Which is good because our library and our bar live in the same room. Hello? Books and booze? A perfect combination. Throw in the beagle and it's all three of my babies. Okay, that's enough alliterative torture.
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The Library Project was inspired by my Dad. He always had this crazy notion to put all of his books in order, shelve them and then maintain them in a database with its own dedicated computer. So, before I started in on his large collection that I have requested be bequeathed to me, I wanted to try it out with my measly four bookcase collection. Plus, this was the first time all of the books were already in need of being shelved. I chose Library of Congress Classification over Dewey Decimal for a few reasons.
- Dad seemed to prefer LCC (even his LibraryThing account specified as such)
- "Uh, it's for grownups!" — an acquaintance who is studying for his MLS.
- I am just more familiar with it, period.
- Have you ever been to Main Reading Room at the Library of Congress? That's where I want to go when I die. (Or anywhere where my Dad's spirit is.)
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This is what we started with, (almost) all our books collected in the center of the room.
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| I have moved lots of times and I have moved lots of books each time. Use boxes designated for copier paper — trust me — they fit books well and you end up with the perfect weight. Avoid a pulled back or cardboard ripping and book cascade! |
Once we put the shelves up barren (of which I regrettably do not have a photo) it already felt more studious than in our old house. This is why I like dark-colored shelving, it feels more literary than plain white by a landslide. So, one day I got up early (seriously, I woke up at like 5am for no apparent reason other than I wanted to get started) and made many cups of coffee. James left for work and I started pulling books out.
There are a few tools necessary.
One thing that is useful to have when beginning a project like this is the internet. Since the majority of my books do not have the updated LCC info on the reverse of the title page. So, what you can do (and I was forced to do until the cable guy came later that evening) was make piles of "to research". At some points I got antsy and started looking things up on my iPhone, which I'm sure was great for our data plan (le sigh).
After some practice I discovered I did not like using the LoC Online Catalog for this purpose. It was not designed for referencing in this manner.
But, Classify is a great tool! This experimental database contains "91 million classification numbers" and is not limited to LCC or DDC. It's attached to WorldCat which is a great way to find a book in your local library no matter where you are.
The other good thing to familiarize yourself with is the basic structure of the system. I printed one out and eventually copied it by hand (because I'm a verbal-visual learner like that). This will help keep you in check should you get a bad call number, which will happen from time to time.
There are numerous outlines to be found and the most detailed is from the LoC (big shock there). They offer a printable version of each but that would result in hundreds of pages and be a big waste of time/paper. So, I found one that was much more simple. I also wanted to have a copy of the outline available to refer to later when everything is all shelved. At some point this will actually be created and I'll be sure to make it available.
My tools other than that were post-it notes and a pen (the other stickers and the marker come in later)
So, in the grand scheme I spent nothing because I already had all of my materials but on the off-chance that I didn't the project would have been $11.66 or $311.63 with shelves (minus cost of books).
I've staged this over several days so I estimate the hours to be 12-24 depending on the size of your library. The first step is the longest!
- OCLC Classify — free
- Outline of LCC — $0)
- Recycled 3"x3" Post-Its (here) — already had, approximately $6.10 retail
- Ball-point pen — already had, approximately $1.82/2 pack
- 1/2" x 32/4" Multi-purpose labels (similar version found here) — already had, apparently paid $2.10 years ago
- Ultra-Fine Point Sharpie — already had, approximately $1.64/2 pack
- Billy Bookshelves from IKEA, in black-brown retails for about $299.96
- 3 of the 31.5"x 11" cases, already had, $79.99 each ($239.97 +tax)
- 1 of the 15.75" x 11" case, already had, $59.99 each
Write it out on a sticky note and place upon the cover.
If you have found numerous call numbers for the same title, either grab your handy outline or write both and make a note to check it later.
Sometimes a book may have two different call numbers listed, but as your familiarize yourself more with the system you will probably be able to decide which you would prefer to use.
This is going to be the longest part of this process, it will take the most time so do not be discouraged!
Step Two — Group Books by Main Class
It's really tempting to go ahead and start lining books up on the shelves in their detailed order. I know, I did this at first. It was a real heart-breaker when I realized it was folly and a real head-ache when I had to move everything else after it.
It will be a surprise how many or how few you have of certain classes. James and I have a lot of C (Auxiliary Sciences of History), E (History of the Americas), PQ (French Literature), PR (English Literature), and PS (American Literature). I did not expect us to have as much B (Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion) but it was a pleasant surprise — minus the moving everything thereafter as I mentioned.
It looks like quite a mess, doesn't it? It was a long day of piles but that's the longest and most trying part!
Step Three — Move Everything To Shelves
If you have some spare sticky-notes, it might be a good idea to put them around each section so if you have a stray book you can find it's home (roughly) rather quickly.
Step Four — Label The Spines
Now that all of the books are known to you and in relatively the right spot you can make for the really good looking part, spine identification. Grab those Multi-purpose labels and a fine point sharpie. You could, of course, type them and label that way, which is much more authentic but for me and for the time I have, handwritten is fine.
I labeled all of the books, removed the post-its and and waited until everybody was "spined" before organizing.
Could you skip the Post-It stage entirely and go straight for the spine? Absolutely. I wanted to make myself more familiar with the system by doing it the long way, but that's just me :)
Step Five — Re-Shelve and Show Off
Now that you can see the Call Numbers from the spines it should be very easy to put all of your books in the correct order.
Now, kick back with the book of your choice and enjoy the pages!
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