I don't generally wake up in the middle of the night to alphabetize, but there's something comforting in the thought that all my books are to hand, so I could.
I was always a staunch "Mc" before "Ma" person, but I find at work that it's a losing battle, and several years ago I did a giant re-sort of our client files so that everyone below me on the pay scale could retrieve and return Mc files without coming into my office and informing me there had been a glaring error and somehow all the "Mc" files were in the wrong place. No matter how many times I explained it, certain people in the office just could not grasp it.
Note: the pre-printed tabs that divide the sections (A, B, C) also have numbers on them (1, 2, 3). The Mc tab has 13 on it, and the M tab a 14, which you think would be another helpful clue...
Book arrangement: Size (standard paperback or smaller on the upper shelves; larger books on the bottom, but only if the genre and author name match the range of the upper shelves of that bookcase), genre (scifi/fantasy, horror, mystery, all other literature, nonfiction [itself arranged as law, language, math/science, anthropology, religion, and misc.]), author (alphabetically by last name), series (alphabetically), number in series. Oneshots are arranged alphabetically by title, discounting "A," "An," "The," etc., and located after all of the series by that author. Comic books are arranged by company (alphabetically), series (alphabetically), and issue number.
In arranging the authors' names, apostrophes and spaces are removed. Prefixes (Mac, Op, de, Van, etc.) are treated as the beginning letters of the name. Abbreviations are treated as the full word. The "Mc" prefix is treated as "Mac." Collaborations are listed by whoever is at the top of the cover.
Looking at the above, I am overcome by my geekiness.
Yes, it is a real prefix, and no, the "op" I was thinking of is Dutch (who have some craaaazy surname prefixes, called tussenvoegsel). You may be thinking of the Welsh "ap" or "ab."
I was thinking of the Welsh 'ab,' but only in the sense that a language which would come up with 'ab' might very well come up with 'op!' I don't know Welsh well enough (er, at all) to have any idea of where they stop coming up with prefixes.
Ahem. Nonfiction: Library of Congress cataloging, keeping subject matter together. Bow to me, lesser geeks.
Fiction: Alphabetical. Mc after Ma, St. as Saint, Van under V if capitalized by author, series sorting depends: my Star Trek: ToS books are alphabetical by author within ST:ToS; Pratchett is simply alphabetical by title because it's too hard to sort out; purely chronological series are in chronological order, such as the Dragonriders of Pern. I also have an inconsistent policy on tie-ins, though they're largely shelved by fandom name (see ST: ToS, shelved under Star Trek).
Aaahaha, yes, a chronology of Pratchett is the sort of thing you could probably use to start a fistfight at ComiCon.
see ST: ToS, shelved under Star Trek
I would argue ToS is Star Trek, if any one of the serieses can have that title. Or do you just mean all ST together without regard?
I admire your dedication to the LoC, but I don't think I could use a system that required me to look stuff up. Unless you have the LoC categorization memorized, in which case, I am indeed a lesser geek, and bow before you.
Star Trek is all Star Trek, but then TOS is shelved before TNG; I don't think I have any of the others. This created a little dilemma when the cross-series anthologies came out, which I resolved by shelving them at the end.
LibraryThing, which I use to catalog etc. my books like you use GoodReads, automatically adds LoC information if you use LoC or academic libraries for your sources, and then you can export the information for printing on labels. If you're so inclined.
Ah, of course. I tried LibraryThing before Goodreads, but hit the 100 book limit and didn't want to pay.
And your Star Trek method seems eminently sensible. I'm not sure what I would have done with anthologies, although I think I might have put them at the beginning, which is what seems intuitive (to me.)
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Note: the pre-printed tabs that divide the sections (A, B, C) also have numbers on them (1, 2, 3). The Mc tab has 13 on it, and the M tab a 14, which you think would be another helpful clue...
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In arranging the authors' names, apostrophes and spaces are removed. Prefixes (Mac, Op, de, Van, etc.) are treated as the beginning letters of the name. Abbreviations are treated as the full word. The "Mc" prefix is treated as "Mac." Collaborations are listed by whoever is at the top of the cover.
Looking at the above, I am overcome by my geekiness.
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I admit, I don't alphabetise within Author until I get five or more.
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Fiction: Alphabetical. Mc after Ma, St. as Saint, Van under V if capitalized by author, series sorting depends: my Star Trek: ToS books are alphabetical by author within ST:ToS; Pratchett is simply alphabetical by title because it's too hard to sort out; purely chronological series are in chronological order, such as the Dragonriders of Pern. I also have an inconsistent policy on tie-ins, though they're largely shelved by fandom name (see ST: ToS, shelved under Star Trek).
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see ST: ToS, shelved under Star Trek
I would argue ToS is Star Trek, if any one of the serieses can have that title. Or do you just mean all ST together without regard?
I admire your dedication to the LoC, but I don't think I could use a system that required me to look stuff up. Unless you have the LoC categorization memorized, in which case, I am indeed a lesser geek, and bow before you.
Reply
LibraryThing, which I use to catalog etc. my books like you use GoodReads, automatically adds LoC information if you use LoC or academic libraries for your sources, and then you can export the information for printing on labels. If you're so inclined.
Reply
And your Star Trek method seems eminently sensible. I'm not sure what I would have done with anthologies, although I think I might have put them at the beginning, which is what seems intuitive (to me.)
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