Further thoughts on librarying

[celticdragonfly]

selenite ended up bringing down the Ikea bookshelf that was in Brendan's room, and put it diagonally across the window in the north library. That gives us enough room to get all the fiction, hardback and paperback, and his gaming books into the north library. The south library will be nonfiction, oversized, and the music room.

We need to get a bigger house to have room for more books!

Wait a minute, isn't that just what we did 2 years ago in moving to Texas? Yeek.

Trouble is, they don't build houses with rooms suitable for libraries. We've done pretty well with combining what is officially the living room and the dining room, but still. We could rearrange my study some, get rid of the half-height bookcase, and put in several Ivar units up there, but that really divides the library, craft books up there is logical but what else do we move up there?

I suppose we ought to start culling - really, do we need *three* copies of Heinlein's Expanded Universe on the shelf? - but selenite just doesn't work that way. And it wouldn't be good in the long run. We do have some more room right now, it's not urgent yet.

Goodness, just imagine all the extra books we'll be adding in as the kids get older and homeschooling grows.

Looking at the number of paperback fiction books, and the number of bookcases they take up, as compared to the number of hardback fiction and the shelves THEY take up, I am really feeling that we need to seriously resolve to WAIT for paperback for almost all books from now on. Not because of the savings in price as much as because of the savings in bookshelf space.

Maggie was utterly heartbroken to have Andy and Jazz leave - they were getting their shoes on, she got hers on, she was all ready for "an Adventure!" Took some persuading to convince her that she shouldn't go to Austin with them.

Comments

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

Trouble is, they don't build houses with rooms suitable for libraries.

This is one of the factors that is making Brian and I consider *building* our own house after retiring from the Army. Or, rather, hiring it to be built - and designing a library.

DV

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

I frequently fantasize over that, and have repeatedly designed libraries in my mind. This, however, requires that we somehow become stinking rich along the way. We're working on getting out of debt, but stinking rich just doesn't seem likely enough. Darn it.

[filkferengi]

Be sure to talk to James Bryant; he has several house & library designs already on-hand.

book r oom

[bkseiver.livejournal.com]

You'll probably want to save room for a dedicated bookcase upstairs for home schooling references/kids books. Also, I learned from the used bookstore here that I can get many more paperbacks on shelves by stacking them on their sides. This works great when you have a number of books by one author, or in one genre.

Re: book r oom

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

I think the reason you get more paperback on the shelves that way is that you have more standard bookcases with taller shelves - Karl has the paperback bookcases here set to just tall enough for paperbacks to maximize storage space.

Weeding is good, of course, but...

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

1) Floor to ceiling bookshelves ala Trolleypup
2a) Use bookshelves where-ever there's free wallspace (I have one in a bathroom :-)
2b) Dedicated paperback shelving is particularly easy to tuck into unused wall-space as it's only 8" deep. One can buy those metal bracket holders, screw 'em in, then add brackets and shelves floor to ceiling. (Side walls can be replaced by inexpensive bookeneds from a library supply store)
3b) The arrangement doesn't have to be 1100% rationally intuitive any longer: You've got a catalog!
3) Where you have deep cases (11 inches or more) you can create useful layered shelving for paperbacks or paper-and-hardcover by laying a 7" (9' for hardcover+paper) x wide x 2" high lightweight board across the back of the shelf.

Glad the project went well, I'd've loved to have been involved.

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

I'm convinced of two things.

1. Eventually there will be an increase in earthquakes due to all the bookhounds hording books, creating additional weight

2. Someday eBay will create a special mode that lets people upload their entire book library (sans the few books they actually want) and sell them efficiently, letting people make "package deals" and such. This will make so much money that sf geeks will be able to afford to be the next Russian space tourists.

3. When #2 happens, it will cause an economic change that destroys used-bookstores.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

upload their entire book library (sans the few books they actually want) and sell them efficiently,

What? Heretic! We want them all!

Well, I want most of them, and Karl wants the rest.

He did finally get rid of a few books - like the one he warned me not to bother reading and elaborated in detail why it was awful - and I asked WHY had I had to help pack and unpack this hardback through multiple moves?

But mostly, he doesn't get rid of books.

Homeschooling

[p-o-u-n-c-e-r.livejournal.com]

HalfPriceBooks has good stuff well below "half price" but you can't count on getting the particular grade and subject you need when you need it. SO, you wind up getting (and storing on YOUR shelves rather than theirs) a bunch of stuff on the speculation that eventually you'll want it.

Uhm, I have a few cubic feet of good-condition gently-loved board books for beginners that my youngest has outgrown. Interested?

Re: Homeschooling

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

I have a few cubic feet of good-condition gently-loved board books for beginners that my youngest has outgrown. Interested?

Yes please. Board books is all I dare have freely available right now - Jamie is death on regular books right now, and eventually kills even board books. Maggie has grown civilized, so I have hope Jamie will in the next year and a half.

One of the reasons I love Chickfila - the under 3 "toy" is almost always a small board book!