How to Organize Books

As any bibliophile knows, books can easily take over a home in no time at all. They fill up all the shelves then start consuming tabletops and eventually floor space. Organizing your books makes them more accessible. Choose a system that works well for you and your collection.

Instructions

1. Devote an entire room to books. Line the walls with shelves and put a table and a few chairs in the center of the room. Separate fiction from non-fiction and shelve them by title.

2. Shelve fiction alphabetically by author, a system that works well for collectors of classics and those who collect the works of specific writers.

3. Separate books on the shelves by genre. Group reference works, anthologies, poetry, short stories, history, science fiction and literary fiction.

4. Create a spreadsheet listing the title and author of each book. Include information like the ISBN, the date purchased or the source, which may come in handy for serious collectors.

5. Color-code the spread sheet by category. Assign a color for each genre like health and wellness, business titles, cookbooks and humor.

6. Help keep books organized by editing the collection regularly. Go through and pull titles from the collection. Donate them to charity or to the library's annual book sale. Consider a rule, for every four books that come into the house, one must go.

7. Be clear of the intention of the book collection: is it to build a reference library, loan books to friends, re-read beloved titles or decorate the house. Make sure the collection reflects the intention.