HOW TO ARRANGE YOUR BOOKS INTO A LIBRARY?

Are you an avid reader? Do you have so many books, but don’t know how and where to store them properly? Well, it’s necessary that you learn how to do that soon, because books need to be stored safely and neatly, if you want to preserve them for many years.

Even I had been keeping all my books in a dusty, small part of a small cupboard. As a result, many of them had their pages discoloured and the edges folded accidentally. And moreover, the number of books I owned increased regularly, when I won prizes at painting contests, which allowed me to buy books for a generous amount. And gradually, I decided that this dusty corner was not enough to store all my valuable and costly books.

So, here are the things you must do:

FIND THE PERFECT PLACE:

Yes, to store your precious books, you need a proper place. If it is possible to buy a proper bookshelf, then excellent. But in most cases, it would be less favoured. Or else, find a place in your home itself. It can be anywhere: on the shelf above your TV, or a shelf in your living room, spacious enough to hold all the books you have. Or it can even be the bigger part of the shelves in a cupboard, like mine.

The site can be anywhere, but the point is: you must have ample space to arrange all your books satisfactorily.

CATEGORIZE YOUR BOOKS:

Once you’ve selected your space, it’s time to take all your books out. This might be a tedious job, but not if you do it with interest and determination. Take all your books, spread it out, and categorise them into groups. The categorisation can be according to your choice.

It can be based on the type of book- Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Mythology, Biography, Classics, Detective, Reference etc.

It can also be based on the authors- Indian authors, Western authors, Women writing, Men writing, Young writing etc.

You can categorise based on age, if everyone in your family are active readers, like- one section for you, another for your sibling, and different ones for different family members, only if it’s favourable.

Categorising between different language books are also another option. Grouping them based on size is also optable.

ARRANGE THEM ALL:

After you’ve segregated all your books, assign different parts of your currently-empty library to different categories. Do this keeping in mind the number and size of the books you have in that category.

It’s best to keep large encyclopedias and picture books nearer to the walls of the library, and small-sized books at the centre. If you have books that you’re sure you won’t read, but just can’t throw them away, use them as the floor for your other books.

Arrange them horizontally at the back of the library and place your other books on them vertically. You can also use this method to raise the height of books arranged at the back.

It’s also nice if you could arrange books according to their size but keeping in mind their categories. It would look neat and organised. Who doesn’t like a neatly arranged library?

LABEL THE DIFFERENT SECTIONS:

Yes, you might know all your books well, but labelling them is an essential feature, I feel, of a library. Just the names of the categories you chose while segregating them written on small strips of paper will be enough. Stick them onto the shelves, or walls so that they’ll be seen.

TRY DECORATING:

This is optional, since not everyone would be patient enough to sit and decorate. But, if you really want to, there are many ways to do that, don’t worry. You can write down your favourite quotes, or character names on coloured papers and stick them on your shelf walls. Small paper flowers would add to the beauty. Photos or drawings of your favourite fictional characters can also help. If you have enough space, you can even store your book-characters merchandise like Harry Potter wands, or the like.

ENSURE THE NEATNESS:

Yes, that’s more important than arranging them all. If you aren’t able to keep the new library as organized as it is now for many more months to come, then there’s no point in doing all this hard work. Look in regularly to check whether everything’s normal. Clean off spider-webs and all the dust regularly, to ensure the safety of your books. When new books come, add them neatly to their categories respectively. Don’t allow anyone to store their things on top of your books, if it destroys your library’s neatness. If you’re successful enough, you can even use it to hide important things like a memorable letter, or pocket money, in between the rows of your books.