A Scrapbook of Sorts

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𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑. 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒:

"𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝘼𝙨𝙝𝙡𝙮𝙣𝙣'𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙚'𝙨"

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐷𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑆𝑤𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑑. 𝐵𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑦, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠

me: yeah i know, they’re all primary colors, it’s perfect

When you go for an MLS (Master’s of Library Science, which is a thing, and which is usually required for “professional-level” library work [which is also a weird and contentious concept that I won’t go into here]), one of the things you study is the organization of information. This deals with how to determine what a book or other material is “about"—a concept we tongue-in-cheek call “aboutness"—and how to convey that to a potential user of the item and make it easy for them to find. Things like keywords and subject headings, do I put this book about how often wild birds attack aerial drones in with books about birds or with books about technology, if its a fictional novel do I put fantasy in it’s own section or mix it in with all of the other fiction, so on and so on.

OP is organizing books by how they would look for them. OP’s partner is thinking in terms of aboutness. This is a system that works for OP because it’s their personal library: they know basically what books they own and they only own books that are relevant to them, and if they know what the book looks like, that can be a quick way to find it.

In a library that assumes the public (or people who do not own that particular collection of books) are using the collection, that doesn’t work. Books are often re-issued in multiple covers, or re-bound in new covers when they get worn out, and if the user doesn’t know what the book looks like or is expecting a different cover, they’re lost. That’s why non-personal libraries used standardized cataloging systems like the Dewey Decimal System or Library of Congress System to organize a book by what it’s “about”, and then put books about the same or similar topics together, marked with labels and signage so a person unfamiliar with the book or collection can find their way to it.

Basically, OP’s system works for their own personal library, because it’s best suited to how the primary user—OP themselves—looks for books. OP’s librarian partner is coming from a background of thinking in terms of a public-facing collection, where aboutness is the key criteria and communicating it to a user unfamiliar with the collection is the priority.

Of course I have a special shelf for me series of that aught not be separated.

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!