Help! How do you store your books?

[dreamshark]

It seems that i am moderating a Minicon panel on the eternal fannish problem of Bookshelves. I'm looking for ideas, tips, suggestions on making, buying and using bookshelves.

What are the most effective bookshelves you have ever had?
Do you prefer open shelves or ones with doors?
Have you ever given up on finding enough wall space and just arranged a room like library stacks?
What's the best way to arrange books - alphabetical, Dewey Decimal, by size?
Where's the best place to buy inexpensive bookshelves?
Why aren't there ever enough shelves in preconfigured bookshelves?
How is bookshelf design different when you know you'll be moving frequently?
How did you keep your kids from pulling all the books out of the bookshelves when they were babies?
If you had one tip to give a fan just starting out on collecting books, what would it be?

Comments

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Most effective: Double-sided paperback shelves (for freestanding use), built by Vicki Schnoes to a joint design.

I've never had shelves with doors, it adds too much cost. It'd be better, keep the dust out (and possibly keep the light off the spines as well; I've got a lot of faded spines).

Yes, our upstairs living room is set up as stacks. As was the guest room at the previous house, and my library out in Massachusetts (also Jerry's library; that house had *two* rooms devoted entirely to books). So, going back to 1981.


Ours are mostly fiction, so alphabetical by author is best. Paperbacks are small and uniform enough that separating them out is something I've always had to do.

I'm fond of bolt-together metal shelving, I got it at Sears mostly. Other people seem not to like it much, though.

There aren't enough shelves because, pre-CD, the paperback is the smallest thing stored in quantity, so the *average* thing is considerably bigger. And CDs seem to have generated specialized solutions rather than even-smaller shelves. (DVD packaging is bigger, for no good reason).

When planning on moving, the ceiling height in the library should not be a precise design goal.

We kept the kids away from the books by not having them. Priorities, you know.

Collecting? Or accumulating a large reading library? They're very different activities. I'd advise against collecting, myself. But if you do it, avoid products made for the purpose of being collectible.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

A lot of my bookshelves are the sort of metal utility shlves found at hardware stores, and more often put in basement and garages. They are cheap, and if you get the heavy duty ones, up to the strength of holding many books. Books are heavy, even paperbacks. Menards has sales where you can buy these shelves for around $20, I think. Bricks or cinderblocks work well too. And several shelves have come from library sales, yard sales, etc.

I wish I could afford better looking shelves, ones with doors to keep the dust off. I tend to arrange books by general category, and alphabetical by author within that. My cookbooks are near the kitchen, my science fiction and fantasy are together, practical non-fiction (like how to fix plumbing, or first aid) easier to reach than the children's books I can't bear to get rid of, and do read occasionally.

Tip to everyone. Don't believe what the de-cluttering books say about giving books to the public library so everyone can read them. Many libraries either sell them and use the money to buy new books (like bestsellers), or chuck them in recycling. You can't be sure the library will have a given book in 20 years, or even in 2 years. Get rid of the ones you don't like, preferably by selling them, or giving or swapping them to friends. Keep the books there is a ghost of a chance you will want to reread, or even have on hand to give to someone because you liked it so much. If you have space. But isn't that why fans buy houses?

[jbru.livejournal.com]

You may be interested in the link I posted earlier about creative bookshelf designs. Not all of them are fannish but there are a few that I thought were pretty cool.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

But all but one or two are about *looking* good. And none of them have anywhere near the efficiency (density) I need.

And since nobody has mentioned it yet that I see...
[click]

[jbru.livejournal.com]

That was linked to in the first comment on the piece I mentioned.

I don't think that many of the "creative" bookshelves would make good high-density storage solutions, but for bibliophiles that want to display their books as part of their decor, many of them hit me as "cool." The one that I thought was cool and also practical in a "make use of otherwise unused space" way was the "Sticklebook" system of having books seemingly hang unsupported from the walls. I also would have liked "The Cave" when I was a kid.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

The "Sticklebook" has good coolness value, but I wouldn't use it for anything collectible or valuable, I don't think.

[fmsv.livejournal.com]

I use 3 types of shelving, depending on where the shelves are:

• metal bolt-together shelving, for when the shelving stands in the middle of the room like library stacks (I double-stack these so that both sides are in use)(I get these at Menards)
  
• the on-the-wall metal racks with standards that stick out to hold the shelves, for spots with lots of wall space (I get these at Menards as well, except for the shelves, which are simple boards)
  
• pre-built wooden shelves or custom-built wooden shelves, for locations that don't fit one of the other two situations (too narrow, for example) (I get these at various unpainted furniture places, because I want actual wood and not particle board)
  

I've been trying for years to assign Dewey codes to my books, but have never had enough of them covered to actually move them into Dewey order on the shelves. They're basically shelved by size, organized into paperbacks, hardbacks/trade paperbacks, and oversize.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

We bought shelves from an office supply place on University Ave. and we limit the invasion by culling every few years. B. stores his enormous professional library off-site, which helps.

Don't forget to mention your own clever solution of building bookshelves to fit behind the door.

K.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Buy shelves at thrift stores.

[guppiecat]

1) What are the most effective bookshelves you have ever had?

For me, "effective" goes beyond storage density and includes accessibility and findability. So, the most effective would be what I have now, with bookshelves on every available wall in the living room, with overflow going to other rooms in the house.

2) Do you prefer open shelves or ones with doors?

I prefer open shelves (see the accessibility concern). Open shelves with forcefields that are impervious to dust would be best.

3) Have you ever given up on finding enough wall space and just arranged a room like library stacks?

When I was younger, yes. The current plan is to just move when the house is full. :)

4) What's the best way to arrange books - alphabetical, Dewey Decimal, by size?

I arrange by genre, then by author's last name if the section is sufficiently large. If the section is small (humor, contemporary culture, etc) or the author is less relevant than the subject (natural history, business.sub-genre), I organize by height. Anthologies go either at the end or the beginning of the section, depending on what is the most aesthetically pleasing.

5) Where's the best place to buy inexpensive bookshelves?

The lumberyard is best. However, if you don't have the time, getting a lot of cheap shelves from wherever works well, as they can often be adapted easily.

6) Why aren't there ever enough shelves in preconfigured bookshelves?

Most designers design bookshelves for people who will buy one or two of them. In such instances, the priority seems to be displaying "hey, I have books" to the yuppie friends who come over for drinks and movies.

7) How is bookshelf design different when you know you'll be moving frequently?

I really like the "collapsible" bookshelf design, where the three shelves can fold up and the sides can fold in. I adapt them with braces, so I can stack them up, put risers in them, and a few screws through a top cross-beam directly into a joist. Then, when it's time for me to move, a few turns with a drill and the whole thing folds up for transport. It was wonderful in college.

8) How did you keep your kids from pulling all the books out of the bookshelves when they were babies?

No kids thus far, but my cats learned from a very young age that the books are off limits. Spray bottles are wonderful effective.

9) If you had one tip to give a fan just starting out on collecting books, what would it be?

eBay is a very very dangerous place. Bookfinder.com is preferable.