question for library people

[ideath]

I know multiple people who know about how libraries are run! (Being a librarian was a dream when i was a tot. I had romantic fantasies about a life of solitude, dedicated to dusty stacks of wisdom-filled books. Ah, romance! But i never followed up on that, somehow, and now i am without a clue as to my vocation.)

Comments

[pmb]

Alphabetic by title. Computer books have boring names, and they almost always start with the name of the technology first. Or perhaps an adjective or verb. But either way, "Learning X" will all be together "Java Y" will all be together, "Advanced Z" will all be together, etc. It's easy, and still encourages happy accidents of finding adjacent books.

[boojum]

I like Peter's idea of shelving. I think it'd be productive to combine that with some equivalent of staff picks or "so you want to be a sysadmin" lists. That way, someone who wants to learn Java from a standing start doesn't have to navigate "Learning Java 1.2", "Learning Java 2" (damn you Sun, for your peculiar approach to numbering systems!), "Learning Java in Fourteen Days", and so on without help.