snippy book lady

[KellyHabersham]

To give some minor background info, my library system has what we call "Board Books"........basically, the sort of books which are formatted for babies and toddlers. And these books are NOT shelved by any particular order.

Anyhow, so yesterday I was shelving and doing some minor straightening up in the children's area, and this woman kind of snipped at me with "You know, I just spent a long time putting those in ABC order. Thanks a lot!". And she made another comment to me later on, although this one was more polite-sounding.....she seemed insistant that the "Board Books" did/should be shelved alphabetically.

I tried to explain that those books really weren't meant to be shelved that way, but she didn't seem to get it. And I kind of wondered if she would complain to someone at the reference desk about me "not doing my job right", but I don't know if she did. (Not that my co-workers would have taken her seriously, but still....)

[MoonCat]

Well, she had no obligation to do that, so she had no reason to snap at you just because she felt compelled to waste her time on it. She's probably the only person who even noticed.

Some people just don't have enough to do in their own lives, so they go looking for ways to poke their noses into places where they don't belong.

[firecat88]

I am guilty of having gone through certain sections at Borders and, if a series has an actual reading order, rearranging the books into the order they should be read in (the Dark-Hunter novels, for example, I'm notorious for switching around where they are on the shelf. Because those ones always end up being shelved alphabetically). Also, any time I get near the manga section, which *does* place series in alphabetical order, it's always a mess and I end up putting things back where they should go.

However, I can't say I've ever openly snapped at anyone for the way they shelve books.

[KellyHabersham]

Sad thing was, this woman had totally been wasting her time - those "Board Books" are no longer listed by author in our computer system (they just have generic barcodes). So there wouldn't be a point in putting them in ABC order in the first place.

[NorthernZel]

She might even have messed up the system.
I remember once I was looking for some specific board books for Lil'Zel, only to find out that they weren't shelved alphabetically but instead by topic / Dewey Decimal Number. Still, I managed to look up the books in the library computer, find the shelf which had books with that Dewey number and pick out the books I needed in approx. 10 minutes.

[ArcticChicken]

I am guilty of having gone through certain sections at Borders and, if a series has an actual reading order, rearranging the books into the order they should be read in

I do that, too.

[Legal Eagle]

although it may make it easier for someone like yourself who knows the books and the reading order, for casual shoppers and for the people who have to maintain the shelves, it makes it a lot harder

[flutes_and_fabric]

although it may make it easier for someone like yourself who knows the books and the reading order, for casual shoppers and for the people who have to maintain the shelves, it makes it a lot harder

I'm not sure if I agree with this. I was at the store looking for the next book in the Sookie Stackhouse series and they don't put reading order on the outside of the books. You have to look inside to check for the next one, and then cross your fingers that it really is the next in the series. It would be so much easier if it were just put in reading order. No person who has put the time and effort into reading a series wants to skip a book. But hey, I'm a crazy lady who actually alphabetizes her own manga collection, and my books are kept in order by height, cause I'm weird like that. (and I have a lot of books. Started separating them by subject and such because the whole height thing is hard across 14 bookshelves. Lucky for me and my OCD books in a series are usually of the same style. Not always though...not always.)

[jedimaster91]

When I had room for all my Star Wars books to be out at once, dang straight they were in chronological order. I always know the name of the next book in the series I'm reading so I know exactly what I'm looking for when buying it. My library drives me nuts because the sci-fi section is in alphebetical order by author. And because of the shared 'verse between so many authors, it can be hard to find the book I want.

[ArcticChicken]

my books are kept in order by height, cause I'm weird like that.

I just alphabetize mine. Chronological order of series, obviously. I was going to ask how you found anything, but then I remembered that do, in fact, know what each book on my shelves looks like, and I know what all the books in the six boxes sitting on my stairway to go to the used bookstore look like. It's so weird having room on my shelves.

although it may make it easier for someone like yourself who knows the books and the reading order, for casual shoppers and for the people who have to maintain the shelves, it makes it a lot harder

Sorry, let me correct myself, I do it when it's pretty obvious they don't actually care what order the books are in. I've been to plenty of bookstores where the books are just crammed into the authors spot on the shelves, and if you're lucky the same series is kinda next to each other.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm not sure if I agree with this. I was at the store looking for the next book in the Sookie Stackhouse series and they don't put reading order on the outside of the books. You have to look inside to check for the next one, and then cross your fingers that it really is the next in the series.

Oh, yes, the Southern Vampire series is particularly bad about this.

Here's a huge help: Check the ISBN numbers. It's what I've resorted to.

But hey, I'm a crazy lady who actually alphabetizes her own manga collection, and my books are kept in order by height, cause I'm weird like that.

*blink* Are we related?

^-.-^

[PatchO'Black]

You know, a while back, when I was working as a sales person in a computer store, I befuddled my fellow staff members after they asked me to put the game software in some sort of order, but didn't say what method of sorting I should use. So, I decided to first group the various games by type (FPS, RTS, board & card games, etc), then by alphabetical order. I figured, this way, if someone liked one of a particular type of game, they could easily find more like it.

Of course, they later decided it would be best to just sort them alphabetically. Darn it.

[flutes_and_fabric]

I just alphabetize mine. Chronological order of series, obviously. I was going to ask how you found anything, but then I remembered that do, in fact, know what each book on my shelves looks like, and I know what all the books in the six boxes sitting on my stairway to go to the used bookstore look like. It's so weird having room on my shelves.

Hehe, yeah, I know other people have trouble finding stuff in my house, but I know where everything is. When I was younger, I used to get so pissed when my mom cleaned my room cause then I could never find anything.

Oh, yes, the Southern Vampire series is particularly bad about this.

Here's a huge help: Check the ISBN numbers. It's what I've resorted to.


*blink* Are we related?

^-.-^

Yeah, odd organizers unite.

[KellyHabersham]

When I had room for all my Star Wars books to be out at once, dang straight they were in chronological order. I always know the name of the next book in the series I'm reading so I know exactly what I'm looking for when buying it. My library drives me nuts because the sci-fi section is in alphebetical order by author. And because of the shared 'verse between so many authors, it can be hard to find the book I want.

That's about how our science fiction section is - a few years back, we tried shelving the Star Wars books at the end of the section, but I think customers had a hard time finding things because of the different authors, so it stopped after a bit.

[Andara Bledin]

Hehe, yeah, I know other people have trouble finding stuff in my house, but I know where everything is. When I was younger, I used to get so pissed when my mom cleaned my room cause then I could never find anything.

I remember reading about some efficiency study that found that people who don't have perfectly tidy desktops spend more time doing actual work than those who keep their desks pristine. Something to do with time spent pulling things out and putting them back. And that the trade-off for sometimes being unable to find things still gave the advantage to those with "systems" as opposed to those with standard organization.

^-.-^