[file83]

68. Yeah, I never read that book "Organize". Is it good?

:shrug:

[JohnKleeb]

32. Its a clusterfuck but

I guess by subject. Loooking at it now, I think I have a comedy/satire shelf, Politics, WWII, Crime, Sports section, got a small biography section that needs more, I only really have two bios: one about RFK and one about Truman.

[hedgehog]

33. Somewhat like yours

Fiction by author
Atlases
Art by era
Religion
World History
American History
Irish Culture
Irish History
Biographies sprinkled in at appropriate periods
Politics
Woodworking
Architecture
Automobiles
Engineering
Math
Physics
Chemistry
Cosmology
Travel Books
Geology
Paleontology
Ecology
Birds
Mammals
Medicine
Children's books
and I have them broken down into sub-categories

[CarpeDiebold]

34. mine is organized by a very complicated system

it looks like complete fucking chaos, but it's an elegant system really. only i know it and the only way i can explain it to you is in Bukusu or aramaic, if you kick it old school.

[YankeyMCC]

35. Scatter pattern

based on arm length and most recent read.

[beyurslf]

37. Non fiction by subject matter. Text books in one group. Fiction by author

[skygazer]

38. Same as the public library

Fiction alphabetically by author, nonfiction by a rough approximation of the Dewey decimal system. Rough because I only recently got shelves put up and I need to get downstairs and organize more thoroughly. I just barely got my wine re-organized (by varietal and year).

I love to organize. :bounce: :bounce:

[crispini]

44. Ooo I wish I had wine to re-organize!

I've always wanted to collect wine.

[skygazer]

46. I was stunned to discover that I have over a hundred bottles

The great majority of it everyday table wines but a few rather nice, special bottles. I work a wine department so I'm always seeing great deals. Plus the people who represent different wineries are always giving me sample bottles and I can't drink it fast enough to keep up! I have an unused bedroom downstairs and since my house is built into a hillside, it stays very cool down there even in summer. Ideal for wine storage.

[Shine]

39. You're kidding, right??

:rofl:

Good one, crispini.

:D

[Ramsey]

40. By topic

I have the following shelves:

Current politics
Political history
Classic literature
Contemporary women authors
Contemporary male authors
Feminist writings
Arthurian legend
Other fantasy novels
Music
Poetry
Art
Travel
Large books (mostly art books)

My cook books and food magazines are on another shlf in the kitchen.

[crispini]

42. Ah yes, my cookbooks live in the kitchen as well.

And my artist reference books live in the studio. In fact it would be fair to say there is a small spot for books in every room in the house! :rofl:

[Left Is Write]

45. My cookbooks too - and I have more cookbooks than any other

single type of book (I collect vintage cookbooks, and I have plenty of new ones also.)

I forgot to mention that I have a collection of vintage homemaking type books (homekeeping, entertaining, decorating, that sort of thing - from the 40s, 50s, and 60s) and those are shelved on a wall in the living room. There's another bookcase in there also, and that's where my grandmother's Detective Book Club series books are kept.

[Left Is Write]

43. Some by genre and most by size and type (hardcover vs. paperback)

All of my entertainment reference books are grouped together, as are my collection references, political books, and mystery/thriller fiction. Everything else is shelved by size and type, hardcovers together and paperbacks together.

[NJ Democrats]

47. I put any new books on an empty space.

We will see how i do it about I move, though. I tried once: It failed miserably. Soon, books were in the wrong places.

[NMDemDist2]

48. esthetically

I group by subject, then by size and color since one whole wall in my living room is covered with shelves, my books are as much decor as reading materials

[alarimer]

51. randomly

I just pile stuff everywhere

[Redstone]

52. Organize? What is this "organize" of which you speak?

Redstone

[hedgehog]

54. I forgot the cookbooks and the gardening books

Now ask me how I organize the Cds and DVDs

[yellowdogintexas]

55. organize? ha ha ha. There are a few authors whose works

are clustered together but that is almost accidental.

If I DID have them organized, it would be by author, most likely.

There are books in every room of this house, but most of them are either in the study or our bedroom. I have a bookcase headboard, which is where my to be read books mostly live.

[NMMNG]

56. By subject

Then alphabetical by author within each subject.

[hfojvt]

57. I found my copy of "Stand On Zanzibar" in about 10 seconds

And also quickly found where it describes my organizing philosophy "Arthur Golightly doesn't mind not being able to remember where he put things. Looking for them, he always finds other things he'd forgotten he had." p. 5

[Squeech]

61. Exactly

I don't seem to know the meaning of the word "organize," so objects in my house tend to arrange themselves into geological strata. To find a specific item, I need to remember what else I was doing when I last had it.

In other words, the best way for me to find something is to look for something peripherally related. Arthur Golightly is exactly right. (I love the book too, and Brunner's other three "futurist" works. The Sheep Look Up is something I re-read every presidential election year.)

[hfojvt]

63. The Sheep Look Up is too dark for me.

What was the third one? The one with the sperm bank and pheromones? I think I re-sold my copy of that, but with my system and collection I cannot be sure. I also think I own more Vonnegut than I can readily find and must do a thorough search - someday.

[Squeech]

64. Those were the days

The four I'm thinking of are Zanzibar, Sheep, Jagged Orbit (about what Thomas Szasz called the Therapeutic Society, with extra themes of racism and gun ownership) and Shockwave Rider (in which Brunner essentially invents the Internet, 20 years ahead of even Al Gore, and does the best job out of all of these of contemplating what sorts of crimes a dystopian, power-mad American government could commit).

The other one you're thinking of is called Children of the Thunder, I think.

For the stuff I'm interested in, Brunner is Da Man. The cyberpunks have an interesting take on how the texture of society changes with technological progress (see esp. Bruce Sterling and his Mechanist/Shaper stories) but they don't seem to include power politics and its attendant corruption in their overview-- except for Neal Stephenson (see esp. Snow Crash). Dunno how they missed it; certainly they're paranoid enough!

[hfojvt]

65. Yikes

I just grabbed a copy of Jagged Orbit from my shelves and I think I have not yet read that one. I cannot remember Shockwave Rider, except that it was Toffler-based and I am not a big fan of Toffler.
But I shall be taking Jagged Orbit to work, which is about the only place I read things that are not on a screen.

[Squeech]

66. Maybe

it'd be more accurate to say "Toffler-inspired" rather than "Toffler-based." I don't actually know enough about Toffler, and Brunner certainly admits a big debt to him, but what I took from the book was less how technological progress undermines the common weal by alienating the citizenry (which is what I take Toffler's theme to be) but how corrupt government forces use the tools to fuck things up.

Anyway, like I say, I get a similar validation of my paranoia from Shockwave Rider as from Zanzibar or The Difference Engine.

[hfojvt]

70. Toffler was more about the pace of change creating shock

whereas I think many of the changes are superficial. I preferred the analysis in the book "Futurehype" and think that "progress" is not what we are doing in the "forward stampede" (as Schumacher calls it).

I would not focus so much upon government as if that is what corrupts the culture. Corporations, and power-hungry and unscrupulous people corrupt government, and our social values are twisted to begin with.

[SeattleGirl]

58. By author and publishing date.

My CDs and videos/DVDs are organized alphabetically.

[chup]

60. by thickness...starting with the thin ones & tallness starting with the

with the short ones

[riona]

62. by room

computer books by the computer, dictionary where i read books from the library, bird book near the window with the binoculars, crossword dictionary by the recliner, cookbooks - on the shelf.

[tishaLA]

69. I don't have categories

because I like to pretend I'm postmodern enough to think that the demarcations between fiction and nonfiction are arbitrary, etc.

And I'm an academic and I have lots of books--many now stored in my closets because I simply don't have enough space in my apartment to hold them all. So here's how the 2000 or so books out in the open are organized: alphabetically and, within the alphabetical organization, chronological. So, if I have 15 books by one author, I go from his or her earliest work to the latest. If I have a collection/anthology of that author's work, the collection/anthology always appears at the end of the chronology.

It's the only way I know I can find my books when I need them.