Care and Storage of Your Books, Part 2
November 1st, 2007 by Alan Chudnow
This is the second in a four part series on Care and Storage of your books. You can find Care and Storage, Part 1 at the link. Look for Part 3: Environment next week.
Shelving
Common sense, and common practice, says that your books should be placed upright on the shelves. Your books should sit a few inches away from the back of the case or wall to allow for good circulation and safe removal from the shelf. They should not be allowed to lean, which puts undue strain on the spine, but should stand upright on their bottom edge in neat vertical rows.
Shelves should be arranged so that they are full, but not so tight that damage is incurred when books are removed. If the shelf is not full, use a bookend with a large flat surface that can be placed next to the last book to support it and hold it upright.
Oversized books can pose a special problem. Oversized hardcovers should be shelved resting on their spines to prevent the text from pulling out of the binding due to its weight. Oversized soft-bound books can also be shelved spine down but may be shelved resting on their fore edge assuming the pages are straight-cut and will not be damaged by the weight of the book.
In either case, the book should be well supported on both sides to prevent sagging and warping. If the oversized book absolutely must be stored laying flat, avoid stacking other books on top, no matter how attractive the arrangement may appear. The weight from above will put undue pressure on the boards and spine of the book below.
Although shelves made of metal are preferred by most libraries and rare book archives your shelves at home are most probably going to be made of wood. Wooden shelves should be sealed with a lacquer or a coating to prevent the migration of acids into the books. Oak, though very attractive, has the highest acid content and extra care should be taken to assure that the wood is finished and well sealed.
Where your bookshelves are placed in your home or office can also have a significant impact on care and longevity of your books. In the next installment of this series I talk about how the environment has an impact on your collection.
Until then, Occupo Libri!
Yes I definately agree, the use of metal gondola type Shelving is mostly ideal for book storage. Many of our clients have converted and disposed of their old wooden display cases for a much reliable metal type shelving system, mainly applied in home office type applications.