Collecting books is fun. Some may say it is a waste of a collection considering the existence of libraries and now eBooks. However, there is something simple and warm about collecting books. Jonas and I both had our own separate collection of books prior to dating. Combining our collections was a feat all on it’s own. The thing to note, collecting books is just the beginning. Once you have a collection you must begin considering how you will organize and store all your books, and organization is not always an easy task.
“A bookshelf is as particular to its owner as are his or her clothes; a personality is stamped on a library just as a shoe is shaped by the foot.”
Alan Bennett, Baffled at a Bookcase
Today we are going to be conquering said task. The organization of books. Once you’ve built up a decent collection, you start thinking to yourself, “Where will I put all these?”. It is daunting. There are many things to consider. Such as how to sort, how to store, and how to display. We will cover this topic today through five different organizational strategies. I will be honest from the start that I have only utilized three of these strategies. Sometimes it is easy to determine what will work for you simply by imagining it, others you may have to physically test out. Regardless, I hope you find a way to better organize your books at the end of this post.
Three things before we jump into organization techniques. Book storage, particularly in the area of preserving books, is based on ensuring the pages stay flat, the spines don’t bend, and the covers don’t rip. Here’s a quick link on the best ways to keep your books in their best shape.
Aesthetic organization
This first one is one I have not done. I love how they look for other people, but I do not see functionality behind it. I do see some areas where this may work. For example, if you have a smaller collection of books and are looking for a way to display them, aesthetic based organization could be a great fit. The premise behind aesthetic organization on bookshelves is to group your books by what looks good together. You may have some older books stacked up placed by a nice bouquet of flowers. Or perhaps your aesthetic is more colorful so you put your colorful book spines next to a unique piece of art. Once again, I love the looks of these organized bookshelves, but considering the amount of books I own and how I strive for functionality, it just is not a good fit.
Alphabetizing by Title
Next we have one of our two alphabetical organization strategies. In this strategy the idea is to organize your books based on title. This is one I have done. It was actually in place for a year. It probably would have changed sooner if it wasn’t a large hassle to reorganize our books. This worked great for a while, but in order to make this work for my mind. I had to have a separate book for all our series. This is not a problem unless you don’t have access to a separate shelf. It works well if you find yourself remembering titles well. Having them alphabetical will simply allow you to hop to the necessary shelf and go up the alphabet till you find your book.
Alphabetizing by Author
To follow, we have our second alphabetical organization strategy. This is my go to. I have a hard time remembering titles and I seem to collect authors. Therefore, organizing by authors makes the most sense for the space Jonas and I currently have. This is identical to the previous category all expect for you will sort by author instead. I choose to do last name, but I don’t see any harm in doing first name if you prefer. This organization strategy allows me to keep my series in one place and in order. I am able to find books quickly and efficiently. Better yet, other people are able to find books quickly if they are perusing our shelves. All around I give this organization strategy a 10/10.
Genre Organization
This is the other one I have not personally tried. There are multiple reasons as to why I haven’t, but the first one being, I have a hard time separating genres. I know Jonas has posted two blogs on genres now. In both he mentions how often books can fall into multiple genres, making it very difficult for me to commit to an organizational strategy that relies on genres. However, in my dream library this will probably be implemented for easier searching. In this organization, you would simply sort your books by their most prominent genre (refer to these posts if you are having a difficult time). You would then have the option to sort alphabetically by title or alphabetically by author.
This could also work well if you have multiple stand alone shelves. For example, you could have a bookshelf dedicated to classics. In a sense Jonas and I do have a genre shelf, if you count our collectible books. But I think that will have to be a separate post one day.
Color Organization
Having just shifted out of this organization strategy I have some strong opinions. This looked amazing. I loved collecting my books by their spine colors and placing them on my shelves. However, it became more and more difficult to find the books I was looking for. I have a hard time remembering the covers of books, let alone their spines. Oftentimes the spine color can be completely different from that of the cover. This organization strategy often left me frustrated and without a book I was hoping for.
However, if you are good at remembering images over names, this may work better for you. Or if you store your books in a shared room, like the living room, this could make a very nice decorative piece. In the future, if I were to try this way again, I would add to our book sheet the colors of their spines. (Although, I don’t see that happening anytime soon).
Conclusion
Oh, book sheet. You’re probably wondering what that means. Currently I have our books organized on a google sheet. This lets me keep track of the books we have, who we’ve loaned them to, what genre they most fall into, and whose read them. It also allows me to brag, humbly of course, that I have read more books than Jonas. If you’re interested in learning more on how to set this up, with coding tips and all, let us know in the comments.
Overall, the organization of books can be very personal. We all have different likes and dislikes. Our brains all function and remember things differently. Find what works best for you. If you have a different way of organizing your books, let us know down in the comments.
As always, happy reading.