Week 36: 9/1 - 9/7

[poshpenny]

Sadly I have a Chromebook, without a 10-key. It's been a POS since I got it, I just can't afford to replace it with money stuff being unpredictable at the moment. The keys have been working more often than not lately, thankfully.

[Ron]

Harmke wrote: That sounds like an interesting book! Because my job is digital (digital government), I'm really concerned about whether we can handle all the information, self publication, clickbaits and algorithms. I know what's happening out there and the ignorance and disinterest of so many people is really concerning.

Yeah, I pay attention to this stuff. I've known people who let their kids use tech by the age of 3 as what I like to call "digital babysitters". And then by the time they grow up they are so addicted to it that if their parents say no or they have to wait they start flipping out. It's insane!

I mean for me personally, yeah I can't go without my tech either. But at least I'm able to draw a fine line and know when I need a break from it or if I don't need it at all.

[Ron]

I am seriously done buying books. I know I keep saying that, but I have to. It's becoming too much of a problem to the point that it's different than just some kind of autistic special interest. It's gotten to the point that my therapist is calling it an actual addiction so I definitely need to stop or at least try to control myself.

[Carmen]

K.L. wrote: "I'm curious to know...has anyone else in our group used color/rainbow organization at home? Do you think it's helpful?"

I don't have kids but for me it's actually really calming. (I mean right now they're a mess with books on top in diff colors but hjsdk)

On the left the shelves have black and white, and on the right a nice rainbow!

[Ron]

There are times when I so badly want to color code my bookshelves, but a lot of my spines are fall colors for some strange reason. I can't seem to find covers with the bright spines that fit nonfiction books most of the time. I've got some reds, whites, and light blues, but not enough to do rainbow shelves.

Then there's also the fact that I'm very meticulous when it comes to organizing by genre and alphabetical order. I feel out of whack if they're not set up that way.

[Sheri]

So many of my books are series, it'd drive me nuts for them to not be in series order.

[Nadine in NY]

Sheri wrote: "So many of my books are series, it'd drive me nuts for them to not be in series order."



yeah I hate that. I will rearrange books I see in bookstores and on library shelves sometimes if the series are not in order.

[LeahS]

My local library has young volunteers working for their Duke of Edinburgh awards - they do the shelving, and I can spend quite a long time on the Ms, Macs, and Mcs afterwards!

[poshpenny]

Nadine in NY wrote: "Sheri wrote: "So many of my books are series, it'd drive me nuts for them to not be in series order."



yeah I hate that. I will rearrange books I see in bookstores and on library shelves sometimes if the series are not in order..."


Speaking as a bookseller, please do not do that. You cannot imagine the time we spend looking for a book that isn't where we expect it to be because people put them in an order they prefer.

[Nadine in NY]

poshpenny wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Sheri wrote: "So many of my books are series, it'd drive me nuts for them to not be in series order."



yeah I hate that. I will rearrange books I see in bookstores and on library shelves sometimes if the series are not in order..."



Speaking as a bookseller, please do not do that. You cannot imagine the time we spend looking for a book that isn't where we expect it to be because people put them in an order they prefer.
"




I wondered about that. But WHY would you put the series on the shelf out of order? what benefit is it for 5 to come after 2 or whatever?

[Bea]

Nadine in NY wrote: "yeah I hate that. I will rearrange books I see in bookstores and on library shelves sometime..."

My library puts the books by an author in alphabetical order by first word of title, sometimes mixing series if the author writes several.

[Mandy]

We shelf in title order because that’s how the computer gives it to us. The only time we shelf in series order is with manga or light novels that don’t have specific titles.

It’s easier to find books for the pick list (inter-library loan) that way as well.

[poshpenny]

Nadine in NY wrote: "I wondered about that. But WHY would you put the series on the shelf out of order? what benefit is it for 5 to come after 2 or whatever?"

They are usually alphabetical by title, so we can find them easily. Since I work in a massive store, we have labels, and no matter how that book is listed, by title, author or sometimes series, we shelve by that label so we can find that book later. There are some things I wish they would start listing by series, like the billion Star Wars books. Otherwise every bookseller would have to memorize every series ever to know where to find the book. At home, however, they are in series order. Heck yeah.

[Mandy]

poshpenny wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "I wondered about that. But WHY would you put the series on the shelf out of order? what benefit is it for 5 to come after 2 or whatever?"

They are usually alphabetical by titl..."

Thankfully we make all the call numbers for a multi-author series be the series name. like 39 clues. that definitely makes life much easier.

[Theresa]

It makes sense to me that retail establishments use a whole different system for shelving than what any of us would do at home. Stores have to track inventory for multiple reasons using specific sytems, as well as being able to locate quickly on a shelf for a host of reasons. Frankly, I really prefer that stores not shelve in series order but alphabetically as I remember titles and authors not number in a series.

It would never in a million years occur to me to mess in any way with store shelving order. Now, if a Samuel Beckett biography is stuck in the Fantasy section next to Game of Thrones - I'll pull it and hand it to a staff member suggesting the shelve it properly. But order on the shelf? NEVER.

Think of it this way - how would you feel if you went to your selves to pull a book and not find it where you think it should be because I've visited and reorganized the series or shelf to suit how I think it should be ordered?

What you do at home is up to you. You want books color-coded? go for it. Me - it would drive me nuts as I'd never find any book I was looking for quickly. You like the look of pages out -- why not - on your own bookshelves. Will drive me nuts as I will not be able to see what you have but it's for you not me. Personally I like separating into general genres, fiction is alphabetical by author and my mysteries are for sure in series order. Oh and since I have a lot of mass market paperbacks still, I have double layers on my shelves - back are the hardcovers and trade paper size, front are mass market as I can still see the top of the back row over them.

At least they were that way before my last move over a decade ago. Now it's pure chaos and I just haven't taken the time to purge and tidy.

[Erin]

Britany wrote: "Looking forward to your thoughts. I thought it started off extremely strong and then the last 30% was nuts..."

I don't know how I feel about this book. I agree that it definitely was stronger in the beginning. I do like when an author can write a character who is so awful and so convinced that they've done nothing wrong. I like that commitment. But I think I would have liked it more if it hadn't gone quite so off the rails. It felt a little cartoonish by the end.

[Erin]

Nadine in NY wrote: "I do that too! But not 20. This year it was only a list of 12. I've now read 9 of them and I just never seem to want to read the last three..."

I try to do it to remind myself to read some of the books that have been hanging around my shelves for a long time. I always wind up prioritizing a new book I've heard about or gotten out of the library. But there were all these books I was so excited for when I first picked them up!

Of course, of the four I've read off the list, I've decided to get rid of two of them. So not the best record...

[Britany]

Jennifer W wrote: "I decided to stick with my own agency. The deciding factor? The supervisor at the other agency didn't laugh at my jokes. And I'm hilarious, if I do say so myself! ;)"

I LOVE THIS Jennifer. I once didn't continue with an interview process for a position because the hiring manager thought city dogs that peed on the sidewalk were disgusting (um hello that's me and my dog). I knew we wouldn't get along in the long run.

[Britany]

Doni wrote: "Britany wrote: " My male friend did that and my response was, "If you were a woman, that would have never occurred to you." So, consider it!"

Yep, rings true! Thanks Doni. :)

[Britany]

Erin wrote: " "But I think I would have liked it more if it hadn't gone quite so off the rails. It felt a little cartoonish by the end.

Completely agree.

[Britany]

Nadine in NY wrote: " I GUESS you talk to both hiring managers and see which one feels like hte best fit, and be completely open about the fact that you are being recruited by another dept at the same time.."


Thanks Nadine- I did JUST that!

[Carmen]

Popping in late cuz I didn't open my laptop since my message jahsdf

In our library books are ordered on the first four letters of the last name of the author, so here it wouldn't matter if you shuffled series around, as beyond that last name there is no order. I was always meticulatous in at least making sure books of the same author were grouped if there were several authors with the same four letters.

As for pulling apart series in a color coded shelf: I had that too! For the series I really didn't want to pull apart, I didn't. They're on other shelves. For the ones I didn't care about, they're separated, but I know exactly where everything is!