Let's Talk Home Library

How do you organize your books?

I’m almost done organizing our home library. It’s been slow going amidst the other more pressing to-do’s. And it’s been a bit of a ridiculous question: how should I organize my library? I don’t know if you’re like me and obsess over how best to shelve your books, but it’s the topic on my mind of late, so I invite you into the madness swirling around in my brain.

I’ve had many opportunities to organize my library. I do it every time we move and each time I do things a bit differently. For months I’ve been thinking about how to organize my home library and what I want to change versus keep the same and I puzzle over the “best way” to do it. I’ve pretty much figured out what works for me with science: general reference books, biology, earth science, physical science, chemistry. But within those topics I organize by how it makes sense in my brain. Animal books are arranged by classification or habitat—it just depends.

But then it gets a bit muddled…what do I do with biographies? Stick them in history under their time period? Or maybe they get their own section?Or organize them by subject like inventors or literary figures? I put my music picture books, which have no business in the biography section, next to my music biographies. Art, art history, and artist biographies are also kept together in their very own separate section. I guess like most everything else, I lean toward a hodge podge of organization.

I do at least one thing that generally makes sense; I organize my history books chronologically—but should I include my highschooler’s books alongside historical picture books? I like to keep a separate American History section including some biographies (of Native and early Americans) rather than adding it to the history section in general.

But it isn’t simply a question of how to organize the books themselves, I also need to take shelf size into consideration. I have some bookshelves where I can adjust shelf height and some that I’m stuck with. My oversized books will only fit on certain shelves while I have more flexibility for small books. Not to mention the really tall bookshelves that need careful consideration as to what I put on top since it can only be reached by tall people (of which there are a growing number in my house these days.)

My choices might not makes sense.

And yet it makes perfect sense to me.

So here’s what I’ve concluded:

Home libraries don’t have to make sense to anyone but the home librarian and her readers.

Continuing in the “I do what I want” theme of being a home librarian, my middle grade novels are arranged both by actual genres and by categories I’ve created. Historical fiction, fantasy/magical realism, action/adventure are shelved alongside my own groupings of “sweet wholesome stories,” “animals as characters,” and Roald Dahl is a category all his own.

Why don’t I organize by author? Because more often than not, I’m looking for a type of book rather than a particular author. I’m much more likely to remember I have a book about a wolf or a book that takes place in the early 20th century than who the author is (sorry, authors.) It’s just how my brain works. Graphic novels are organized by subject, and comics, poetry, and holiday books get their own sections, too. Most seasonal books are lumped in the picture book or possibly science book sections but I do keep autumn specific books with holidays. See? I am inconsistent and it makes no sense. But it works for me.

What about nonfiction book series? Do I keep them separate or include them where they fit into science or history? I’ll admit it completely depends on the series. Dianna Hutts Aston’s nature book series (and most other series related to science topics) get separated and shelved according to topic. But I prefer to keep my You Wouldn’t Want to… history books together as series. It all boils down to me being able to remember what I have, where I imagine it to be, and the ease in which my children can grab them. Those history books get read all the time, the science ones are more likely to be read when it pertains to a specific topic.

One of the biggest hang-ups for me this time ‘round was what to do with Shakespeare. I’ve always grouped all of my Shakespeare biographies, graphic novels, and plays all together to create a complete Shakespeare section of sorts. However, this time, I’m doing something completely different. Shakespeare historical books & biographies are in history, plays are where they happen to fit on the shelves, and Shakespeare graphic novels are in the graphic novel section. We’ll see how we like it.

If you’re wondering how I’ve grown my home library it’s a recipe of time, library book sales, thrift stores, used book stores, gifts, and shopping sales. You can build an amazing library on a budget over time. And most likely, you won’t even need to move it across the country every couple of years which makes home librarian life even simpler.

And so, I end this post of home library pondering and ramblings wondering if other homeschool moms think about the organization of their home libraries or am I the only one obsessing?

Tell me: How do you organize your library? Are you team logical organization or team wildly spastic according to your own kind of logic? Or are you a minimalist and make good use of your library card?