I spent this week cleaning up my bookshelf, and I have to say: organizing books is hard. It’s not simply because I have a lot of books (though that is a factor). Rather, books are hard to organize in general. This is especially true if you’re a book-lover like myself. Books are portals to other worlds, worlds of knowledge and excitement. There is little you cannot do with the right book. Therefore, they need to be catalogued correctly.
Bookshelves serve two purposes – one practical and one aesthetic. Practically, bookshelves have to hold all of the books you own in a predictable place and they have to look good while doing so. Both of these things are in turn reflections of one’s personal preferences.
If you find yourself in a situation where you need to organize books, how should you do it? After doing some research over the past week, I concluded that you should organize your books according to your personality and needs. There is no “right way” to organize books, but some ways will suit you better than others. This way, you are more likely to like the results. It’ll also tell others a bit about yourself in the process.
- Alphabetical by Author: Ah, the classic. Alphabetical order can come in two varieties: alphabetical by author or by book title. Alphabetical by the author allows you to find all the books of a favorite author all in one place, so choosing that method will let you stack all of the books of your favorite author in one row or pile. This is the traditional method of libraries, so why not stick to the classics?
- Alphabetical by Title: Alphabetical by book title makes it easier for you to find all of the books you want, so long as you memorize the title of them. It’s easier to remember the title of a book than its author, so this way, you can always know where each book is. Or maybe you don’t have a favorite author but still want to give your bookshelf a professional, library-like quality. A lot of tablets organize e-books this way, so perhaps you were inspired by them?
- Genre: Organizing your books by genre means that you choose your book according to your mood. This is my favorite method of organizing. To me, it seems illogical to put the cookbooks next to the philosophy textbooks merely because their titles or authors’ names have the same letter. If I desire to read a fantasy anthology or a comic book, all the titles that suit my fancy are all in one place. It’s elegant yet simple.
- Chronological by Publishing Date: Marking books by the date they were published is a unique way of organizing, but it does make a certain amount of sense. Books from different periods can have a unique feel to them. Language and word choice change over time. Sorting your books in this way will make it so that all of the books of a similar “style” will all be in the same area. Organizing by period is also useful for organizing books that appear in series, such as serial novels or updating textbooks.
- Chronological by Date of Acquisition: This method lets you simply stack books according to when you get them. It’s a pretty lackadaisical way of organizing, but it can be effective in its own right. This is especially good for organizing all those college textbooks you need to reference later on. You might be the kind of person who uses newer things more often than older things, so having what is “new” be most available to you is common sense.
- Size and color: I’ve lumped these methods together because they are both “style over substance” ways of organizing. These methods of organizing will let your bookshelf “pop” like no other. I incorporated elements of this in my bookshelf so that pictures of my bookshelves look good. This will turn your bookshelf into something fancy-looking and be good for parties.
- Anything goes: Maybe you aren’t the type to take books too seriously. For some people, organizing is underrated, and life’s too short to focus on stacking books in the “right” spot. Alternatively, you are perhaps disorganized in general. If so, I won’t judge – I am lazy when it comes to organizing things other than books! This method is best for people inclined to stack things wherever they fit and move on from there.
Which method of organizing books do you like the most? Do any of the descriptions match your personality? Let me know down in the comments. I’d love to hear about your story.
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