Thanks to all who answered my informal poll about organization of your personal books! I thought the results were pretty interesting, if unscientific. Because we’re clearly all nerds, I thought you’d appreciate seeing the results in graph format. I’ve also shared some of the more interesting “Other” responses below.
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| Click on the graph to make it larger. |
A total of 111 people responded, and most of you selected more than one option, which I assumed would be the case. Leading the pack is “by genre” with 52 responses, which was pretty surprising to me as it’s never something I’ve done before (though I’ve always wanted to). I also think it’s interesting since it seems like genre separation is something public libraries are moving away from. People clearly think it’s important for their personal collections, though.
In second place was “alphabetical order by author’s last name” with 41 responses. This one doesn’t surprise me at all. It’s a really easy organizational scheme both to set up and to use for locating titles afterward. On the opposite end, almost no one organizes their books by Dewey or Library of Congress. Either this means our readers don’t have much nonfiction (I realize fiction can be classified this way too, but that’s just silly – I’m looking at you, academic libraries), or these classification schemes just aren’t that easy. Or both. (I’m in the both camp.)
If I combine “wherever they’ll fit” and “organize? What is this word organize?” into one category, it comes in third place with 38 responses. These people seem to be in the same situation I have been in for the past several years: limited space means books just get shoved where they can fit, and organization is not as important as making sure the books don’t get stored in, say, the oven.
The “other” responses were the most interesting. Many of you wrote that you organize by size, which is something I should have included in the original poll. It’s something I do, too, without really realizing it. For example, I keep all my mass markets separate from my hardbacks (which is something I’ll probably continue to do in the new house). Many of you mentioned space as a factor, and a few mentioned giving away lots of books due to space or just not feeling the need to keep something you won’t read again.
Here are a few of my favorite “other” responses, with my own comments in italics:
- I have a shelf dedicated just to books I haven’t read yet. (I had this at my old place where we had a ton of built-ins, but in my current place, the books I haven’t read tend to just sit on tables.)
- My other shelf is for books I’ve read and LOVED.
- By books I’ve read and books that are unread and then by genre. (An organizational scheme after my own heart. Perhaps something I’ll do in my new place.)
- Importance
- Personal interest
- By imprint (all NYRB together, all Penguin black spines together, etc) (By far one of the nerdiest responses, and I mean that lovingly.)
- If they were purchased for a class, they tend to stay with their “classmates.”
- Release date then author’s last name
- Loosely by genre– for example, British mysteries are separate from cozy mysteries, etc, but I do keep series together.
- By “themes” and by favourites vs. non-favourites. (Organizing by favorites was a popular reply.)
- Crammed into boxes by size. I only have space to have out books I am actively reading. Very unhappy. (This would make me unhappy too.)
- Stream of consciousness
- Alphabetical and then by publishing date except for series… it’s complicated.
- Genre first, then beauty (series are kept together, no matter what).
There were a lot of great, more in-depth comments on the original post, too, so be sure to check it out if this topic interests you.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention in my comment on the original post that within the alphabetical author names they're organized by release date, but series together — all in a series count as the release date of the first book. And then of course within the series they go in order. Sometimes I've dedicated shelves to books I haven't read yet, or even to books I've borrowed (rather than on tables etc.), but not consistently.
It still cracks me up that one day when I was stressed from an interview for a library job that had gone… weirdly (I didn't get it), I came home and de-stressed… by organizing my books. Completely spontaneously, unconscious of how amusingly fitting it was until later.
This is so interesting! I actually organize mine in a few different ways: size, read vs, not read, and genre (sort of). I have all my classics and comics in their own shelves. After that, it's somewhat organized by size, but I don't mix my read and unread books. Most of my shelf is full of unread books because I don't keep books unless they're autographed or absolute favorites.
When I had more space and shelving I used to organize by author last name. With such a small personal book collection, there's no real need to organize them that way.
I currently have them sorted by genre with same author together, but I kind of want to mix things up. One bookcase is more obvious than the others, and I want to move all my favourites onto there… I also want to try organising by colour just for fun, but I know I couldn't leave it that way because then books by the same author would be all over the place 😛