How to Organise Bookshelves

[Forsher]

12 minute video on subject.

Alignment Chart (there are definitely other versions since this isn't the one I remember seeing, just the first link that came up... apparently "autobiographical" is more "when I read it")

Relevant.

So... basically, how should one go about organising a personal bookshelf?

If you look at the video (or, possibly, just stop and think for a minute) there are about five competing concerns: (1) searchability, (2) marketing, (3) aesthetics, (4) preservation and (5) space.

Okay, so first up... I'm pretty lazy. So, to a large extent, I just pile books up on the floor until such a point in time that I decide to put them back on the shelf. As you might conclude, this does imply that I actually regularly access books from my shelves so I reject the argument by the first guy in the video. Secondly, as much as ctrl-f is fun, I like holding a physical book (so I reject his follow up points from later on in the video). But, thirdly, I also like how the books look on the shelves so I accept the premise that a large part of it is aesthetic or about using stuff to project identity (i.e. marketing). Which is to say... how do I, Forsher, go about organising bookshelves?

Well... it's hard to explain.

I think both of the first two links ignore a very important dimension of organising things on shelves... shelf size and storage capacity. So, where possible, I try to group books together. I have three Very Short Introductions and a slightly larger number of BWB Text books. These are similar non-fictional ideas so I keep them together... likewise books in the same series, but not all of them are the same size (e.g. modern versus traditional paper back size) so that complicates things. But there's no necessary broader connection. The Harry Potter books are on a totally different shelf to the Redwall books and the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman books are on a third shelf (but there we also find the Artemis Fowls). And the HP books are on the same set of shelves as the aforementioned non-fiction books.

And, indeed, there are a lot of books that I have which I pretty much just shoved on the shelf... by size.

But then there are a whole lot of books which I very carefully organised by Dewey Decimal number... on a fourth set of shelves altogether. I had previously used a version of this xkcd to organise them but I decided to move the marketing and policy books to the shelf and that didn't really make sense any more.

Oh, and when it comes to DVDs I have those split into TV Series and Movies and then within those categories alphabetically. OTOH there's also a lot of them in piles, which is how I store CDs (usually without cases).

So, I guess that makes me Chaotic Evil, even when I do sort them? Except, I arrange things (except the CDs) specifically so that it's easier to find or access them. Except for the books which I have on the side to act as bookends for the other books. So... sometimes I pile books on the shelf too.

In any case, how would you go about organising bookshelves NSG? And why?

(For libraries... by genre and alphabetically for fiction. Dewey Decimal for non-fiction.)

[Outer Sparta]

Something such as how to organize bookshelves has never crossed my mind at all. That being said, I'm too lazy to think up any schematic organization system.

[Nevertopia]

i prefer alphabetically by title tbh.

[Dylar]

I usually organize my bookshelves based on the size of the book. And also by genre.

[Atheris]

Whatever fits.

[Bombadil]

Sort of by size but I will group heavy historical or philosophical tomes in one section, fiction in another - basically under my stairs I have a bunch of tiered shelves..

..having said that I also have them lumped on my table, another bookshelf upstairs and some behind my monitor, some lumped on another table..

For DVDs I have them arranged by colour, so black, red-orange, blue and white mainly, same with apps on my phone, all arranged by colour given blue and green are mail or messenger types, photo stuff tends to be red, or red or white and etc.,

[Luziyca]

If I have one, I'd organize it randomly, based on what feels right, and in a way so the spines face inwards, and the pages faces outwards.

[Kowani]

Genre first, then size. Large books on the left.

[Authoritaria-Imperia]

and in a way so the spines face inwards, and the pages faces outwards.

I cannot be the only person who winced reading that… :/

[Region of Dwipantara]

Depends. For my house's collective bookshelves in the computer room where most books are stored, based on the genre. Larger books on the left, mangas to the right (yea we have like a shit ton of them). But for the bookshelf on the living room, aesthetics is prioritized.

[Mushet]

Subject primarily, most books can fit on a regular bookshelf so size isn't usually that big of a concern but you can have large bookshelves too if there are enough of them. Of course you only really need to organize your bookcases if you have plenty of them. It's not that big of a deal to browse through one bookcase for the book that you want.

[Geneviev]

I organize them in groups based on common subjects, so my cult book is together with books related to the Holocaust and things like that. I tried organizing them alphabetically by title, but it didn't make as much sense to me.

[Farnhamia]

Let me help ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_D ... al_classes

[Mushet]

Of course themed presentation is legitimate, like this

[Geneviev]

Of course themed presentation is legitimate, like this

(Image)

That genuinely would scare me.

[Farnhamia]

Of course themed presentation is legitimate, like this

(Image)

That genuinely would scare me.

Well ... I do keep my mysteries together and the biographies together, history, Greek and Latin texts, dinosaur books, sci-fi ...

[Geneviev]

That genuinely would scare me.

Well ... I do keep my mysteries together and the biographies together, history, Greek and Latin texts, dinosaur books, sci-fi ...

As long as the pages are not facing outside, anything is forgivable.

[Ictus]

^That is amusing and disturbing at the same time

I arrange mine by size (larger ones to the left) and by color (ROYGBIV then Black then Brown then White. I squeeze in Pink between Indigo and Violet)

[Farnhamia]

^That is amusing and disturbing at the same time

I arrange mine by size (larger ones to the left) and by color (ROYGBIV then Black then Brown then White. I squeeze in Pink between Indigo and Violet)

Wha ... larger ones on the right, are you mad? And never, ever buy books with pink colors. Ever.

[Luziyca]

and in a way so the spines face inwards, and the pages faces outwards.

I cannot be the only person who winced reading that… :/

You know that pic of the Mystery book section having the books face the way they do? That'd be how I'd organize my bookshelf for all my books.

There's a reason why I don't organize the bookshelves in my house.

[Geneviev]

^That is amusing and disturbing at the same time

I arrange mine by size (larger ones to the left) and by color (ROYGBIV then Black then Brown then White. I squeeze in Pink between Indigo and Violet)

There are books with pink covers? I thought my green one (Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass) was an unusual color already.

[Phoenicaea]

let the chaos and fate decide, you will see the shelves will assume an order from your unconscious

[Geneviev]

I cannot be the only person who winced reading that… :/

You know that pic of the Mystery book section having the books face the way they do? That'd be how I'd organize my bookshelf for all my books.

There's a reason why I don't organize the bookshelves in my house.

How would you identify a specific book?

[Luziyca]

You know that pic of the Mystery book section having the books face the way they do? That'd be how I'd organize my bookshelf for all my books.

There's a reason why I don't organize the bookshelves in my house.

How would you identify a specific book?

Pull one out, see if it is the one I want: if not, repeat until I find the one I want.

[Geneviev]

How would you identify a specific book?

Pull one out, see if it is the one I want: if not, repeat until I find the one I want.

That's so inefficient, though.