Library Organization: Categories
Art fine art appreciation fine art history art technique music appreciation music history music technique
Bible actual Bibles
Children’s history science stories faerie & folk tales alphabet/counting/wordless/puzzles board books –nice hardbacks, collections, & poetry shelved separately–
Coloring filed in a file box alphabetically by title
Culture & Philosophy worldview/metaphysics history (of ideas rather than people) popular/modern aesthetics practical
Domesticity cooking & baking handwork & crafts gardening organization housekeeping homemaking
Education practical classical theory government education history teaching
Family marriage family life child-rearing courtship femininity, modesty masculinity
Fiction action historical humorous
History overview (short history of the world type books) most shelved chronologically by topic (not publication date); when the collection expands, I will break apart world from US history. –exception: Leaders in Action series books stacked together chronologically–
Hymnals
Language grammar writing reading etymology
Literature shelved chronologically by approximate date written (thus, Scott is shelved near Austen, not Malory) –critical analysis books shelved with appropriate author or century–
Poetry shelved roughly chronologically; since most of my poetry is anthologies, this is difficult. I am considering keeping British, American, and “Other” distinct.
Reference
Science natural history geography (those are currently our only categories, but it’s sure to expand)
Theology commentaries & catechisms systematic theology theology proper soteriology apologetics eschatology ecclesiology sacraments practical theology, keeping similar topics together devotion
And I admit that although I keep the subtopics together, within a subtopic I shelve according to my sense of aesthetic arrangement rather than alphabetically or chronologically. My books are my primary decor item, after all.
On LibraryThing all books are tagged with a main category, but not specifically these subcategories yet. I plan to do that a section at a time whenever I add the actual labels, which I have now printed out. All our books will receive a “From the library of” sticker, as well.
That’s the plan, anyway.
