I have just finished organizing my fiction collection (paperback and hardcover) into alphabetical order. From this I have discovered three really nifty things. First, I have 84 (fiction) paperbacks and 145 hardcovers, graphic novels, and trade paperbacks. The second thing I discovered is that I have books which I have not yet read cover-to-cover, which are still fiction.
The third thing is that I don’t have nearly all of my books into Delicious Library yet. Delicious Library is a library program which scans ISBN numbers from the bar code on the back of a book, and creates a library for you from the results. Now, I know that I have all the music I own scanned into DL, and therein I have 280 CDs (which is probably about right). But I have 225 books scanned and on the shelves in alphabetical order by author’s last named (as “fiction” should be organized, in Dewey Decimal notation). But there are a LOT more than 60 books which haven’t been categorized yet. So there’s still a lot of work to do.
In case you were wondering, the category for American poetry is 811. English poetry is 821. William Shakespeare is 822.33 I don’t know where Canadian poetry gets shelved, though.
Also, in the process of figuring out the DDS sheet that works for me (I have a 2-column list now that fills an 8″x14″ sheet of paper), I’m discovering a certain bias in Mr. Dewey’s work. Eighty percent of the 200s (Religion) is taken up by Christian issues, while only the 210s (natural theology) and 290s (Other Religions) fall into other categories. And all non-Western philosophy fits away into the 181s. Admittedly, each of these categories can be HUGE on the shelves, but it seems rather… tight.
I’m tempted to file all of my magical texts under the 600s, though (Technology & Useful Arts). Officially, they go under 130s (Paranormal Phenomena) and 140s (Specific Philosophical Schools).
Last but not least, I think the most important thing I’ve learned is that I don’t have NEARLY enough bookshelves.
your such geek! I love you!