Does size matter? Or is what's inside more important?

[pbray]

When I swapped out the old entertainment center for the new one, I was able to add two new bookcases to the living room, filling my heart with glee. But now I have a dilemma, as I have to decide how I'm going to fill these bookcases, and what I want to do with the rest of my book collection. I've got only one shot to get this right, because once the bookcases are filled, there's no incentive to go back and change things up.

[Poll #1625430]

Comments

[lagilman]

Alphabetical, by author's last name. This is the easiest way to find a book, and allows crossovers to rest comfortbly rather than sprinting from one bookcase to another....

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Makes sense, but what if the author has more than one last name? Do I shelve Anna Leonard and Laura Anne Gilman together, or treat them separately?

[lagilman]

that's between you and your god (and your memory). I shelve them all by the author's main name, because I tend to 'forget' what books are written under noms and what aren't.

[fireun.livejournal.com]

I am with suricattus on this one. Alphabetical by author, authors with two names go under the main use name.

You can get really adventurous and split by fiction and non fiction and then alpha.

I have found alphabetical makes it SO much easier to retrieve something. And to notice what is on loan (though I had to start a notebook so I could hunt down who has what).

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

For being a librarian, I shelve my books at home in what looks to a rather erratic way. I try to keep series together, but they are otherwise shelved in whatever way allows the most number of books to fit onto each bookcase without the shelves giving way under weight.

separating HC by paperbacks doesn't always work this way, since you always end up with some dead room, and then you end up with some series that first came out in paperback and then switched to paperback....

The genre idea drives me nuts, since I well know the line is often blurry....and the last two ideas are just silly.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I am currently in the "stuff it where it fits" mode but would like to add a bit of organization. And yes, I also have series that started in mass market and then went to trade and finally hardcover, and it makes more sense to shelve them as a whole rather than break them up.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

I'm there right now; I do that with CDs as well as books. I keep thinking "one of these days, I'm going to fix this, but...."

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

And yes, I also have series that started in mass market and then went to trade and finally hardcover, and it makes more sense to shelve them as a whole rather than break them up.

Oh, that would drive me nuts. I like my series to remain the same format. It doesn't matter if it's trade, mass market, or even (gasp) eBook; I just want consistency within a series.

[cypherindigo.livejournal.com]

Arrangege alphabetically by author, within the autor groups arange alphabeticaly by series, titles in series number order, Stand-alonges alphabetically by title either at the beginning or the end of the run.

I put the hardbacks staning upright on the shelves first, and then have the paperbacks laying spine up infront of them. You get twice as many books on the shelves that way.

Hey, YOU asked the OCD librarian how to arrange the books.

[lagilman]

also, 'pocket' series, oldest to newest. neadods taught me that space-saver and it works!

[larryhammer]

I do by genre for finding purposes, then within each genre by size so they'll stack the best, then within that by color for appearance. But I wouldn't dream of suggesting anyone follow my weird brain.

The only section with a hint of alphabetical is SF paperbacks, and that's only roughly. Since they were all the same size anyway.

---L.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Originally it was by genre, then alphabetically within genre, but over the years it degenerated into "stuff it wherever it fits." I'm hoping to find somewhere in the middle.

[fireun.livejournal.com]

should I be heading over with beer and organizing the books?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Ah, the advantages of having an MLS candidate as my minion :-D

[fireun.livejournal.com]

Exactly. You wont be the first to take advantage of my book OCD :)

[wiredwizard.livejournal.com]

Divide by genre, then author name, then series name.

(What who me, suffing from book OCD? What gave me away? ;) )

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Do you make house calls?

[wiredwizard.livejournal.com]

Only if someone else is springing for travel expenses, lodging & a copy of Book Collector to install on their computer. ;)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Hmm, still tempting, but first I'd have to get that really really big bookdeal.

[wiredwizard.livejournal.com]

=g= Sounds almost like a plan! =)

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

What are your rates?

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

Or...ga...nize...? {blink blink} I generally let that sort of thing take care of itself organically over time, which is a fancy way of saying "chronological order of which handfuls I grabbed first"...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

New bookcases are like New Year's resolutions. For a brief, shining period I can pretend that I am an organized person, and everything will look great, and then inevitably chaos will triumph and I'll be back where I am now.

[wiredwizard.livejournal.com]

Bookshelves sound a lot better than my present system: waterproof boxes w/ numbers written on them in permanent marker stacked up to above my head in storage & what book is in which box recorded in my book catalog software.

What can I say, I need to get a house.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I need a BIGGER house.

Friends just bought a house where the main attraction was a barn that had already been converted to a 10,000 volume library space. I'm seething with envy.

[wiredwizard.livejournal.com]

=whistles= I've only got 4000 (give or take a couple hundred) to deal with so far So I think I can fit 'em all in a room in a house...

=joins you in the envious seething=

;)