The purpose of this thesis is to examine the classification, shelf arrangement and display of documents in antiquarian bookshops and see the reasons behind these. The results will be compared with previous reviews of alternative shelf arrangement in Swedish public libraries, to see what differences and similarities there are in the classification and shelf arrangement between antiquarian booksellers and libraries. The questions to be answered were: (1)What forms of classification and shelf arrangement are used in antiquarian bookshops and how does it differ from the classification and shelf arrangement made in libraries with an alternative shelf arrangement? (2)What exposure of documents are there in the various antiquarian bookshops? Is there anything regarding the exposure that differs between the antiquarian bookshops and the libraries? An idea and ideology analysis of various dimensions is used as a theoretical tool during the work. The dimensions were: (1) Shelf arrangement: It is important that customers/borrowers can find themselves - it is important that staff know where the documents are. (2) Exposure: Important to sales/turnover - does not affect sales/turnover. The methodology used was literature studies and interviews with antiquarian bookshops. The result shows differences in terms of classification in the antiquarian bookshops. Shelf arrangement is more consistent and above all based on the readers-interest arrangement. The major factor behind classification and shelf arrangement is to enable the customers to locate what they are looking for. Factors that lead to an alternative shelf arrangement in a library were for example trendiness, convenience for the public and exposure. Exposure is in most cases seen as important. One suggestion for further research is to conduct a larger study.