Yesterday I spent a good part of my day going through my library and reorganizing a bit. I had gotten over 30 new books at Together for the Gospel and I didn’t have the shelf space for them, so I needed to pull a few books of the shelves and rearrange a bit. Thankfully, this didn’t take as much time as it could have because I’ve got a system I’ve used for years.
Here is how I organize my library.
First, I’ve got my Favorite Authors section. It is organized alphabetically by author. Some might call this a Christian Living section. I do have a whole row dedicated to John Piper books (thanks to that $5 sale at Desiring God a few years ago around the time of my birthday.
Right below that section is a section on Counseling and Soul Care. Here is where I keep my Paul Tripp and Ed Welch books along with books on how to do biblical counseling. Here I also have the more practical books like marriage counseling and help with addictions. These first two sections fill up one bookcase.
My next book case is entirely devoted to history. It starts with historical overviews and books on historical theology. Then it is organized chronologically. Early Church, Reformation, Puritans, Great Awakening, Modern. I’ve got more books by Puritans than anything so these books take up a couple shelves. John Newton takes up a whole row as well.
The next book case is dedicated to theology. I’ve got one section dedicated to Systematic Theology. It is organized by theological topics (i.e. theology proper, Christology, Eschatology, etc.,). I also have a row dedicated to Biblical Theology. Here I’ve also got books on Hermeneutics and other biblical issues. And then one dedicated to Apologetics and Current Issues.
The next book case is dedicated to preaching/ministry and church issues (Ecclesiology). I’ve separated books on preaching from books on pastoral ministry. Then I’ve got books organized by different types of ministry issues (conflict, discipleship, discipline, youth/family ministry/etc.)
My last bookcase (actually one and a half bookcases) is dedicated to Commentaries and Biblical Language resources. These I have organized by books of the Bible.
I also have a little section where I keep a few secular biographies and such. And then another section of books I want to giveaway. And then a box of books that I don’t quite want to get rid of but I also don’t want to have displayed on my bookshelves.
That’s how I do it.
How do you organize your personal library?
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