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Question for Robin P. and anyone else who organizes their home library
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I have finally decided to start organizing my home library, using the suggestions on the Valerie’s Living Books website.
My question is – What do I do with biographies? Do I shelve them alphabetically by last name or do I put them in the correct time period on the history shelves? I like the idea of finding EVERYTHING in a time period when I browse that shelf, do you know what I mean?
What about musicians and artists? Are they shelved by subject or in their time period?
I’d love to hear some ideas of what works for you!
Thank you,
Anna
Anna,
I’m not Robin, but i do own 5,000+ books. I shelve most biographies within their time period. I do have separate shelves for artists, composers, poets, though. I just prefer having all of those in one section. I am reluctantly considering Dewey.
Christie
Thanks, Christie! How many hours do you think you would have to put in to switch to Dewey for your 5,000 books?
P.S. I really didn’t mean to be picky about who answers. I really appreciate hearing from anyone who organizes their books! 🙂
I don’t know and it kind of scare me to think about! I currently have over 300 new books waiting to be entered into my cataloging software to prepare for circulation (even just for my family). Books are off limits until entered in the computer, stamped and major repairs completed.
Anna,
My library is organized by Dewey so bios are 921 alphabetized by the last name of the subject. The exception to this is artists/composers. They go in the 700’s because the 700’s are music, art, recreation, etc.
The reason I don’t put bios in their place in history is that it is sometimes difficult to determine where they were most influential. Would Thomas Jefferson go with the Declaration of Independence? Louisiana Purchase? You get the idea. But keep in mind, I have over 16,000 books so my shelving challenges are different. Just think of where you will think to look first. For example, one way I “tweak” Dewey is that I shelve historical fiction with their place in history (or science if it deals with that topic.). So if a mom comes into the library and is studying Ancient Rome, The Bronze Bow would be shelved with Rome rather than in the fiction section. Make it make sense for you.
As for Dewey numbers, I use Michelle Miller’s database and many of the Dewey numbers are already there. For those that aren’t, I have a two-volume Dewey set to look up the subject of a book. I don’t “know” Dewey, but I know where to find (most of) the numbers. 🙂
Where do you keep 5000+ books????? I have probably 1500 and have a loft lined with shelves. I’m not sure where I’d go with that many.
Just curious. I’d love to check out your shelves.
Dawn
Mine is a muddled answer. In the house, I keep bios in their subject area…Scientists with science for the term, artists with art, musicians with music, poets with our language arts resouces, and historical figures with our history books.
Out in the building that we are repurposing as a library, I’m organizing by Dewey…reluctantly, at this point. We aren’t open, yet. That will hopefully happen in September. The main reason I am using DD is due to the many ex library books we own. I’m not seeing that I have enough time to completely change labels and the system just now. In my mind, I’d rather shelve in a colorcoded & timeline fashion. This would mix fiction and non-fiction, but then I’d run into the issue of personal impact of which Robin spoke…..unless I have a completely separate section for bios and color code the rest.
I also have Michelle Miller’s database. I’m not sure I want to reinvent the wheel, so mine will be a DD library…as I said, reluctantly.
Christie, which circulation program do you use?
This is so interesting. I may have 600 books right now. I am not planning on a library of any sorts. Just building with a multi-generational mindset. Something to leave behind to the coming generations.
Wondering what is best for me. Right now science is shelved by topic. Nature Study has it’s own shelves. Shakespeare, Artists, Composers and poetry have own shelves and are alphabetized. That works.
My concern is fiction, character development/spiritual, and bios. Should I shelve alphabetically by title or author? I don’t always know the authors when I am looking for a book. I think title might work better. Or as I loosely have them now which is by when year wise they are read by students? This is my least favorite option.
Also, tell me more about software I might use to catalog/chronicle my book collection.
I am buying Michelle’s database in the next weeks, I think. I could spend 10 hours a day for a solid month and I don’t think I’d get all of my books Dewey labeled, but if I keep collecting, I’m not sure there’s another way to go. I don’t run a lending library, these are just my personal books. However, I’d like to have a library someday.
Michelle Miller is the author of TruthQuest History. She is also the owner of a wonderful living books lending library in Michigan of over 20,000 volumes which she opened in 1995. Michelle is actually the one who encouraged me to open one the year TQ came out…the year 2000, I believe. In setting up her library, Michelle spend thousands of hours entering all the information for each book. She decided to make it available for sale to save us the time. I run mine in Access and I can search any field to find books by title, author, subject, etc. When I am entering books into the database, I search by title. If Michelle has it listed already (and since our libraries are of the same scope, she has most of them) I simply check the “own” box and enter the pertinent info for my particular book (condition, price I paid, etc.) and put in my barcode. She has the Dewey call numbers listed. If I have a book that she doesn’t, it’s easy to input the info for that book because the fields are already there. So if, for example, I have a book on monkeys that she doesn’t have, and I need a Dewey number, I simply search the “subject” field for monkeys, and it will bring up other books on that topic. I take that Dewey number and add it to my book. If you would like to purchase her database, let me know and I’ll get you her contact info.
Thank you, everyone, for your input! 🙂
Robin,
I think that I may have to take a road trip up north and visit Michelle’s lending library!!! That database sounds awesome. I would like her contact info, thanks. I am looking toward opening up a living books library when my children are older, but I’d like to start cataloguing my books now so it doesn’t take me 2 years once I think about opening. 🙂
~Anna
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