To want some kind of order in the home library?

[butterpieify]

We have approximately 750 books. No idea how we got this many, they just kind of built up. The kids alone have over 100. We gave away 250 a few years back and it barely dented our shelves.

Anyhow, we are very quickly getting sick of not being able to find the book we want, so I am pushing for a better system. We have a vague thing where books tend to be near where they were last read, so the kids books tend to be near the toys, the trashy novels and browsing books tend to be in the bathroom, reference works are in the front room, feminism, history, politics and sociology tend to be in the garden room for some reason, and literary fiction has a habit of being in the bedroom. Computer manuals and buisnessy books are near the computer, comics are high up or the kids mess with them, and outsize tend to be in the shelves under the tv.

This can not continue.

However, my MIL (who is a trained librarian) thinks it hilarious that we would try to impose order. I suppose our shelves are nothing after a career dealing with proper libraries, but still.

ah, but I like to buy duplicate books - obv not the same one twice, but the next edition, or a revision, or a different size or binding.
Mostly with second-hand books, of course.

eg, hymn books - I have got of the original Hymns Ancient and Modern: one melody only, one full music, and another edition of melody, because the first one wasn't in very good condition.

I have to double up my books as there isn't enough shelf space.

make more shelf space!

Is the top of your room covered in shelves?
no, didn't think so.

Put shelves above head height - in older houses, use the picture railas a "support" and put shelves aroudn it.
Above doors, in staircases.

I almost cried the other week. I spent ages sorting out our books as they'd been in boxes for about 3 years. It was like a big happy reunion, me standing over them and them all sprawled happily and wordily all over the floor in lovely papery piles, according to category: fiction, non-fiction, reference, children's, sport, history and maps. When they were finally on the bookshelves all neat and tidy and in alphapathetical order I was so proud I nearly burst even though some of them had to lie down on top of other ones.
Then DH discovered four more boxes of books and went out, bought more billy shelves and made everything fit...... according to size. Size.
How can i stay married to him now?

Nickel - Hmm, I might be counting wrong then (tbh I only estimated)

We have mostly the little three shelf thingies from wilkos - 10 of them are full of books. Then 3 three shelf ones that are wider (I think as wide as a Billy but not as tall), then a low one that is probably the width of two Billys but only two shelves. Then a shelf up high with hardbacks on, about the width of two billys, and two of those shelves in the bathroom which are half books, half toiletries. Then two wall shelves and a bedside four shelf unit upstairs, although the bedside one is half books, half bedside bumf, and a kindle. Then some more in boxes, but I don't count them as they are for work, although it is five storage boxes and a suitcase full, then of course the shelf in the kitchen of cookery books. Oh, and the kids have a three shelf unit and a box.

Our books are far too haphazard! Most of our shelves (apart from the wilkos ones) are inherited from here, there and everywhere, so we don't really have standard sizes to count them up in.

I suppose some of the books are DHs comic books, so not sure they count :)

I'm going to get rid of a lot of the novels soon I think.

Ok so we have 9 big bookcases (floor to almost ceiling) divided by categories. Our spare bedroom has two walls covered in books.

Religious books to reference/language/writing (development of script/alphabet books) lead into classic literature, followed by our degree books (archaeology then social anthropology). Then comes non-fiction divided into categories loosely (biographies, popular science, politics).

Then the huge fiction section again divided into a huge sci-fi/fantasy section (terry pratchett has an entire shelf ) with crime/thriller then cheesy airport literature. Travel has its own section. Along the bottom are the oversized books (grr) followed by one bookcase of 'pretty' books - all the antique ones we've collected over the years. (I've made this the bookcase you see as you walk into the room). Then a few shelves of kids books followed by all my medical textbooks. Cooking books along with chronologically sorted cooking magazines then gardening magazines with a smattering of quilting/sewing/knitting books.

Downstairs we also have some cooking books as we kept on having to trudge upstairs to get them and they just ended up in a pile on the floor. There are also a couple to be found next to the loo.

Glad to see there are other kindred spirits out there . I can't believe people doublestack I just can't do it I find it really irritating.

Oh my!

I have one shelf of books and they are arranged in height order

Obviously doesn't include children's books but they are in the playroom and bedrooms.

I've had several half hearted attempts to organise books over the years but I always get bored before it's done. And then things get merged again - just separating Fact from Fiction was an achievement, but I've observed that there's been spillage recently. One day I'll crack it.

We've just bought two new billy bookcases, shelving for above head height in the hall, shelving for DD room. I can't wait to get all my books down from the loft and my childheed books from my parent's loft! My new systems will be beautiful to behold. Not sure what they'll be yet, but they'll definitely be amazing! Am enjoying daydreaming whilst waiting for the shelves to get built . So far, I know we'll have board books low, paper pages out of reach, gardening in the lounge, girls' classics in DD's room, unisex children's classics in new playroom, big books in the lounge, mostly, novels I'm not ashamed of owning in the hall...

My favourite journalist, Lucy Mangan, often writes about arranging her books, I think the current system is by emotion! She also talks about her "beloved Billys" .

Haphazard is good, though.
Makes books feel more like life!

I realised last night that I hadn't even counted the books in the kitchen!
Add another 50 to the previous total.

and the shelves in the bedroom that I worked otu in my head - counted them last night - one shlef had only 83, and the other shelf had 127, so evens out at about 105 each.
jenny - there's room for both types of sorting.
remember that size order is helpful for cases that have adjustable shelves. then you can have more shelves in.

I also worked out that my estimation of my books at home might be a bit wrong - in the shop, there are 6 shelves per case, but at home, we also do by size order (ish), so one of the cases has 8 shelves, i think. (some very tiny books)
and along the top, there are more books, held in place by bookends - that was done because our ceiling isn't quite high enough for the height extension. That's probably the only place (apart form the kitchen) where the books are properly organised - they are put into "sets" (most oft hem are proofs, and some publishers publish all their proofs with the same design, so they look good as a set)