I've tried different methods over the years and finely choose eye appeal. My hardbound books are grouped by Magician, not author. These are displayed in barrister bookcases ( 6 bookcases to date ) along with soft bound books that have titles on the spine. Then, there are two 4' vertical file cabnets with 3 drawers each. I like that they go against the wall (don't stick out) and their not at all unsightly as tradition cabnets. Their the ones where the drawers are 4' wide and the hanging files go left to right. I put the booklets and manuscript in the hanging folders, I keep each magician together best I can. The spiral and comb bound books are place over the file hanger itself. I part the book about half way and saddle it over one of the two hangers on the folder. How do I know what I have and where it's at is stored in a Microsoft Word Doucument (64 pages + ) I started this when I realized I owned multiple copies of the same book. My daughter showed me how to put hyper links in the title description of each book, so I can pull up the index of the book. I haven't quit mastered how to do a phase search to find information when I want it, but my daughter will be visiting soon and maybe she can show me the proper way to do it. She told me that the Word Document is set up for that, I'll see. All books are catalogued by the bookcase, shelf, and drawer there in as well as the number assign to the book (1,2,3,...) . The locations are in the Word Document. The file folders have a letter and some times a number (a, b,b2,c......). If a new item needs to go in place of another, I'll pull the bookmark that has the number on it and put it in the new book, then update the computer. Counting most of the books, I currently have 1900 plus. The computer states 1890, but that's not including duplicates, video DVD's, PDF books, or the few that haven't arrived yet. All my magazines were giving away as they were replaced by the hardbound, CD or DVD editions. The total hardbound is at 793. I once loaned a book out and got it back over four years later. I have not written, labeled, or marked in any of my books - I know some day my books will be the property of someone else and I know I prefer a clean book. This 49 years of collecting and I'm running out of room. I been looking in to digital coping the books. I've done two to date. I need to construct a book copier set up to speed the process up. It would be nice to have my library on a my laptop or accessible from the sky, I mean the Cloud.

Have you thought about getting a kid to just digitize them for you? Instead of all the space it's taking, it could be in your pocket drive!

If you want to go wild, there are apps that let you catalog books and assign "tags." Once you get it set up, you can search based on any (or any combination) of those tags... i.e. card, coin, ring, color change, transposition, etc.

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gra......-library

My library is rather extensive. When my wife and I married, each of us had about 1000 books each - mine primarily non-fiction, hers primarily sci-fi & Fantasy. There were about 30 books that were duplicated. That was 27 years ago and the library just keeps on growing.

I tend to categorize by subject matter. Art books in one place, science in another. My magical collection takes up two, eight foot tall, 4 foot wide bookshelves. One is for natural magic, the other for performance magic/theater. I subcategorize in sections of magical history, which includes historical texts and biographies. Sets of books are kept together, usually among other works by those authors. Magazines have been placed into 3-ring binders, which, along with the xerox printed material take up the bottom two shelves.

Small booklets I keep in book boxes of the appropriate size. The Grimoire that I write/edit is kept in two 4" three-ring binders, one of which I have covered with leather (the other is still waiting).

I still cannot always find everything I look for when I need it, but it helps.

The books that are hard to organize on a bookcase are the pamphlets that don't have info on the spine..

Owen, you got that right. Thank God there aren't as many of these pamphlets anymore because they really are difficult to manage. I realize they had their time and place at one point, as an easy way for a magician to publish his or her work, but for the most part they were produced on cheap stock that breaks down easily, and a hassle to store efficiently.

I've found that treating them like magazines or comic books works the best. You can find acid free plastic bags to store them in, and acid free boxes as well. Then organize them however you want...by subject, author, or like me...alphabetically by title. "A"s are in the front of the box, "Z" in back.

Yeah I like the plastic bag idea.
Thanks for the tip WOZ

I used to put my books on the shelf that were my favorites. the rest went in boxes. Can't tell you how many times I had to search over and over thru boxes to find something I knew I had. Suggest at least you catalog what you have because it can get out of hand over time. Even if it nothing more than a spreadsheet on your computer.

It would be best to digitize each trick in the book, then catalogue in a database. That is a monster task for any one person. Once in a database, you could search by author, trick, book title, subject, keywords, or any field you wanted to add. I am shocked it hasn't been done for the publically available ebooks.

If I had 1500+ books, I'd probably keep the top 50 books out that I last looked at, and store the rest. Catalogued by author.

I have 10 32" by 84" bookshelves (6 filled with magic books). I struggled for a while juggling with new additions using different categories and rearranging books, but the books won and now they go into alphabetical order on whichever shelf has space. I also use CLZ books app to keep track of how much I spent on them, which shelf they're on and any historical significance, but I'm lazy so only @ 250 books cataloged so far.

I realized I was no longer referencing my magic books, even my favorites, as much as I used to.
...and sold most of them.
It felt very odd and a little sad to get rid of such great "friends" but I didn't want them sitting and not being used as they should be.

Books should be read and studied and not just sitting on shelves as trophies.

I hope everyone does the same when the time comes.

My books are organized by author... maybe 150 books. Now that I am retired I have decided to part with all but the ones I still read/use... which is only a few. I am in the process of deciding which books to keep and which to sell. I must downsize... space is of the essence, and books do take up a lot of space. I also play music... and I have four keyboards, two guitars, two bass guitars, amplifiers, a couple of wind instruments, and load of recording equipment... and I do not want to part with any of it... but that's another bridge to be crossed at a another time