Help! How do you organize your books?

[my3sons]

I have been building my own personal library of books for about 14 years, and I have a LOT of them. I have my HOD guides and their accompanying books in separate tubs (so the dc don't sneak reading them ahead of time ). But, how can I organize the rest of them? I almost took pictures to show you how dire the problem is - but I only have 2 weeks to get them all in some semblance of order - no time for pics . I have big bookshelves in the basement to put them on, but how is it best to organize them? Genre? Age? Alphabetically - by title, by author? Dewey decimal system? And then once you've organized them, how do you find things easily? And what do you do when you take a book out? Do you have a list of them you always have to keep adding to? That seems tedious, but maybe it's not. All 3 of my dc have big bookshelves in their rooms too, and so do I. We rotate these books in and out from the shelves in the basement. I also have audio books, etc. So these books need to be able to come and go from the basement system too. What do all of you book lovers do to organize your books, and can it be done in 2 weeks?!?

In Christ,
Julie

[zookeeperof3monkeys]

I'm jealous, you have bookcases! I store our books in banker's boxes. I organize them by type ( earth science etc), then by age group (k-3, 3-5). This works well for us. You could put a small label on each book shelf detailing what belongs there ( ex. earth Science K-2).I have a list of every book I own in a spiral notebook, each page (or2) for each box. When I sell or move a book, I just cross it off the list. Some people keep their list's on their computer, I like mine in the notebook so when I go to book sales I can take it with me. You can use a sticky note on the page to notate which books went to which child's room, or make a page for that. There's also some online book organizer sites. I'm just not that technology savvy! Good luck organizing your collection!

[water2wine]

I organize them by purpose and program. The ones that will be used in DITHR get a label on the spine of genre and reading level. The ones that go into the programs and are for story time get a color code for the program and the genre written on them right on the spine so it can be seen. The books we use from day to day in the HOD programs go in a nice wire crate to pull out each day. Those crates live in my chest that doubles as a coffee table. The extra ones that will be read are organized together and they are on shelves in what others might call a coat closet but we opted to put in shelves and use it for book storage instead. We have a coat rack on the wall instead. Then we have a free reading science area, a free reading history area, a whole section of Bible and character things and books for fun. We have all our Bible that we use for reading the Bible chronologically in a wire basket that hides in a hutch but we pull it out each day and put it back when done. The kids are free to use those resources whenever they want and we also have other resources that are in our school room which others would call a dining room but we decided we did not need a dining room since our large table fits in the kitchen eating area. That about covers it. We keep things like Emerging readers in a basket, Bible materials in a basket, each program in a basket and anything we do extra as part of our school goes in a certain basket in a certain place that gets hidden until we use it. The baskets have the books standing or with the spine showing so you can see what books are in each basket. Each HOD program has a basket. Six kids now three programs (last year two) and it works great for us. We practically never lose books. My kids also have magazine holders for all their comb bound things and workbooks for LA and math etc that are labeled with what goes in it. I do combine as much as possible rather than use binders. They take less space and things never get lost that way. But it is more work setting things before you get going with school. My book system though I think I set up over two days and then as the programs rotate with the new year I just move the new books in and the old books out.

Here is an old link that has more ideas and I posted pictures on how we organize stuff. Really nothing has changed at all for us. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3118&st=0&sk=t&sd=a ... ganization

[Daisy]

We have 3,000+ books. I organize by genre & reading level but in more general terms than a dewey system. LOL.

1. Literature (3 bookshelves in the living room)
a. Picture books
b. Early readers
c. Beginning chapter books
d. Children's chapter books
e. Read-Alouds (higher level books my children haven't reached yet)
f. Adult classics
g. Adult collections (hubby's Louis L'Amour, etc.)
h. Adult fiction (these books are going to recycle in and out of our house fairly quickly)

2. History (3 bookshelves in my bedroom)
a. Biography
b. American History
c. World History
e. Geography/cultures
f. Adult history (top shelves)
g. Holiday books (because they fit here & kinda go with culture)

3. Science (5 ft bookshelf living room)
a. General science
b. Biology
c. Chemistry
e. Physics
f. Nature Study/nature guides
g. Creation science (AIG books)
h. Adult science (top shelves)

4. Misc. Nonfiction (5 ft bookshelf in living room)
a. Children's living english books
b. Poetry
c. Children's living math books
e. Resources; dictionary, foreign language books, etc.
f. homeschool resources/inspiration

5. Theology/Bibles (5 ft bookshelf in living room)
a. Missionary stories
b. Church History
c. Theology books
d. Christian living
e. Parenting
f. Devotionals
g. Bibles in various translations
h. Bible dictionaries, maps, commentary, etc.
i. Worldview/Philosophy

Additionally each child has a short bookshelf in their room for books they are currently reading or wish to read soon. The kids know what bookshelf the books belong on. About twice a year, I go through and make sure stuff is organized but the kids really do well with putting books back where they belong.

Everyone puts there books back when they are done reading them!!

Library books have their own shelf & crate.

You've seen how I organize my HOD books. I use a color code system. These books are kept on their own bookshelf and are not to be touched by the children.

Oh, and I use Library Thing (online) to catalog all my books. I love it!

[kissesmomof4]

I am hoping to be able to purchase this curriculum for my kids and I was wondering how I was going to deal with all the books. Now I am even more worried LOL I will probably stack them in my husband's closet on the shelves until they are needed. I will put the ones we are currently using or use often on the shelf in our school slash dining slash craft room. Simple enough.

[3musketeers]

Daisy,
That list is AWESOME!!! If I lived in Southern California, I would wish you would invite me over to check out all of your wonderful books!!!

I was going to share how I organize mine and then I realized mine could use an overhaul too. So I'm tuning in for new ideas as well.

Blessings,
Cindy

[water2wine]

Daisy your mind just works in a way that mine just can't. I wish it could but no such luck. But I love it when you post the lists because I can use a list. I just can't make them concisely the way you do.

[water2wine]

I am hoping to be able to purchase this curriculum for my kids and I was wondering how I was going to deal with all the books. Now I am even more worried LOL I will probably stack them in my husband's closet on the shelves until they are needed. I will put the ones we are currently using or use often on the shelf in our school slash dining slash craft room. Simple enough.

Don't worry. We could fit all of HOD in one spot easily. It is the other book obsessions we have. The program does not take a lot of space to store. It's all the other books we tend to fill our house with that is the issue for most of us. But it's nice to have books.

[eazbnsmom]

My non HOD books (and HOD that are not being used for the year) are organized as follows:

This covers the 3 bookshelves that are in my school room:

Landmark books
History books (by time period)
Biographies (by series [COF, Scholastic] then by person's last name)
Music, Art & Poetry
Science (by category - biology, astronomy etc)
Children's Fiction (by author's last name)
Children's Creation & Bible
YA - Biographies
YA - Fiction
Picture Books (by Author's last name)
Encyclopedias/Dictionary

When my husband has our bookshelves built for upstairs:

Christian Fiction
Health, Nutrition and Alternative Medicine
DH's Handyman and Construction books
Bible & Bible Helps/Reference
Christian Living
Biographies
Other

[Geo]

My non HOD books (and HOD that are not being used for the year) are organized as follows:

This covers the 3 bookshelves that are in my school room:

Landmark books
History books (by time period)
Biographies (by series [COF, Scholastic] then by person's last name)
Music, Art & Poetry
Science (by category - biology, astronomy etc)
Children's Fiction (by author's last name)
Children's Creation & Bible
YA - Biographies
YA - Fiction
Picture Books (by Author's last name)
Encyclopedias/Dictionary

When my husband has our bookshelves built for upstairs:

Christian Fiction
Health, Nutrition and Alternative Medicine
DH's Handyman and Construction books
Bible & Bible Helps/Reference
Christian Living
Biographies
Other

This is nearly identical to the system I have used for about 20 years. There are tiny differences with the children's fiction in my home library. Some are just so "classic", that they have a section of their own (Beatrix Potter, Winnie The Pooh, Little House series, etc.). Historical fiction is categorized by time period.(Ancient, Middle Ages,etc.). There are also Philosophy, Geography, and Audio/Visual sections. It has worked well (for me). It is organized, yet not high maintenance. I can add to it without alot of fuss. I have 1000's of books. We were fortunate enough to have the space to dedicate to a wall-to-wall, built-in-bookshelf library. Oddly, no matter how much I plan, thin, weed-out and cull...the books just keep multipying and we buy yet more bookshelves for anywhere I can fit them in the house(bought one today)! Alas, it's a Charlotte Mason home. I love it.

[Geo]

We have 3,000+ books. I organize by genre & reading level but in more general terms than a dewey system. LOL.

1. Literature (3 bookshelves in the living room)
a. Picture books
b. Early readers
c. Beginning chapter books
d. Children's chapter books
e. Read-Alouds (higher level books my children haven't reached yet)
f. Adult classics
g. Adult collections (hubby's Louis L'Amour, etc.)
h. Adult fiction (these books are going to recycle in and out of our house fairly quickly)

2. History (3 bookshelves in my bedroom)
a. Biography
b. American History
c. World History
e. Geography/cultures
f. Adult history (top shelves)
g. Holiday books (because they fit here & kinda go with culture)

3. Science (5 ft bookshelf living room)
a. General science
b. Biology
c. Chemistry
e. Physics
f. Nature Study/nature guides
g. Creation science (AIG books)
h. Adult science (top shelves)

4. Misc. Nonfiction (5 ft bookshelf in living room)
a. Children's living english books
b. Poetry
c. Children's living math books
e. Resources; dictionary, foreign language books, etc.
f. homeschool resources/inspiration

5. Theology/Bibles (5 ft bookshelf in living room)
a. Missionary stories
b. Church History
c. Theology books
d. Christian living
e. Parenting
f. Devotionals
g. Bibles in various translations
h. Bible dictionaries, maps, commentary, etc.
i. Worldview/Philosophy

Additionally each child has a short bookshelf in their room for books they are currently reading or wish to read soon. The kids know what bookshelf the books belong on. About twice a year, I go through and make sure stuff is organized but the kids really do well with putting books back where they belong.

Everyone puts there books back when they are done reading them!!

Library books have their own shelf & crate.

You've seen how I organize my HOD books. I use a color code system. These books are kept on their own bookshelf and are not to be touched by the children.

Oh, and I use Library Thing (online) to catalog all my books. I love it!

Wow, ALOT like my house...but not. I''m constantly battling the "absent-minded professor" feel to my library. I can't blame the system (psst...between you and me...the librarian-on-duty is a slob). I'd love to come over and peruse your shelves.

[my3sons]

WOW! Thanks so much, ladies! I have found ideas in each of your posts to help me start this seemingly overwhelming project. Water2wine - I use a similar system for my HOD things, and it works really well - great minds think alike, right?!? Thanks!

Daisy - THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am excited to use a system like yours! That is a EXACTLY what I needed - now that I have the framework, I think I can start the organizing, which I really do love to do anyway. (Though I too can float between the supreme organizer and the absent-minded professor). I'm printing out your list and getting organized. Thank you so much for taking the time to type the ins and outs of your system.

I like ideas from Kay's and Geo's posts too - thanks. I have that many books as well, and we keep adding more and more. I like what Geo said:
Alas, it's a Charlotte Mason home. I love it.
I love it too - can't wait to dig in and be up to my elbows in books!

Oh, and kissesmomof4 - I didn't mean to make you worry about something you don't need to be worried about! HOD books themselves are easy to organize - it's the other books I've bought that pose the problem.

In Christ,
Julie