bluesyemre

1. Review your present collection.

Sometimes we forget what we already own. Take a look at the books you have and see what you collect the most, the different subjects and genres, or specific authors. This will help you have an organizing system if you don’t already have one.

2. Decide what to keep.

3. Get rid of books you no longer want or need.

Sometimes, there are books that we really have to let go. We can give them to local donation drives. In my experience, there are many schools and libraries open to donations for their outreach programs. You may donate books to libraries but keep in mind that they may not accept everything because they also have policies.

In my experience, I’d rather donate and sell these books because there might be people out there who will love it. It’s also good for the book – it just won’t stay unread and lonely on a shelf, it might find a new home in another place that will appreciate it more.

Recently, I started selling my own books which are still in good condition but I don’t love enough to keep. I made a Malditang Librarian page in Carousell, a buy and sell app. I also listed some items in Facebook Marketplace and set up a Shop in the Malditang Librarian page. I joined some active groups like Buy and Sell Books Philippines. I had some buyers and I am more than happy to sell them the books because not only I am making some extra money, but also helping out another person who loves books and wants to read them. If you are also looking for cheap books, there are also many excellent finds.

4. Organize by genre, subject, or any classification for your convenience.

I am a librarian and I have thought of organizing my books the library way, but that is too time-consuming for those who are busy. Once I reviewed my collection and saw the common subjects of the books, I organized them this way (see the shelf in the picture):

Shelf 1: Library Science, Academic Books, Miscellanea
Shelf 2: Spirituality/Religion/Creativity
Shelf 3: Writing Reference (Books on Writing), Non-Fiction
Shelves 4-6: Fiction, Unread
Shelves 7-8: Fiction, Read

The 10 subjects of the Dewey Decimal Classification is also a good guideline in organizing books. As for fiction books, most libraries organize them by author’s surname (this way, books by the same author are together).

Everyone has a different method of organizing and different collections. There are also library organizing apps available like Librarika – you can organize your book collection and input each book’s data simply by scanning the barcode. This also makes it easy for you (and others) to browse your collection.

5. Have a goal in mind for your collection.

http://malditanglibrarian.blogspot.com/2018/09/5-tips-in-organizing-your-personal.html