All my books are 'shelved' in alpha order according to author. Makes it easier to find what I'm looking for this way.

Okay, I can't get over how awesome this is.

Break them up first by use. Separate those book which you use regularly and put them in a place that is easy to reach. Arrange them alphabetically by Title. I don't actually keep a lot of books. Use is first for me. Then it is by type of media, art books go in in one section, graphic novels in another. I basically have four types of books-- art books, ready reference and professional, childrens books, and graphic novels. I can get most books at my job. I try to only keep books which have a very specific value.

My books are divided bu fiction and nonfiction, with further divisions among the nons. Cookbooks live on the shelf in the kitchen, along with misc. others. (Cholesterol for Dummies) I don't know how travel - mostly places I want to go - wound up on the floor in my bedroom. Gardening has been on the Baker's Rack out on the sunporch for a couple of years, but I'm thinking maybe that's not the best place for books.....

I used to group them together. 1 bookshelf for all fantasy/sci-fi, 1 for "other"... Then the one overran the other. And kept going. So now I just arrange them alpha by author. This way I don't neglect any of my books, or forget they're on a shelf. Except for the ones wayyyyy at the bottom.

How about sorting paperbacks from hardbacks, alphabetically. That's what I plan to do with the jumble of books I have in the basement library. Cookbooks will be separate, as will my collection of Asian books. Otherwise, alphabetically.

I would separate by genre, then alphabetically by author. (Series books, though, I'd put in release order, not alphabetical.)

I still think the color spectrum looks wonderful, but how efficient can it be? We organize by topic or genre and then by author. My absolute favourites are in one spot though, so I can grab them at my whim.
Thanks for the link to my blog, Dave. I appreciate it.

Mine are divided into Fiction (with short stories all being shelved together), Non-Fiction (with memoir all being shelved together) and then there's the shelf of things I mean to read. But they are not organized by author.

Plus, I have one shelf of my favorite authors: Haven Kimmel and Paul Auster.

And then there's the closet of classics that is at my parents' house...

I don't organize my books at all. They are in a jumble on the shelves. Some are vertical and some horizontal laying wherever I can fit them. I enjoy getting to look through my books and handle them every time I need to find a specific book.

Mine are divided into Read and Not Yet Read, and from there roughly ordered by date (read or purchased, depending on the group). Unfortunately I've run out of room on my Read bookshelves (even though I've set them horizontally rather than vertically!), so I have to reorganize them again. Gah!

i tried doing alphabetical by author but then i would get new books and had to keep rearranging the shelf so i gave up lol. everything not on the shelves is in piles up against the wall

My books are all sorted by size. Harbacks are all together, and paperbacks are seperate. If there are size differences between the paperbacks they are sorted by decending size too.

I've got about 400 some books...I have tried my best to separate them into hardcover...new fiction paperback...classic fiction paperback...children's section...non-fiction...journalism...I just have way too many sections hahah

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody! I actually have a system right now that's a cross between Book Calendar's and Anastasia's -- Favorites and To Be Reads on one shelf, everything else on another.

My big problem right now is creating a system while bringing two collections together: mine and my boyfriends. I've been too daunted to even start yet!

But that color-coordinated shelf sure is pretty...

Due to limited space in my apartment, I just try to get everything to fit on the bookshelves. lol
When I have my dream home, with my livingroom having three walls of nothing but bookshelves, it will be according to genre. but I do like the color spectrum...

By size order.

I have a hard time shelving my books too. I clean and dust my bookshelves every couple of months and re-arrange my books then.

I was usually doing it by genre, height, and author in alphabetical order. I switched it up a while ago and went with grouping all the hard covers by height and in alphabetical order and all the paperbooks in the same order.

I don't know if I like this arrangement and I might switched it up again but don't know to what yet.

I know I am anal but I love my books

Honestly, mine are everywhere. All kinds of books in all sorts of positions, and they're lying on bookshelves, coffee tables, nightstands, kitchen islands... you name it. Actually, here's a picture of where I keep my books on my blog! :) http://bookwormzreader.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-do-you-do-with-you...

Mine are grouped rather loosely by genre and topic -- newer fiction, classic fiction, cookbooks, travel books, books on language, books to read, reference books. Within those groups however, they're all jumbled up. On the note of getting new shelves, I looove this twisty bookshelf idea: http://curledupwithabook.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/bookworm-bookshelf/ Granted, it might not hold too many books, but it'd be great for showcasing some favorites!

My books aren't grouped in any way, shape, or form. They get placed on the shelf in serendipitous, random fashion. While I have a good idea of where a book was placed, Dewey, with or without Decimals, would be in cardiac arrest. I do keep books to be reviewed right beside the computer in a mini book shelf, however. Again, they are not shelved by topic or genre. In this unique case, they are placed according to how soon I want to read and review the book.

In other words, chaos rules in my books' anarchical society.

All of my fiction books are split up in the following groups: hardbacks, large-size paperbacks, and small paperbacks. Each group is in alphabetical order by the authors last name. I don't have much besides fiction, and what little I have of that is in no particular order.

I group my books together by author, and since we've got shelves that go up to the ceiling (don't ask me how we get the books up there) I usually put the books I'm not likely to miss higher up. The more I like the book/s, the easier they are to reach. I do, however, have a shelf of books, easiest access, that used to be unread, but is now read and ready to be given a more permanent place according to how I liked them.

When I don't like a book at all, I simply give them away.

once for fun, I took all my books off a shelf and arranged them alphabetically with a twist. I chose a first book at random and the next book's title had to start (excluding a and the) with the last letter of the previous book's title (excluding a and the) and so on. I managed to get all but 15 of the books to fit in this scheme.

My shelves are chaos.

Mine are shelved by author - up to the point where I gave up! As I'm a library cataloguer, my excuse is that I get enough of that kind of thing at work. Plus when the space you allowed for a particular author or subject runs out, at work the shelvers will sort it out for you ...