Hard copy library organization

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dademoss

dademoss

What I specialized in is oboslete
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Lori and I are moving. I am one bookcase away from a "complete" set of shelves (yeah, thats all that gonna fit sucker) for my library. I have shelf tags, an idea, a vision, and a nightmare named Dewey, the Decimal System :p

How do you all organize your libraries? I have "how too", history, fiction, sci-fi, mystery adventure, texbooks etc etc.

@Neb
 
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We have section for religion, cookbooks, science, history, fantasy, prepping, reference, games, how to, business. The problem i have is that we many more books than shelves, so most is double stacked. I would love to catalog everthing but that is a retirement project.
 
I don’t use Dewy. I keep them by category. I have antique books together, children’s books together then homesteading/prep books together and grouped by category within those shelves, and a shelf of “yet to read.” They don’t make it to the real shelves until I’ve read them. Cooking and food prep have their own little shelf and upstairs I have a small shelf for stitching books. I can usually find what I’m looking for pretty quickly.
 
My eBooks are organized in the Calibre program. Lot's of ways you can find a book - by title, by series name, by author, by genre, by rating (my rating after having read it), etc.

My physical books are stored wherever they fit, in whatever room where there is space. Some are horizontal on shelves, others are in vertical piles that go almost to the ceiling. Good luck getting to one of the books lower in the pile. For the shelved ones, the general rule is tallest on the left, shorter ones going off to the right. That way you have better organized space over the short end of the span where you can stuff in a few more books sideways. With this arrangement, you might find a copy of The Hunger Games novel wedged in between the The Illustrated Book Of Bicycle Repair and the Physicians Desk Reference. Sideways on top of those might be the Betty Crocker Cookbook.
 
ThePrincess said:
We have section for religion, cookbooks, science, history, fantasy, prepping, reference, games, how to, business. The problem i have is that we many more books than shelves, so most is double stacked. I would love to catalog everthing but that is a retirement project.
Click to expand...
Video to support what @ThePrincess said.



Ben
 
I try and group by subject, medical, gardening, herbal medicinals, history (civil war, Founding of America, WWII, Vietnam, etc), school/study books, cooking, homesteading, SciFi. But I have plenty mixed up, and stacks of stuff that hasn't gotten put away. For me it's an ongoing process. I could easily use 5 more book cases
 
Husband's books are in one spot. Cookbooks take a big shelf unit. I have alot of prepper fiction, that's another bookshelf. Old children's books have a shelf. There's a few random shelves of fiction and fact. A good section of gardening books, and quite a lot of homesteading type books. I arrange by topic. Some shelves are upstairs, some are downstairs. On the endtable, though, currently is a Joel Salatin book, the amish newspaper, "The Budget", and The Old Farmer's 2024 Almanac. On the computer are my Bible readings, and The Left Behind Series. Those are all things I'm currently reading.
 
dademoss said:
Lori and I are moving. I am one bookcase away from a "complete" set of shelves (yeah, thats all that gonna fit sucker) for my library. I have shelf tags, an idea, a vision, and a nightmare named Dewey, the Decimal System :p

How do you all organize your libraries? I have "how too", history, fiction, sci-fi, mystery adventure, texbooks etc etc.

@Neb
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have a pretty good system already. I don't think I have that many books.
 
I worked some while in h.s. and all through college in libraries. I do not use the Dewey decimal system to organize my books, but it is kind of a consideration.

In my project of going through everything, books is a daily consideration. I think about where to ultimately store and organize all of my books every day. I would love to have one room that is a library, much like Ben's room.

I absolutely do organize books by category: genealogy, cookbooks, how to, preparedness, crafting, reference materials, fiction.
 
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Neb said:
Video to support what @ThePrincess said.



Ben
Click to expand...

I absolutely LOVE your room! Those red leather chairs with the lamps over the chairs along with the tall bookcases reminds me of what a home library should look like. I actually think it looks cool with books going both upright and stacked. As long as you know how it's organized, that's all that matters.

It's like a play room for (older and perhaps boring) people like me. I would spend a decent amount of time there for sure. It's a glorious getaway without even having to leave your home. Soooooo awesome Ben!
 
I keep all my reference books close by where they are relative to—sewing/fabric on wall shelf over sewing table, weaving/spinning on wall shelf over weaving yarn storage cabinets, cooking/food preservation in kitchen bookshelves, gardening next to sunny window.
 
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