---
title: "How to Organize Books on Shelves: 6 Ways | Dragon Bookcase"
description: "How to organize books on shelves by author, genre, colour, size or like a library, with order rules, a shelf preview and an LC class finder."
url: https://dragonbookcase.me/how-to-organize-bookshelves/
---

Shelving schemes

# How to organize books on shelves

The simplest way to organise books on shelves is by author surname from A to Z, with each author’s books in title order: it is what most readers expect, and it works from one shelf to a whole house. Genre then author suits browsing, Library of Congress classes suit large non-fiction collections, and colour or size suit display shelves. Pick a scheme below to see its order rules and the same sample shelf rearranged, or type a call number to find its Library of Congress class.

## Choosing a way to organise

Every scheme answers one question: when you want a particular book, where do you look? **By author** answers it best for fiction, because you usually remember who wrote a novel. **By genre, then author** keeps that rule inside each genre, which helps when you browse by mood rather than hunt for a title. **Library classes** do the same for non-fiction by subject, so every book on gardening or the history of France ends up together. **Colour** and **size** trade findability for looks or space, so pair them with the [catalogue](https://dragonbookcase.me/home-library-catalog/), which records each book’s shelf. **To-read first** is a temporary shelf that sits alongside any other scheme.

Most home libraries end up mixing two: fiction by author, non-fiction by subject, and one shelf of tall art books by size because they won’t fit anywhere else. That is fine as long as each part has one rule you can say out loud.

## Library of Congress Classification explained

The Library of Congress Classification divides knowledge into 21 main classes, each with a letter: A for general works, B for philosophy, psychology and religion, P for language and literature, Q for science, and so on to Z for bibliography and library science. The letters I, O, W, X and Y are not used as main classes. Each class splits into subclasses of one to three letters: PR is English literature, PS American literature, QA mathematics, QB astronomy, TX home economics (which is where cookery lives). A full call number then adds a number for the topic and a code for the author, such as PR4034 .P7, which the finder reads as English literature from the letters alone.

The Library of Congress publishes the outline free on its website, so the whole of it is below and in the finder. Classes E and F, the history of the Americas, are the exception to the lettered subclasses: they go straight to numbers, so E151 to 909 is the United States and F1001 to 1145.2 is British America, including Canada.

| Class | Subject | Subclasses |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A | General works | AC, AE, AG, AI, AM, AN, AP, AS, AY, AZ |
| B | Philosophy. Psychology. Religion | B, BC, BD, BF, BH, BJ, BL, BM, BP, BQ, BR, BS, BT, BV, BX |
| C | Auxiliary sciences of history | C, CB, CC, CD, CE, CJ, CN, CR, CS, CT |
| D | World history and history of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc. | D, DA, DAW, DB, DC, DD, DE, DF, DG, DH, DJ, DJK, DK, DL, DP, DQ, DR, DS, DT, DU, DX |
| E | History of the Americas | E11-143, E151-909 |
| F | History of the Americas | F1-975, F1001-1145.2, F1170, F1201-3799 |
| G | Geography. Anthropology. Recreation | G, GA, GB, GC, GE, GF, GN, GR, GT, GV |
| H | Social sciences | H, HA, HB, HC, HD, HE, HF, HG, HJ, HM, HN, HQ, HS, HT, HV, HX |
| J | Political science | J, JA, JC, JF, JJ, JK, JL, JN, JQ, JS, JV, JX, JZ |
| K | Law | K, KB, KBM, KBP, KBR, KBU, KD-KDK, KDZ, KE, KF, KG, KH, KJ-KKZ, KL-KWX, KZ |
| L | Education | L, LA, LB, LC, LD, LE, LF, LG, LH, LJ, LT |
| M | Music and books on music | M, ML, MT |
| N | Fine arts | N, NA, NB, NC, ND, NE, NK, NX |
| P | Language and literature | P, PA, PB, PC, PD, PE, PF, PG, PH, PJ, PK, PL, PM, PN, PQ, PR, PS, PT, PZ |
| Q | Science | Q, QA, QB, QC, QD, QE, QH, QK, QL, QM, QP, QR |
| R | Medicine | R, RA, RB, RC, RD, RE, RF, RG, RJ, RK, RL, RM, RS, RT, RV, RX, RZ |
| S | Agriculture | S, SB, SD, SF, SH, SK |
| T | Technology | T, TA, TC, TD, TE, TF, TG, TH, TJ, TK, TL, TN, TP, TR, TS, TT, TX |
| U | Military science | U, UA, UB, UC, UD, UE, UF, UG, UH |
| V | Naval science | V, VA, VB, VC, VD, VE, VF, VG, VK, VM |
| Z | Bibliography. Library science. Information resources (general) | Z, ZA |

The other scheme you will meet on library shelves is the Dewey Decimal Classification. OCLC says it owns all copyright rights in Dewey and that Dewey is its registered trademark, so this site names it but doesn’t reproduce its tables.

## Shelve well, whatever the order

Whatever the order, books stand upright and supported; oversized ones lie flat.

The order is yours to choose, but conservators agree on how books should stand. The Library of Congress says to keep shelved books upright, not leaning, with bookends if needed, and to shelve books of similar size together so each cover is supported by its neighbours. Books too large to stand upright can lie flat, fully supported, and NEDCC suggests piles of only two or three. That is one more reason a size-aware scheme, or a dedicated tall shelf, works well alongside author order.

## A worked example

The sample shelf has fourteen books, from *Pride and Prejudice* to *The Joy of Cooking*. By author, it starts Austen, Bulfinch, Darwin, and *The Hobbit* files under T for Tolkien. By LC class, Bulfinch’s mythology (BL) comes first, then the art book (N), then the classics and literature (PA, PE, PR, PS), then the science (QB, QH), the gardening book (SB) and the cookbook (TX). The class letters for the samples were picked from the outline’s captions for each book’s subject; a library’s own call number would add numbers and an author code.

## Common mistakes

- **Filing under “The”.** Ignore a leading A, An or The: *The Hobbit* goes under H.
- **Too many genres.** Twenty categories means twenty places to look. Five to ten is plenty.
- **Packing shelves full.** Leave room in every section, or one new book means moving a whole wall; and give tall books their own shelf with the [bookshelf spacing calculator](https://dragonbookcase.me/bookshelf-spacing-calculator/).
- **Colour with no record.** A rainbow shelf is lovely until you need one book; note each shelf in a catalogue.
- **Guessing class letters.** Look the book up in a library catalogue and copy the call number, then use the finder.

Building a mythology shelf? [Myth Marsh](https://mythmarsh.me/) sorts out who’s who among the Greek and Norse gods. For the language shelf, [Etymoasis](https://etymoasis.me/) explores word roots.

## Sources

All checked on 5 November 2026.

- Library of Congress, [Library of Congress Classification Outline](https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/): the 21 classes and the subclasses on the first page of each class outline (no revision date shown).
- Library of Congress, [Preserving Your Books: Storing Your Books](https://guides.loc.gov/preserving-your-books/storing) (last updated 23 July 2026).
- Northeast Document Conservation Center, [Preservation Leaflet 4.1, Storage and Handling for Books and Artifacts on Paper](https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/4.-storage-and-handling/4.1-storage-methods-and-handling-practices) (2022, minor corrections 2026).
- OCLC, [Dewey Decimal Classification](https://www.oclc.org/en/dewey.html): copyright and trademark statement.

## Questions

**What is the best way to organize books on a shelf?**

For most homes, fiction by author surname and then title, and non-fiction by subject. It is easy to explain and easy to keep up. Add a size rule for books too tall for the normal shelves, and a to-read shelf if you like one.

**How does Library of Congress classification work?**

It splits knowledge into 21 lettered classes, such as P for language and literature and Q for science, then into subclasses of up to three letters, such as PR for English literature. A call number adds a topic number and an author code, and books are shelved in that order.

**What do the letters in a library call number mean?**

In a Library of Congress call number, the first one to three letters are the class and subclass, which give the subject. Type them into the finder above: QA is mathematics, BF psychology, TX home economics.

**Is it a good idea to organize books by colour?**

It looks striking but makes books hard to find by title or author, so it suits small, well-known collections or a single display shelf. Keep a catalogue with each book’s shelf so you can still find things.

**Why doesn’t this page use the Dewey Decimal system?**

OCLC owns the copyright in the Dewey Decimal Classification, so we only mention it by name. The Library of Congress Classification Outline is published openly by the Library of Congress, so all of it can be shown here.