Setting Up Your Home Library

If your family loves to read or keeps a lot of books, it’s a great idea to keep an organized home library.

A neat personal library is a book lover’s dream. Even if you just keep books for show, a home library is a great way to display one’s interests. For the family, it can be a special place for reading or working.

Almost any room in your house can be used as a home library. However, if you’re concerned about preserving your books, avoid attics and basements. Don’t store your books where there they can get exposed to natural light because this damages them as well.

Here are some tips on how to set up and organize your own home library:

1. De-clutter unwanted books.

   Go through your collection and evaluate which books you want to keep. This can be difficult, especially if you’re a book collector, but if you don’t really plan on reading certain books, it’s better if you let them go. Set these books aside and donate them to a worthy cause, or sell them if you want.

2. Organize the remaining books in a logical way.

   Your home library may not be as big as your local library, but it’s good to have a method or system of organization so you can find books quickly.  Organizing them logically means fixing them up in a way that makes sense to you.

Some ways of organizing your collection includes:

• Fiction and non-fiction
• Alphabetically by author, or genre
• By color or size
• When you need to read the book, or how often you’ll be needing them

3. Avoid overloading your bookshelves.

   Put heavier books on the bottom shelf. The most used books should be placed on the middle or upper sections.

4. Decorate.

   Make sure your room has ample lighting, especially if you’ll be doing a lot of reading or work here. You can add small decorative items like picture frames, polished stones, or figurines to those extra spaces between books for a creative touch.

5. Keep your library clean.

   Return books where you found them and dust around often. Avoid eating or drinking there so you don’t stain your books or your furniture.