Organize Your Library to Find Your Favorites Faster

Methods of Organization

There are many levels of organization, but the primary 3 methods vary based off the size of your library and the level of organization you want. But before we decide which method you want, you must determine whether organizing it in this way would be worthwhile.

Dewey Decimal System

For the largest and most organized libraries, the Dewey Decimal system is used. As this is a very difficult system to learn and memorize, it is only used in the largest of private libraries and most public libraries. It involves an organized system of numbers based off genres, sub genres, categories, subcategories, and authors.

Categorical Organization

In this form of organization, you divide your books into main categories, and then subcategories, organizing as you need. This is for most libraries, as it is efficient without requiring a massive amount of work.

Alphabetical

This is truly only for the smallest libraries, such as those that make up only a few shelves. This form is efficient if you know the title of the work you are looking up.

Dewey Decimal

This system uses numbers to organize categories and subcategories of books. Every book is assigned a number by the OCLC (non-profit library organizing service for public libraries) and is then placed in the proper location regarding this book. Fiction books are in one section, and non-fiction is in another.

This method is extremely organized and efficient, but it has its drawbacks. A large amount of time must be placed in organizing these books (unless you use stickers to indicate the Dewey Decimal of the book). A lot of time is put into placing books into the right location, and it can require either a database of the Dewey Decimals, or memorizing the categories.

Either way, this is only recommended for the largest of libraries (or if you particularly like organizing in this fashion). The official website for the Dewey Decimal System gives the specifics on how to organize your library in this fashion.

Organize by Categories

This is, in essence, a less extreme form of the Dewey Decimal system that allows for some human error and allows you to personalize to your own preferences and priorities. You create categories for the books you have (like Science, Literature, Bible, Business, etc.) and then put books of those categories in those locations in your library.

I recommend organizing into two overarching categories (fiction and non-fiction), and then organizing down from there into subcategories. You can follow this method or do whatever works best for you.

Fiction

Novels

Children’s/Young Adult

This is where books that have a target audience of people under the age of 18 would go (or anything seeming to fit with this group).

Science Fiction

This category is rather broad, but includes anything that doesn’t seem to be scientifically accurate (often grouped with the Fantasy category).

Fantasy

Any stories having to do with knights, fairies, dragons, or any other mythical creatures.

Romance

Any romance novels would go in this category.

Literary Fiction

This should be reserved for “the classics” and other forms of literature that fit with it. All of those books that you had to read for high school and college English classes would go in this category.

Other

This should be reserved for novels that don’t seem to fit in any of the other categories.

Plays and Other

This category can include everything from plays and poetry to CDs and audio books that don’t seem to fit in other categories.

Non-Fiction

The categories for this section are pretty self-explanatory.

Bible

Science

Anatomy & Biology

Chemistry

Physics

Forensics

Mathematics

History

Geography

Writing & Language

Other

And there can be other categories based off what you need or want. If you have a child about to take the SAT, you can have a whole Test-prep section or a school section. You can have a section dedicated to your favorite author, your journals, or books you particularly value. This is just an example.

Alphabetical Organization

These are for small libraries (just a few books) so that you can find your book quickly. It can also be the organization used with categories for other forms of organization.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you need help organizing other parts of your life, be sure to check out other articles on planandorganize.com. We have articles on everything from stargazing to gardening.