What a catalogue is for
A catalogue answers three everyday questions: do I already own this title, where is it on the shelf, and who borrowed it. For a few hundred books, a single ordering rule applied consistently solves all three. The choice is less about which system is correct and more about which one you will keep up.
The Dewey Decimal Classification
The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) is the most widely used library classification system in the world. It was conceived by Melvil Dewey in 1873 and first published in 1876, and the copyright is now held by OCLC, with the editorial office based in the Decimal Classification Division of the Library of Congress.
Dewey divides knowledge into ten broad classes, each split into divisions and sections by decimal notation. It is powerful for non-fiction, but for a home collection the full scheme is usually more detail than a reader needs.
000 Computer science, information, general works
500 Science
700 Arts and recreation
800 Literature
900 History and geography
Lighter schemes for the home
By genre and author
The most common home approach groups books into a handful of categories such as fiction, history, reference and cookery, then orders each group alphabetically by author surname. It mirrors how most readers think about their own shelves and needs no notation at all.
By colour or height
Arranging by spine colour or height is purely visual. It can look striking, but it makes a specific title hard to find unless you also keep a separate list. Treat it as a display choice rather than a retrieval system.
A hybrid record
Many readers settle on physical grouping by genre plus a short written record. The record carries the searchable detail, while the shelf stays simple.
title: Wolf Hall
author: Mantel, Hilary
category: Fiction / Historical
shelf: B-2
loaned_to: —
If you ever move the list into cataloguing software, the steps usually fall into recognisable stages. The pills below are only an illustration of how such tools narrate their work.
A Canadian note
Library and Archives Canada applies the Dewey system in its own cataloguing and adapts it for Canadian materials. For a home library, the practical lesson is narrower: pick one rule for shelving Canadian and international fiction together rather than splitting them, so the order stays predictable.
References
- Dewey Decimal Classification — OCLC
- National documentary heritage — Library and Archives Canada