Organizing your library

[2535Miles]

Does anyone have a personal library, not the room (though I'd love to hear if you do) but a collection of books, periodicals, etc.? If so, how do you keep yours organized? Are the alphabetized by author or title, grouped by subject?

I'm slowly going through the process of packing and moving back to San Diego and I've been considering how to arrange my books in my new apartment. At which number do you think one should start cataloguing their titles?

I like books.

[DevilAlumna]

Books rule. Love them.

I have a weird kind of organization -- fiction primarily alphabetical by author, but this occasionally varies depending on shelf height (have a shelf of only hardcovers).

I also have separate groups for non-fiction (politics, other), russian lit, paperbacks of a certain height (primarily a shelf of Steinbeck), and a general resource shelf (dictionary, thesaurus, etc.)

I don't usually keep magazines after reading them, with the exception of Cooking Light - those I keep in magazine holders on another bookshelf.

[dukemomLA]

I totally agree - BOOKS RULE. I also catalogue my fiction by author. Then there's a section of biographies/autobiographies alfed by subject.

I have a Religious section -- no particular order, except via Christian, Hindu, Buddhism, eclectic. Then "new age" (or whatever) divided by tarot, paranormal, astrology, etc.

Books on Art, Architecture, Composers, music, etc. are alfed by artist.

Other non-fiction by subject. Then cookbooks -- no particular order.

Then a section on Home Improvement, repair, household tips and gardening -- just in their own cubby. And another section for dog books, cat books, Audubon Guides to everything, fishing, hiking, zagat, campgrounds, travel, etc.

Other books: law, politics,humor, children's books, etc. are grouped as appropriate.

Books are my passion (along with Duke BB and other sports). My biggest fear in life is the nightmare of going blind).

Good luck with your book sorting.

Plays and screenplays by author.

[billybreen]

Does anyone have a personal library, not the room (though I'd love to hear if you do) but a collection of books, periodicals, etc.? If so, how do you keep yours organized? Are the alphabetized by author or title, grouped by subject?

I'm slowly going through the process of packing and moving back to San Diego and I've been considering how to arrange my books in my new apartment. At which number do you think one should start cataloguing their titles?

I like books.

Yes, absolutely. I'm drowning in books.

My management answer will of course start with technology -- Delicious Library (http://delicious-monster.com/) is far and away the best software solution for managing all my books, movies, etc. And it has the coolest use of a hardware feature I've seen in 10 years -- it uses the built-in iSight camera (on most Macs) as a barcode scanner so you don't need to enter all those ISBNs by hand. Awesome.

According to Delicious, I have 428 books, 87 movies, and 25 video games. The last number is so low because games are one of the few things I can bear to part with and recycle back through the used market.

As for physical organization, one of the reasons we bought our house (at least, one of the key factors that geeked me out) is that one side of the finished attic is a wall of bookshelves. That's sufficient to hold most of mine. The attic is my nerd cave in the sky -- my computers, my tv, my games, and my books are all there for me.

The shelves are divided into 2 rows and 6 columns. Each of the 12 cells holds a specific genre or subject matter, and the books within that cell are organized by height (tallest on the left, shortest on the right). I suppose it would make more sense to use alpha, but I'm to damn OCD to allow anything but a consistent progression from tallest to shortest.

[billybreen]

I don't usually keep magazines after reading them, with the exception of Cooking Light - those I keep in magazine holders on another bookshelf.

For a while I was the same way with my Linux Journals, but I fell out of that phase. Now, I keep some MIT Tech Reviews around, but most I recycle.

My wife keeps Fine Cooking on file in the kitchen. That magazine has given me some good times in these past few years (and probably 20-30 pounds).

[BCGroup]

Nothing too fancy--my fiction books are grouped by author, alphabetical within that (hardbacks separate from paperback simply due to maximizing storage space). My nonfiction books (which I mainly use as research for my writing and teaching) are by category. One of my summer projects is building an electronic file. I was going to use excel, but am now going to look at delicious library and see what I think!

[2535Miles]

My parents were a big influence on me, although I didn't take to reading until after high school. Our den had built in book shelves divided by a fire place and I always enjoyed walking into the room and seeing all of the books. Our family genes prohibit anyone from throwing things away, so we have volumes of National Geographic, Popular Science that I hope will be passed down for my collection (hint hint: Dad or Aunts if you're reading :D)

My current, or former since they're moving into boxes, arrangement organizes everything by author inside of genres: pulp fiction (airplane reads like Kootnz, King, Crichton, etc.), classical lit, astronomy/physics, art, cook books.


My management answer will of course start with technology -- Delicious Library (http://delicious-monster.com/) is far and away the best software solution for managing all my books, movies, etc. And it has the coolest use of a hardware feature I've seen in 10 years -- it uses the built-in iSight camera (on most Macs) as a barcode scanner so you don't need to enter all those ISBNs by hand. Awesome.
I remember a bunch of guys in the office talking about this when it first came out. Since then, I've gotten a MacBook Pro but had totally forgotten about this. Unpacking will be a perfect time to catalogue the library. Thanks for the reminder!

[DevilAlumna]

The attic is my nerd cave in the sky

<snarf!>

Quick, to the Nerd Cave, Robin!

[g_olaf]

Does anyone have a personal library, not the room (though I'd love to hear if you do) but a collection of books, periodicals, etc.? If so, how do you keep yours organized? Are the alphabetized by author or title, grouped by subject?


Aside from keeping the cookbooks in the kitchen, my only goal is to not have them sitting upside down in the shelves. In fact, I prefer not organizing by any principle. By keeping it random, books can find themselves next to very curious neighbors (e.g. CS Lewis sitting next to DH Lawrence on one side and a book about Schroedinger's cat on the other).

[hamster]

I organize my books in piles. Usually they are in the bedroom, either on the nightstand or the floor, and consist of two piles: 'to be read' and 'in the middle of reading, don't touch'. Once a book is ready to moved out of the 'in the middle of reading' pile, I move it to the bookshelf, where instead of putting it away neatly, I -that's right - pile them in roughly the area that looks appropriate.
I'm sure this drives my husband absolutely batty.

[2535Miles]

My management answer will of course start with technology -- Delicious Library (http://delicious-monster.com/) is far and away the best software solution for managing all my books, movies, etc. And it has the coolest use of a hardware feature I've seen in 10 years -- it uses the built-in iSight camera (on most Macs) as a barcode scanner so you don't need to enter all those ISBNs by hand. Awesome.
Okay dude, I am ruined. I just downloaded the latest version and just finished scanning all of the nerd books in my office. This thing even found my Ben Franklin Action Figure.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c97/long1118/ben.jpg

I am hooked. I will be purchasing this software and I will be cataloguing everything I own.

[sue71, esq]

Ben... Franklin... action figure?????

[2535Miles]

Ben... Franklin... action figure?????
Damn skippy!
"Energy and persistence conquer all things."

[Turk]

I use the scientifically precise grouping of "clumps". The books tend to be in clumps on various shelves around the house. Clumps can be a fraction of a shelf or more than a shelf. I have a clump of basketball and golf books, a clump of tech books, a few clumps of lit books (American, English, Russian), a couple clumps of mystery/airplane/beach reading, a clump of travel/camping/hiking, etc etc etc.

I would love to convert a room in the house into a library with builtin floor to ceiling shelving to centralize the clumps, but Mrs Turk will have none of it. She is an avid reader and does the book club thing but she is *not* a collector. She is quite content browsing the regional library database and getting things shipped to the local branch for easy pickup and dropoff, including online renewals whenever needed. She will often ask, "When was the last time you even looked at anything on that shelf? Why keep all these books around cluttering up the house?" My reply is "Why make it an either/or choice? Some books are fine for borrowing and others are worth keeping."

To me, it's a way of sharing - "here's a book you might enjoy", but it is also a way of marking territory - "beware - this is what I like." I have to admit when we visit someone else's house I will (hopefully discreetly and politely) browse any book or CD shelves on display and maybe work some of the contents into the conversation...

[shereec]

Our family genes prohibit anyone from throwing things away, so we have volumes of National Geographic, Popular Science that I hope will be passed down for my collection (hint hint: Dad or Aunts if you're reading :D)

I hereby bequeath to you any old magazines piled up in my house (organized or not) when I pass to the great beyond.

[2535Miles]

I hereby bequeath to you any old magazines piled up in my house (organized or not) when I pass to the great beyond.
Awww, how about Christmas? I'm not down with all this talk of the great beyond.

[billybreen]

Okay dude, I am ruined. I just downloaded the latest version and just finished scanning all of the nerd books in my office.

That's like the most fun ever. I spent an entire day doing that a couple years ago.


This thing even found my Ben Franklin Action Figure.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c97/long1118/ben.jpg

That is the bestworst thing I've seen today. You win!

[2535Miles]

Aside from keeping the cookbooks in the kitchen, my only goal is to not have them sitting upside down in the shelves. In fact, I prefer not organizing by any principle. By keeping it random, books can find themselves next to very curious neighbors (e.g. CS Lewis sitting next to DH Lawrence on one side and a book about Schroedinger's cat on the other).
I love the idea of CS Lewis and DH Lawrence sharing some shelf space together. But I'm also a fan of order and I really can't explain how awesome Delicious Library is.


I would love to convert a room in the house into a library with builtin floor to ceiling shelving to centralize the clumps, but Mrs Turk will have none of it. She is an avid reader and does the book club thing but she is *not* a collector. She is quite content browsing the regional library database and getting things shipped to the local branch for easy pickup and dropoff, including online renewals whenever needed. She will often ask, "When was the last time you even looked at anything on that shelf? Why keep all these books around cluttering up the house?" My reply is "Why make it an either/or choice? Some books are fine for borrowing and others are worth keeping."

To me, it's a way of sharing - "here's a book you might enjoy", but it is also a way of marking territory - "beware - this is what I like." I have to admit when we visit someone else's house I will (hopefully discreetly and politely) browse any book or CD shelves on display and maybe work some of the contents into the conversation...
For me, the most important books are the ones unread. My library is chock full o' books that appeared interesting, but I haven't got around to reading yet. This is due, in part, to the pack rat gene in my family, and the Barnes & Noble/mom n pop book store bargain shelves offering books at ridiculous discounts. I'm notorious for reading four or five books at a time. Right now, I'm living out of a suitcase which is packed with four books. Read a page here, switch books and read a page there. I hope one day you can have a gigantic library, and that Mrs. Turk will appreciate it as much as the rest of us.


That's like the most fun ever. I spent an entire day doing that a couple years ago.

That is the bestworst thing I've seen today. You win!
I cannot wait to unpack my books. I usually can unpack, and move into, a single bedroom apartment in about eight hours. This time though, I'm imagining it taking at least two days due to cataloging.

Do you publish your library and loan books? If so, how's that working for you?

[billybreen]

Do you publish your library and loan books? If so, how's that working for you?

I'm not big on the loan thing. I'm absurdly possessive and never learned to share as a child. I could see publishing, but I don't currently.

[wiscodevil]

http://www.imediaman.com/

[2535Miles]

I'm not big on the loan thing. I'm absurdly possessive and never learned to share as a child. I could see publishing, but I don't currently.
I could imagine loaning being a bit iffy; it usually ends up being a gift. I was more curious about how it works and where the sites was published. I shall go RTFM. <sigh>:)

[mph]

http://www.imediaman.com/

I don't have Mac, so I downloaded this program shortly after you posted and now my Saturday afternoon is shot. This is a great little program. I've been using my PC cam as a scanner to reasonable good effect and I have yet to scan a book it didn't recognize.

[sue71, esq]

Yes, absolutely. I'm drowning in books.

My management answer will of course start with technology -- Delicious Library (http://delicious-monster.com/) is far and away the best software solution for managing all my books, movies, etc. And it has the coolest use of a hardware feature I've seen in 10 years -- it uses the built-in iSight camera (on most Macs) as a barcode scanner so you don't need to enter all those ISBNs by hand. Awesome.


Oh.
My.
Goodness.

I just downloaded this. A-ma-zing! I LOVE this. I'm now inspired to organize, even if it only lasts for a week or so. ;) At least I'll know what I have once it becomes groups of piles again. Heh heh...

[billybreen]

I could imagine loaning being a bit iffy; it usually ends up being a gift. I was more curious about how it works and where the sites was published. I shall go RTFM. <sigh>:)

Report back, please.

I believe that's a new feature in version 2. The first release was more for the insular media hoarder (read: me).