Anyone who's been in a record store knows the look: numerous bins of LPs with dividers to help customers find the records they want. Book lovers have seen shelf labels and dividers in libraries and bookstores. These avid collectors of records and books may benefit from having similar organizational tools in their homes.

Filotrax has sets of LP dividers for records that are flexible enough to work for almost anyone. The dividers, which come in white or black, are made from 800-micron plastic and have blank tabs. The dividers can be used either horizontally and vertically, so they'll work for both bin and shelf storage. Collectors can write on the good-sized tabs with marker pens, or they can put adhesive-backed labels on them.

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For collectors who don't have the time or the inclination to create their own labels, Filotrax created label kits which include inkjet-printed A-Z labels and genre labels. (It's also possible to purchase just the dividers and the A-Z labels.) For some people, having these labeling products will make the difference between finishing their record-organizing project and leaving it just halfway done.

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The tabs on the plastic dividers from Vinyl Guru extend for the whole divider width, allowing the collector to do a more staggered A-Z labeling. Full-length tabs are also good for those who want to create custom labels that might be longer than what fits on a half-width tab. The A-Z labels that come with the dividers would drive me crazy, though; they'd only work for those who don't mind seeing that logo all the time. 

Photos for Kate Koeppel Design: Cera Hensley

But some vinyl collectors will agree with Mike Fenton, who said: "I've always enjoyed the idea of my record collection being a display exhibit, a conversation piece, easily accessible. I love records as aesthetic presences in the house." And those collectors might appreciate dividers that are both functional and beautiful, such as the handcrafted dividers from Kate Koeppel Design. 

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These are laser-cut wood panels; specifically, they're made from high-grade European birch plywood. The tabs are either laser-engraved (on both the front and the back) or stenciled. There are horizontal dividers, vertical dividers, and some that work in either orientation. Kate designed these to be durable and also neutral, allowing the albums themselves to be the main visual attraction. 

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But as a professional organizer, what most impressed me was how she had considered the many ways people might choose to organize their vinyl.

Besides the A-Z and  genre dividers, there are decade dividers (1960s, 1970s, etc.); dividers based on how the records would be used (cocktail party, for example); and dividers such as New, Rare, and Favorites. There are also alphabetic dividers in ranges (A-H, I-P and Q-Z) which could be helpful to subdivide a genre. For the non-alphabetic dividers, collectors choose just the specific ones they want, to fit their individual needs. 

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Dividers (or other labels) aren't as critical with books, since owners can usually read the book spines to determine where they are in the collection. But  labeling can help someone get to the right place quicker, and can help anyone who isn't familiar with the collection (a house guest, for example) find books of interest.

While permanent shelf labels are annoying when books get re-arranged, magnetic labels on metal shelves can work just fine. With this design, the labels get cut to size from a roll. Using wet-wipe markers means they can be erased and reused as needed. It's a quick, easy and inexpensive solution, which is exactly what some people need.

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The steel Indice bookends from R.F. Yamakawa provide support for the books while they divide them into sections. Without any labels, these dividers provide less guidance as to what's where than dividers that are labeled. But since the book spines will more or less indicate what each subdivision is, many people won't be bothered by the lack of labels. (Book owners could certainly add something like A-Z labels if they wanted improved functionality.)

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Of course, you can design for both book support and labeling, as this label holder/support shows; there's just a trade-off between cool looks and functionality. One possible design problem: A purchaser noted that the labels tend to slide out.

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The plastic Animal Index from +d, designed by Hiroshi Sasagawa, could serve as a visual cue as to what goes where for book owners whose minds work best with non-traditional organizing approaches. (And again, as noted with the Indice bookends, sometimes all that's needed is an indication of where each subdivision begins and ends.) Alternatively, these could be used as placeholders to indicate where a book was removed from the shelf. 

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Kate Koeppel began her product line with record dividers, but she's expanded it to include book dividers, too. One nice benefit: The book dividers can be made from wood left over from creating the record dividers that might otherwise be scrap.

Again, Kate has provided an impressive list of divider choices. There's a wide range of genre options, as well as A-Z dividers. I was especially pleased to see the "borrowed" divider, which is one that many book lovers could use.