AmyontheFarm Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 One of my dreams is to have a beautifully organized library! I decided that now was the time to start building that dream since we've successfully filled two 8 foot high and 3 foot wide book shelves. Yesterday, I sorted all the fiction books by author and labeled every spine with the first three letters of the authors last name. It looks so pretty! Now, I'll be able to train the children on how to put the fiction books away alphabetically. I'm stumbling on how to organize the non-fiction books and I'm looking for advice and suggestions from all of you. I could organize the non-fiction by author also, but with elementary children, I think it would be easier for them if I group the books by subject.Which subjects is the question. Right now, I have them piled willy nilly by the following categories. 1. Mechanical 2. Animals 3. Sound 4. Dictionaries 5. Atlases 6. Bible reference 7. Countries 8. History 9. Biographies 10. Outer space/Astronauts 11. Ponds/Rivers/Water 12. Human Body/ Anatomy 13. Time Management/Organization 14. Toys/Games 15. Internet/Computers 16. Music 17. Character Sketches/Virtues/ Devotionals Wow, that seems like a lot of categories. I was thinking originally that I would group the books by subjects, but that could/would change year by year. I was also thinking that if I did group by subject that I would at least break the sciences down using the Apologia Elementary Science textbooks as my subject titles since we will be using these texts throughout our elementary years. So under the General Subject of Science, I would then break everything down into Astronomy, Botany, Zoology, Anatomy, and then I'd add Earth Sciences. Any advice or suggestions? Once, I categorize all the books then I need to label these books also. Looking forward to having you weigh in on this, because once everything is labeled, there is no turning back! Oh, my sister expressed concern about actually labeling the spines of the books but I decided that I wanted to do that for my sanity. Yes, as the kids get older, some books will not be required any longer, but since I generally just give books away when we are done with them, I can't see anyone being upset about a small address label being on the spine of the book since they are getting the book for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zuzu822 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Well, I think I'd go for Dewey classification. You don't need to be super detailed (like insisting fairy tales be 398.2, lol) but you could go by 10s or so: 520 for planets and 590 for animals, for example. I'm a librarian and my home library is organized more or less along these lines. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth S Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 For convenience sake, I've organized ours using the WTM system. :001_smile: Chronologically for history, and by the 4 subject areas (Bio, Earth/Space, Chem, Physics) for science. I keep the Art books in a separate section. It's much easier to find the books we need next, or for the kids to know where they go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 I just knew that I would get a variety of responses from this group of ladies! Keep them coming! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Researcher Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 For convenience sake, I've organized ours using the WTM system. :001_smile: Chronologically for history, and by the 4 subject areas (Bio, Earth/Space, Chem, Physics) for science. I keep the Art books in a separate section. It's much easier to find the books we need next, or for the kids to know where they go. This is what I've done as well. I also have a shelf for reference books and one for foreign language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HejKatt Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Another vote for Dewey - I printed a simplified version of the DDS, put it into a page protector and taped it to the side of our shelves so we refer to it when finding/putting back a book. It also exposes gaps in my library, so I can keep an eye out at book sales. I keep texts on a separate shelf though (homeschooling material gets its own shelf). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar Plum Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Another fan of Dewey, here. I used to have an excel spreadsheet that served as our library catalog, but I lost that in a hard drive crash (sad day!) so now I keep track of everything on librarything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 What is librarything? :confused: I'm off to google it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama_Rana Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Another fan of Dewey, here. I used to have an excel spreadsheet that served as our library catalog, but I lost that in a hard drive crash (sad day!) so now I keep track of everything on librarything. Does librarything assign a DDS # for you? I really need to do some organization as well. Looking at the DDS is overwhelming. Why are books on chemistry in one century, but books on chemical engineering in another? :/ I also see huge sections that would just be completely empty for us. Not sure if that is a pro or a con. But the "WTM system" would only work for some books. Lots of books wouldn't necessarily fit into any of those categories. Hmmm..... So many options.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbookbuzz Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Both my daughter are of the mind that, after being placed in the appropriate category, books should be filed according to the TITLE and not the name of the author. She and I all too often don't remember the author, but can remember the name of the book, so "our" system would work better for us! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 She and I all too often don't remember the author, but can remember the name of the book, so "our" system would work better for us! :D That's a good point! I usually can't remember an author's name, it's always the colour of the book first, then the title next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misidawnrn Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I have mine kind of grouped together by subjects. I might have to redo them based on the Dewey system and do a lesson plan on it. Here is a list of the Dewey system by 10's. http://frank.mtsu.edu/~vvesper/dewey.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funschooler5 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I have mine sorted loosely by the Dewey Decimal system. I don't put labels on the spines (though some of our books have them because they are ex-library books). I have a lot of the DDS memorized because I've worked in a library off and on for years. Unfortunately, my kids don't know the system well, so they always have to ask me where books are. Printing out a DDS poster is a great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 I wonder how hard it would be for my special needs son to use a Dewey system. I guess if he learnt it he'd know how to find books in a library for life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama_Rana Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Hey, I just discovered something! I was looking inside some of my books at the library of congress number on the page with all the publisher's details, and I found that a lot of books already have a DDC # assigned, and written right in there for me! I've started labeling the spines of the books where I'm finding the info. Whoot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I started with the Dewey Decimal System and then tweaked a little according to my own personal preference. This is what I ended up with: Languages & Linguistics English & Style Manuals Word Study Grammar & Writing Latin Science Encyclopedias General Science Physics, Astronomy Earth Science & Chemistry Evolution & Intelligent Design Biology Human Biology & Anatomy Human Sexuality Neurology Psychology History Encyclopedias World History World History Ancient History Ancient History Medieval History American History American History Economics & Government Math General Knowledge Self Reliance General Non-Fiction Alternative History Religion & Mythology Each category is a single shelf. All of the fiction is down stairs in its own set of shelves divided into adult fiction, children's fiction and classic lit. I recently got a Kindle because all of my shelves are getting kind of full and I don't have room for any more bookshelves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I used the SOTW divisions for most history, geography, biography, and related fiction books. One shelf for each year. Then I had 2 shelves for science by subject, half a shelf for foreign language, including picture books IN the foreign languages, shelves for educational games and logic puzzles plus manipulatives, a shelf for literature that transcended its era, shelf for Sonlight 5 materials that I wanted to keep together, a shelf for materials about Japan and China because DD wanted to study them separately from everything else, a shelf for California history books, half a shelf for writing and grammar, a shelf for crafts and art books, and a shelf for library books (so we wouldn't lose them). Then I would take the books that we were currently using for school every day and put them on a separate shelf from the rest. I had a wall full of Billy bookshelves for this, but it wasn't quite enough. There were quite a few overflow materials, craft supplies, books that were not really literature, sets of books that we sometimes used (like fairy tales, myths, My Bookhouse, science, art, and history encyclopedias, etc.), sewing supplies, stationary, various kinds of paper, drawing materials, projects, found objects (especially deer bones and antlers, which DD finds everywhere) and a growing selection of homeschool theory/practice books that seemed to fly into my hands by magic. Also there were the inevitable kits--archeology, plants, etc. I can't honestly say that the shelves looked great. They were always crammed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 A lot of good ideas here! One I didn't see mentioned was a "reference" section. We like to have frequently referenced books in one easy-to-access spot. The books you want at arms reach for dinnertime discussions. Ours has the dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, Visual Dictionary, World History Timelines, almanac, field guides, etc. The contents vary a bit over time. Right now we have a book of quotations and a book of Bible charts there as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misidawnrn Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 OK, this thread inspired me to organize like a mad woman today. I printed off the DDS by 10s today, discussed them with DD, wrote the topics down that I knew we had on index cards and started pulling books off the shelf and placing them in piles. I bought 2 more bookshelves today and put them all away. They ended up not being in DDS order because of the way I had to have some shelves taller than others but they are super duper organized and I love it. I also don't feel like labeling all of the books so they are just under their appropriate labels on the shelves. Before we had books on parts of 2 short shelves, part of a tall one, part of a reading bench, in a basket, and in 2 drawers of the reading bench....basically all over the homeschool room. Now they are all together! I labeled my shelves: Toddler books level 1 readers level 2 readers level 3-4 readers General reading Educational reading (Like the old Footprints, Parades, etc books) Reference-encyclopedias, dictionaries Bible stuff Arts and crafts Math Spanish History Geography/maps General science space Earth science Animals Body/Humans Plants Weather I love my labeler! Here's our piles and the finished product Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 OK, this thread inspired me to organize like a mad woman today. Awesome pictures! It must feel good to have it done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 I started with the Dewey Decimal System and then tweaked a little according to my own personal preference. Each category is a single shelf. I'm still in the tweaking stage myself. I finally sorted the books into categories but I'm going to sleep on it and see how I like it in the morning. I'd love to get some clip on shelf labels like these: http://www.demco.com/goto?BLS10362&ALL0000&es=20120215221203561258 But I think I'll have to just tape a label to the shelf for now. Hmm, I should ask for the clip on shelf labels for in my stocking next Christmas. My mum loves buying crazy stuff for us like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 A lot of good ideas here! One I didn't see mentioned was a "reference" section. We like to have frequently referenced books in one easy-to-access spot. I was excited to realize that my reference books are at the perfect height for my youngest to reach herself. Duh!! Why didn't I think to do that before. If I can manage it I want to place the huge beautiful dictionary we have on a shelf alone so that the kids can just turn the pages to the word they need and they don't have to carry it around. They also have their own smaller Webster's paperbacks by their desks but they love to look at that old dictionary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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