Library Thing Tagging Guidelines

I don't like to forget what I've decided and I disliked using 'about my library' for documentation. I am opting instead to use a web page set aside for that purpose.

The tags entered first in the comma separated list are alwasy the tags that I am using to sort the library the same way I would sort it on the shelf. Correspondingly, the very first tag is always the 'collection'. This is mainly a geographic distinction, most fiction is in the living room, but fiction based on television shows are located in the television room (a concession to limited shelf space). The current collections are as follows:

main fiction collection

Primary fiction collection. Any fiction not located in another collection is placed in this section. Located in the living room.

main tv fiction collection

Fiction based on television shows is placed in this section. Located in the television room.

non-fiction

All non fiction is placed in this section. However, the non-fiction is spread throughout the house and will require a secondary locator.

Tags for fiction

To continue the sort by how I would sort the books on the shelf, there are up to six tags specifying how the book should be sorted.

The general format is:

main fiction collection, [author-last author-first], [super-series if any], [super-series # if any], [series if any], [series # if any], [title only if there is no series data]

Example 1: For David Eddings' Magician's Gambit:

main fiction collection, eddings david, belgariad-mallorean, #001, belgariad, #003

Example 2: For Isaac Asimov's The Gods Themselves:

main fiction collection, asimov isaac, gods themselves

For the few books that belong in the fiction collection but are oversized and will only fit on the top shelf, the 'main fiction collection' tag is followed by a 0-oversize tag, to force it to be sorted into its location on the shelf as well as signaling to someone looking for the book where it may be on the shelf.

The tags that follow the sorting tags are categories that may be of interest to me or my family.

alternate future fiction

Category representing about parallelized futures: where the politics and cultures of the future setting parallel present politics and culture.

alternate history fiction

Category where the fiction is about historical events but plays with 'what if X actually happened instead'. Often these are time travel fiction, but not always.

annotations

Fictional non-fiction receives this tag. e.g. Visual encyclopedia for Middle-Earth, etc.

asimov's robots

austenesque

dystopia fiction

decampesque

fantasy

fictional biography

first contact fiction

future history fiction

Category about a possible future of our world. Usually characterized by having a collection of related stories. Heinlein's future history stories are the conceptual model for this tag.

graphic novel

magic and technology

mars colonization

mystery fiction

mythic fiction

novelization

post apocalypse fiction

psionic fiction

satirical

science fiction

supernatural fiction

surreal fiction

suspense fiction

sword & sorcery fiction

time travel fiction

uplift fiction