Spruce Up Your Library, By The Book

For a bibliophile nothing is more precious than books. If you have a library at home, taking care of your treasure trove of knowledge is no mean task. Creating some extra space for bookshelves or making a reading zone are ornamental ways to deck up the library. The real task is to keep your books in a good shape because books are your best friends for life.

MakaanIQ collates tips on how to take care of your volumes, which suit your book.

Different display styles

• Sort your books into fiction and non-fiction and keep them in an alphabetical order.
• Use a colour pattern from the cover of the books to arrange them. For example, you can sort them with a rainbow theme.
• Another way is to segregate the books as per their subjects, such as cookery books on one side, books on romance or thriller in other corners of the library.   

Dos

• Store your books under a moderate temperature. Too much heat or moisture can encourage growth of moth and destroy your precious volumes.
• Keep them away from direct sunlight.
• Clean your books regularly and do not let dust accumulate on them.
• Display your books vertically as it will be easier to locate the required topic. However, if you have some heavy books, lay them flat as it will reduce the wear and tear.
• Use bookends to give support to the books, so that they can be organised in an order.
• Take special care of the rare books or your special collection.
• If required, get the covers of the books laminated, for a longer shelf life.

Don'ts

• Don't repair book covers or papers with pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes.
• Keep some space between the book shelf and the wall to let your volumes breathe. Extreme temperature and humidity are not good for them.
• Avoid using paper clips, rubber bands or sticky notes on books. Self-sticky notes could leave a residue on the paper, rubber bands can tear the pages and paper clips may leave rust over time.

Some handy tips

• Keep rotating the books in the bookshelf, to keep your romance alive with them.
• Apart from library, you can also keep books at different places of your home so as to keep your favourite reads handy.
• Not just read books, imbibe them and get inspired.
• Always keep a few parts empty on bookshelves to make way for the new ones.