Happy Birthday!
Laura said:
The project of getting our 10K plus volume library organized for easy retrieval and replacement via Dewey Decimal system has been ongoing for about a year.
That sounds like a fun project. The Dewey Decimal system would create some kind of order. I wonder if you could create just as good or a better a system using your own categories? The Dewey Decimal system is just one arbitrary subject classification of many possible ones, possibly it might encapsulate prejudices of "orthodox" history.
For example, I looked up three books that I had shelved together as they are all on a similar subject matter.
"Chariots of the Gods" by Erich von Daniken had a Dewey number of 001.9, which is the Dewey classification for "Knowledge: Controversial Knowledge".
"Did Spacemen Colonise the Earth?" by Robin Collyns was also 001.9.
a third book on pretty much the same subject however was:
"The Bible and Flying Saucers" by Barry H. Downing, which had a Dewey classification of 220.6 for "Bible: Interpretation and Criticism (Exegesis)".
A second example, two books on the subject of advanced human civilizations being older than the conventionally accepted 6,000 - 10,000 years or so:
"Forbidden Archaeology" by Cremo had a Dewey classification in the Library of Congress of 573.2 representing "Specific Physiological Systems in Animals: Respiratory System" ???
while on the copyright page of the book itself it had 573.3 which represents ""Specific Physiological Systems in Animals: Digestive System" ???
while
"Eternal Man" by Louis Pauwels & Jacques Bergier had a Dewey classification of 913.03 for "Geography and Travel: Geography and Travel in the Ancient World"
As well as classifying by subject, you could also for example base it around significant authors, e.g. you could have all of Castaneda's books arranged in chronological order, and next to them the books about Castaneda's works by Richard De Mille and Jay Courtney Fikes.