How to Organize Your Bookshelves

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As your personal library continues to grow, it's important to keep it orderly so you can find books when you're looking for them! Plus, with good organization, you'll never buy another twice again. Read on to learn more.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Bookshelves
Books

How to Organize Your Bookshelves

Step1

Separate your books into fiction and nonfiction. It's preferable to have different shelving units for each if space allows.

Step2

To organize non fiction books, you can organize in two different ways--the Dewey Decimal system or the Library of Congress Classifications system. Dewey Decimal is currently still the most libraries standard way of classification, but many libraries are moving toward the Library of Congress. There isn't a need a label your books, but just organize by category to quickly find and put away books. Once you decide on which classification method, organize the books. Go one step further: organize each section by author.

Step3

To organize fiction books, first organize them by author's last name. If you have numerous books by the same author you can organize them by title. If the books are part of a series, put them in series order. This is just a general guideline. You can come up with your own system.

Step4

Place over-sided books on the bottom on their sides.

Tips & Warnings

Don't crush books together too tightly. You run the risk of tearing or ripping covers.
If you notice you books are dirty, carefully wipe clean with a damp towel and dry well. If you have very old books, it's best to have a professional clean them.