When a new coworker rearranged the alphabetized fiction section by book height last week, I'd said, At least it's not by color.
Yesterday I thought, Why not rainbow colors to start June Pride month?
I spent the afternoon rearranging most of the nonfiction (not fiction!) sections by color. (I'm sore this morning.)
Just this once, though--I'm not going to keep it up.
Pictures below.
First I'm going to muse on the ordering of books...
When I started this job, a year ago, I ordered nonfiction by topic within each section: I put books about WWII together within the History & Society section, for instance.
But I didn't like it--it was limiting, and artificial: WWII books were everything from fighter planes to Anne Frank's diary.
Personally, I like it a bit scrambled, with a bit of serendipity, browsing books.
Each section is small enough you can scan it, if you're looking for for a specific book or topic.
I like to switch things up every so often, so when you glance at the shelves, they don't look like the same old stock you saw last week. (I set newly arrived books facing outward, but sometimes it doesn't look all that different.)
I see it as being like a worm aerating the soil, but some customers have chided me, "You moved my cheese!"
I'm sympathetic to people liking familiarity, but, again, the whole place is small enough, they can still find what they're looking for.
And sometimes, please! The complaints are about clear improvements.
When I started, for instance, I flowed all the fiction/literature books together.
The former Book Lady had shelved fiction in three different areas, by size. (Because our crappy bookshelves in that section don't have adjustable shelves.)
I shelved them library style (bink pointed that out), stacking the occasional too-tall books sideways every couple shelves. That makes a nice visual break too.
People complained––two or three, angrily––even when I pointed out they didn't have to look in three different places for an author.
(I also pulled Crime/Mystery bestsellers, and gave them their own section (a whole shelf--we get tons), next to the Romance books.)
Mostly though, people tell me they like the BOOK'S, and sales continue to show that.
Here are some of the areas, in living color. The hand-lettered signs you see are by Art Sparker.
History/Society, I
History/Society III, and Career/Money Matters
(Business books have the simplest block title fonts, and their covers are often single, bold colors.)
(Next shelves over are Languages, in order by language, so I left them alone too.)
Not pictured, because I didn't rearrange them:
∙Crime, and Romance
∙The large shelf of 33-cents Bargain Books
∙Gardening (I'd said these don't sell--turns out they sell--in springtime)
∙Textbooks, Reference
∙Languages; Humor, Games
∙Special Books glass display case
∙Magazines (besides the outward-facing display shelf, I set up a temporary bookshelf to hold someone's collection of 30 years of National Geographics)
∙Children's Books (a couple bookshelves)
Oh--here's the Children's Books section a couple months ago, with the wonderful volunteer who mostly maintains them:
And, what the heck, since I'm showing almost the whole of BOOK's, here, I'll repost the photo of me in the FICTION/LITERATURE section.
(There's a short, double-sided bookshelf behind my back too, hidden by that forward-facing display shelf.)
Yesterday I thought, Why not rainbow colors to start June Pride month?
I spent the afternoon rearranging most of the nonfiction (not fiction!) sections by color. (I'm sore this morning.)
Just this once, though--I'm not going to keep it up.
Pictures below.
First I'm going to muse on the ordering of books...
When I started this job, a year ago, I ordered nonfiction by topic within each section: I put books about WWII together within the History & Society section, for instance.
But I didn't like it--it was limiting, and artificial: WWII books were everything from fighter planes to Anne Frank's diary.
Personally, I like it a bit scrambled, with a bit of serendipity, browsing books.
Each section is small enough you can scan it, if you're looking for for a specific book or topic.
I like to switch things up every so often, so when you glance at the shelves, they don't look like the same old stock you saw last week. (I set newly arrived books facing outward, but sometimes it doesn't look all that different.)
I see it as being like a worm aerating the soil, but some customers have chided me, "You moved my cheese!"
I'm sympathetic to people liking familiarity, but, again, the whole place is small enough, they can still find what they're looking for.
And sometimes, please! The complaints are about clear improvements.
When I started, for instance, I flowed all the fiction/literature books together.
The former Book Lady had shelved fiction in three different areas, by size. (Because our crappy bookshelves in that section don't have adjustable shelves.)
I shelved them library style (bink pointed that out), stacking the occasional too-tall books sideways every couple shelves. That makes a nice visual break too.
People complained––two or three, angrily––even when I pointed out they didn't have to look in three different places for an author.
(I also pulled Crime/Mystery bestsellers, and gave them their own section (a whole shelf--we get tons), next to the Romance books.)
Mostly though, people tell me they like the BOOK'S, and sales continue to show that.
Here are some of the areas, in living color. The hand-lettered signs you see are by Art Sparker.
Displays: What color is a diamond?
Science & Nature
Biography & Memoir
Popular section--this is a Monday--
the selection was picked over Saturday, leaving the ever-present Billy Graham, Hillary Clinton, Princess Diana, et al. bios.
Besides individual shoppers, re-sellers shop here too:
they scan book barcodes with apps on their phones.
I feel mixed about re-sellers--I hate that they ship books away, to Amazon and the like, but they also have their role as soil-turning worms---keeping things moving.
If you come to BOOK's regularly, you'd get a good selection;
and, over time, a great selection.
Popular section--this is a Monday--
the selection was picked over Saturday, leaving the ever-present Billy Graham, Hillary Clinton, Princess Diana, et al. bios.
Besides individual shoppers, re-sellers shop here too:
they scan book barcodes with apps on their phones.
I feel mixed about re-sellers--I hate that they ship books away, to Amazon and the like, but they also have their role as soil-turning worms---keeping things moving.
If you come to BOOK's regularly, you'd get a good selection;
and, over time, a great selection.
Spirituality & Religion
History/Society, I
History/Society II
(I'd never thought about it till I did this project, but of course publishers use different colors for different topics--History/Society books are the dullest)
History/Society III, and Career/Money Matters
(Business books have the simplest block title fonts, and their covers are often single, bold colors.)
Health & Body, and Cooking & Food
Psychology/Self-Help
Travel & Places
Sports
I'm surprised how little sports books sell--I could eliminate this section and I bet few (no one?) would complain. (Next shelves over are Languages, in order by language, so I left them alone too.)
Cool Old Books & Things (no things today)
Young Adult
(The last shelves of the adult fiction/lit section. Since it's fiction, Y/A could be alphabetized, but it's the most colorful section (also, lots of goth-y black and purples), so I rainbow'd most of it too.) 
Not pictured, because I didn't rearrange them:
∙Crime, and Romance
∙The large shelf of 33-cents Bargain Books
∙Gardening (I'd said these don't sell--turns out they sell--in springtime)
∙Textbooks, Reference
∙Languages; Humor, Games
∙Special Books glass display case
∙Magazines (besides the outward-facing display shelf, I set up a temporary bookshelf to hold someone's collection of 30 years of National Geographics)
∙Children's Books (a couple bookshelves)
Oh--here's the Children's Books section a couple months ago, with the wonderful volunteer who mostly maintains them:
And, what the heck, since I'm showing almost the whole of BOOK's, here, I'll repost the photo of me in the FICTION/LITERATURE section.
(There's a short, double-sided bookshelf behind my back too, hidden by that forward-facing display shelf.)
First photo, second shelf: Starksky! (And Cox?)
ReplyDeleteYes, I noticed that too. Starsky & Cox--like an in-joke!
ReplyDeleteThey look nice by color! It's subtle enough that in most sections it isn't obvious that they are sorted by color, but the eye flow across the books is very pleasing. I wonder if that lovely eye flow will help or hinder the eye from being caught by a particular title, or draw people to particular section? The religions section certainly looks more pleasing this way. It will be interesting to if it affects sales.
ReplyDeleteBINK: I agree it's nice that the arrangement is somewhat subtle--most book spines aren't solid colors, so it's not too blatant (and obnoxious).
ReplyDeleteI almost wish we had bar codes so I could track what sells. I guess since I can't control the inventory, it doesn't matter--but I'm curious.