Wapsi Square Forum

Greatest way ever to make sure your books don't fall over.



Will be available in May from Mustard Gifts...

Actually, I think your books would make a sort of 'Gak!' noise and then fall over...

I'm more inclined towards Portal bookends, personally.

I'm more inclined to simply fill the bookshelf enough that there's no room for the books to fall off...
I know, I know... top shelf of an open-type book shelf, or a single shelf, etc...

My bookshelves tend to end so full that I don't need bookends... no room for them. What I need is bookclamps - perhaps in three dimensions. Or possibly bookdikes. Or access to L-space.

lake_wrangler wrote:I'm more inclined to simply fill the bookshelf enough that there's no room for the books to fall off...

What he said.

Come on, people! The floor is the biggest shelf in the house. Use that.

I find that mounting shelving units directly to the walls as opposed to simply putting bookshelves against them is a more economical way to go. The dead space in the corners can be used for those books which you were given as gifts and never want to admit you own, but you just can't bring yourself to throw away a book, no matter how badly written. Things like Laurel K. Hamilton or Ann Rice or Lovecraft.

Atomic wrote:Come on, people! The floor is the biggest shelf in the house. Use that.

I have a couple of problems with your "recommended" solution.
1. I have an old book collection (my oldest book was printed in the 1600's), and they need to be properly stored in order to not deteriorate. This means in a dry place out of direct sunlight. It also means that they need to be sitting up correctly...not stacked, not resting on their spine, and not propped on their end with the spine up.
2. I have a 7 month old beagle who believes that anything within her reach is hers to chew, lick, eat, and otherwise destroy. We've stayed vigilant with regards to the things that are already on the floor, but if we stop watching her for any length of time, she inevitably moves to the areas with Stuff She Shouldn't Touch and starts doing her thing. I refuse to subject my precious books to her rough love.

I'm sure I'll eventually have my dream home with a room devoted to being my library...floor to ceiling bookshelves lining the wall...*sigh* A girl can dream, right?

In my dream home, there will be a library big enough to need one of those ladders on tracks...

Jabberwonky wrote:In my dream home, there will be a library big enough to need one of those ladders on tracks...

Mine too!!

Julie wrote:

Jabberwonky wrote:In my dream home, there will be a library big enough to need one of those ladders on tracks...

Mine too!!

Yeah, I like!

Significant problem with that, though... lots of yards of books to have to dust. I'm not fond of doing that myself, nor do I like the traditional aristocratic solution (ain't one) of enslaving an indentured servant to walk around the library all day with a featherduster.

So... my dream library must include an efficient robotic dusthunter, which can climb around the shelves and suck up the dust. Sort of a cross between a Roomba, and Shelob the demon spider.

Could be an effective way to deter unauthorized borrowing, too!

Dave wrote:

Julie wrote:

Jabberwonky wrote:In my dream home, there will be a library big enough to need one of those ladders on tracks...

Mine too!!

Yeah, I like!

Significant problem with that, though... lots of yards of books to have to dust. I'm not fond of doing that myself, nor do I like the traditional aristocratic solution (ain't one) of enslaving an indentured servant to walk around the library all day with a featherduster.

So... my dream library must include an efficient robotic dusthunter, which can climb around the shelves and suck up the dust. Sort of a cross between a Roomba, and Shelob the demon spider.

Could be an effective way to deter unauthorized borrowing, too!

Utilize the ladder and employ dot-matrix logic. Dusting robot moves up and down the ladder, ladder moves along the perimeter, so that it eventually gets everything. Have it run once a day, and you should be good.

Heck, have it built into the side of the ladder, complete with its own track that runs up the length of the ladder, and have a manual option if you need some spot cleaning.

Dave wrote:

Julie wrote:

Jabberwonky wrote:In my dream home, there will be a library big enough to need one of those ladders on tracks...

Mine too!!

Yeah, I like!

Significant problem with that, though... lots of yards of books to have to dust. I'm not fond of doing that myself, nor do I like the traditional aristocratic solution (ain't one) of enslaving an indentured servant to walk around the library all day with a featherduster.

So... my dream library must include an efficient robotic dusthunter, which can climb around the shelves and suck up the dust. Sort of a cross between a Roomba, and Shelob the demon spider.

Could be an effective way to deter unauthorized borrowing, too!

As someone who is exceptionally allergic to dust (and my husband has trouble with it too), I just have to make enough money to employ a once-every-other-week housekeeper like my parents do. If I've got enough money to have a home with a library as we've imagined here, I should have enough money to have someone else clean it.

OR I could just have it hermetically sealed with an advanced heating/cooling system that not only filters the air to keep dust out but also monitors the temperature and humidity to prevent damage to my precious books...but I think that that library is a bit more out of my budget.

Jabberwonky wrote:In my dream home, there will be a library big enough to need one of those ladders on tracks...

i remember reading somewhere (i think an SCA mailing list, not sure anymore) about a couple that bought a rather large house that had a ballroom or some other large, two story open floor-plan room... they built a library out of it, with the center core of the room being floor to ceiling bookshelves not attached to any of the walls, but with a small platform/balcony that ran around it at about the second floor level with only a ladder to get up to it, with the rest of the space converted to "just" bookshelves... and if i recall correctly, they bought the place solely for their book collection, and that it was one of the few places they looked at, that could actually contain it, yet still display it properly (ie not as a bunch of cardboard boxes they'd have to dig thru to get to a specific book)

Julie wrote: OR I could just have it hermetically sealed with an advanced heating/cooling system that not only filters the air to keep dust out but also monitors the temperature and humidity to prevent damage to my precious books...but I think that that library is a bit more out of my budget.

Hey, if you're going to dream.. dream BIG!

scantrontb wrote:

Jabberwonky wrote:In my dream home, there will be a library big enough to need one of those ladders on tracks...

i remember reading somewhere (i think an SCA mailing list, not sure anymore) about a couple that bought a rather large house that had a ballroom or some other large, two story open floor-plan room... they built a library out of it, with the center core of the room being floor to ceiling bookshelves not attached to any of the walls, but with a small platform/balcony that ran around it at about the second floor level with only a ladder to get up to it, with the rest of the space converted to "just" bookshelves... and if i recall correctly, they bought the place solely for their book collection, and that it was one of the few places they looked at, that could actually contain it, yet still display it properly (ie not as a bunch of cardboard boxes they'd have to dig thru to get to a specific book)

I'd like to know them.

Saw an old 3-level bookshelf for sale today with a flip up glass door shielding each level. It would not be practical but technically possible to build a whole library that way.

For a library of any size, I think it'd be easier to seal the whole room and put filters on the HVAC. Or just hire Japanese maids...
Just noticed the floor pattern...Doorway from somewhere we're familiar with?

Jabberwonky wrote:For a library of any size, I think it'd be easier to seal the whole room and put filters on the HVAC. Or just hire Japanese maids...

If I had a team of Japanese maids ... umm, what was I saying?

Just noticed the floor pattern...Doorway from somewhere we're familiar with?

A Tom Petty music video?