https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDQ4P7TF
A friend introduced me to these shelves, and I got one completed last week that now houses my entire GURPS collection. This is also a sturdy wood-and-steel shelf, capable of holding a significant amount of weight without sagging. These are put together with wood screws, and are not those fiberboard cheap pieces of junk with shelves of books held up by tiny plastic tabs. I have had many of those break apart over the years under the weight of books; it's not funny.
These are pretty shelves, more like display stands, but they give me what used to be three packed shelves of GURPS books, now loosely populated, but still on the mostly-filled side, with books.
The bottom shelf fits all my GURPS 3 books, which are still very useful. The second shelf up is for GURPS 4 and those eras of books. The third shelf up is filled with Dungeon Fantasy, which is my most-played version of the game, conveniently situated at eye level.
That third shelf should be your "star game" to keep it always the first thing you look at when you walk by. I'll wander by and say, "Hey, that looks fun!" There is a reason the highest-priced shelves in grocery stores are located at eye level, since humans will focus on that first every time they go by.
The fourth shelf up is for dice and figurine storage, adding some style and character to my shelf. If I play mecha-suit anime games with GURPS, what is going on that shelf? All my impressive figures to help tell me, "GURPS does this too, come and play!" I can do my fantasy figures, or any of my others, to set the tone of that shelf and the infinite fun it provides me.
This way, I don't need a GURPS: Mecha Suit Gundam book, and I have the figures up there to inspire me to find out what happens next in those characters' stories.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRRTXQC4
Since this is a free-standing shelf, I will place most of the softcover books in these handy file holders, which are large enough to accommodate even the hardcovers. Once these are full, they act as bookends, and I never have the problem of all my books flopping over to one side or another.
I can also create focused groups of books, such as fantasy or sci-fi, and label them accordingly on the holder. I can also pull the whole file holder out and put it on my table, which means less searching through the shelves, less looking for the book I need, and everything is all together for me in one organized place.
The only downside is having to slide the holder forward and pull a book out, but that's a minor complaint considering the benefits of becoming so hyper-organized and keeping my GURPS shelf clean and organized. The focused collections, with everything not flopping to one side or the other, save me a lot of time, frustration, and keep my shelves more open and airy.
I find a packed shelf is a shelf I do not use, since I rarely want to pull something out once I cram everything in there. Shelves with some open space and room to breathe are far more usable and playable than an archive shelf packed full to the brim.
Each organizer holds 8-10 of the GURPS books thick enough to have a title on the spine, or about 6-8 of the thicker hardcovers. The very-thin books it can hold are 14-16. This is without being packed too tightly, as I leave some breathing room to pull things out when I want a book.
My loose-leaf folders, containing notes and character sheets, are stored in these organizers, one per shelf, to keep my notes and papers organized. One folder is used for each campaign. This keeps all my notes and campaign information hyper-organized. I would still like to find a Trapper-Keeper-type solution with room for sheets and a legal pad or spiral notebook for my game notes, and I will continue to look for one so I can get my campaigns hyper-organized.
My old shelves fit five of these on a shelf; these new ones can fit seven wide, which allows me to use the lowest shelf as an archive, and the upper shelves can be more open and user-friendly.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CB5SNCJ3
Having a more open shelf means I can store dice on it! I use these clear plastic candy jars, which allow me to sort dice into collections based on color and style, and I place the jars on the shelves next to the books. Nothing gets me in the mood to play like seeing a massive container of pretty dice, ready to grab-and-go. I have a Fall and Earth-colors set for Dungeon Fantasy, as well as a more modern, red, black, blue, and white GURPS set for science fiction and contemporary-day campaigns. The dice for that shelf go on the shelf next to the books, since I have the room.
Yes, I have genre-themed dice sets. What else do you do with this many dice? Sort them and create play sets based on themes! After years of collecting, you eventually end up using these buckets of dice as display shelf kitsch.
Clear containers mean I see them out, all beautifully organized, screaming at me to play with them! They look like candy in there, which is a positive mental reinforcement, and it is another "come play with me" thing that I do on my game shelves.
Additionally, all other games are prohibited from this shelf. There are no 5E books, Cypher books, or any other games listed here. My only exception is Basic Fantasy, which I use for conversions for my GURPS: B/X games.
I also have the excellent Solo Game Master's Guide from Modiphius Entertainment, which is a fantastic book of inspiration that keeps me gaming. This one includes the gem "everything is playing," which helps alleviate the guilt of not being in a game. If you are thinking about campaigns, messing with character designs, or otherwise doing things for the game, that is equivalent to playing GURPS on the hex grid.
I needed a shelf system that was organized and far easier to clean. Here, if I want to completely wipe down and dust the shelves, I pull the organizers out, wipe the whole shelf down, and put them right back. I am not hauling books out and putting them on a table, clearing space to clean another space, only to have the stacks fall over. Cleaning these types of shelves is trivial and takes me far less time and effort since it is so open, and there are minimal surfaces to wipe. Additionally, the Roomba can navigate right under here on its own.
Does any of this have anything to do with GURPS? Yes and no. I call this new, beautiful, amazing creation my "GURPS Shrine," and it keeps me busy. It is designed to be used efficiently and to pull books from. It has room for my figures that represent the games I play. It holds all my dice.
This is an investment in my hobby, and one of the hindrances I found in actually making me want to play my games was that they were so packed into shelves they would collect dust, be untouchable since they would constantly flop over, and look unappealing, like a hoarder's book collection with junk all over the shelves. Dust would collect, and I would not want to touch the entire mess.
Also, we are GURPS players. We are used to lengthy mental calculations, keeping our character sheets organized, optimizing our designs, and calculating every blow in melee combat. The organization appeals to us on a fundamental level. We have the "nerd gene" in our DNA, and I find that having a premium shelf that is amazingly organized sits in my play area like a beacon of light. It resembles a high-end gaming store's shelf, filled with endless fun, including dice, figures, and a variety of other gaming-related items.
If one reason you don't play more is that you wish you were more organized, with your shelves being more attractive and cleaner, this is the way to go.