I arrange them according to height. All books are stored at more than three feet from the floor. Then I arrange them according to how well they fit in the space available. In that way, I’m like Oxford University’s Bodelian Library.
Basically, I arrange them like the library does, only without using the Dewey Decimal System.
Non-fiction books are divided by subject, then by author, except for oversize books and reference books, which have their own shelves. Fiction books are ordered by author with no regard for subject.
[slight hijack]
Anyone else have fond memories of the actual card catalogs that used to be at libraries? It was a point of pride to me as a young child that I didn’t need to be shown how to use the thing every year.
[/slight hijack]
First by catagory (fiction or nonfiction) which determines which bookcase they live in, then into read and unread sections. Non-fiction are usually grouped by subject, with no regard to author. Fiction is straight alpha by author with no regard to subject or genre. I also keep a seperate shelf for unread books. Large format books that won’t fit on regular sized shelfs get stuck together on a botton shelf with more room. I seperate out my Discworld books from the general collection since there are so many and I have almost all of them. Books are the only thing I’m anal retentive about.
I used to work in a bookstore, and when I realized I was arranging my books by the same subjects we had at the store, I decided I was being too anal-retentive, and purposely rearranged them to have no order. The series I usually keep together, but the rest are pleasingly random. I like the way they look now better anyway. I need another bookcase or two, though, a great deal of them live in a couple cardboard boxes.
My biggest reason for wanting them to be in some sort of order, is to be able to find a specific book I’m looking for, or to know if I already have one (so I won’t buy a second copy).
I have separate bookcases for secular and religious reading as well as a separate case for children and young adult reading. (Isn’t childrens literature great fun? I enjoy is as much as I enjoy my adult reading favorites.) Toddler books , when there are toddlers around, are in baskets at toddler level otherwise kept in the toy closet.
In the cases my books are sorted fiction from non-fiction. Series and sets are kept together. I do not worry too much about alphabetizing although I do keep books by the same author together. My biographies for example are earliest person to most recent. I keep parenting books together, grief together, sports, health, reference, and so on. The childrens bookcase is only organized with heavy large books to the bottom and working up according to how they fit on the shelves best. About once every year or two everything starts to look and feel all wrong and I feel like I have to take the books out and rearrange them neatly again.