DeCluttrMe Podcast

DeCluttrMe 171

Last week I was interviewed by Shelina for her DeCluttrMe Podcast, which is one of the features of her hugely popular IGTV channel.

Shelina has been running a series on estate management, and so we talked mostly about creating inventories for insurance purposes and for wills. We also tackled the evergreen subjects of ‘What is cataloguing?’ and why it matters.

If you’re interested, you can watch the episode here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CTB_x1IgT5b

Unpacking Your Library

Unpacking Your Library

This post republishes a piece which was originally commissioned by myVLF and published on their blog as ‘Unpacking Your Library: 10 Top Tips to Organise Your Bookshelves’, myVLF, 3 September 2020.

Whether working, furloughed or simply unable to go out and socialise as much as usual, Covid-19 has given many of us more time at home. Many people have been unpacking their libraries (to use Walter Benjamin’s phrase), building reading nooks and reorganising their shelves. There’s a great tradition of writing to help us in doing this, and especially on the impact that sorting through our books has on us.

If you want to know how to organise your personal library and bookshelves, here are ten top tips based on practical experience and from ten of my favourite books.

Continue reading “Unpacking Your Library”

Farewell and Thanks to myVLF

myVLF

As both a reader and a writer, I wanted to acknowledge the work of Gwynn GB, Kelly Clayton, and Deborah Carr in creating and managing virtual literary festival platform myVLF, which has sadly had to close its doors.

As well as attending many online events there, I was fortunate enough to gain a paid commission to write a blog post for them in September 2020, giving 10 Top Tips to Organise Your Bookshelves. I’ll republish it on the Beginnings Blog now that myVLF is, sadly, no more.

Writing on their website The Blonde Plotters, Gwynn, Kelly and Deborah said:

“When Covid-19 hit our world, we worked flat-out holding as many events as we could and supporting hundreds of authors with their book launches, as well as helping many physical book festivals to reach new audiences … Unfortunately, the huge workload in running so many events, resulted in us not being able to concentrate on our own writing careers. We live for writing and so regretfully we have decided to close MyVLF so that we can reconnect with our author careers and families.”

Tsundoku Feedback

Thanks to @ebblake for this lovely feedback on the first trial run for our Tsundoku experience – and for sending the beautiful picture of her tsundoko pile ready for redistribution to friends (posted here yesterday).

We promise clients confidentiality and never post pictures without their approval. It’s really lovely that Emily is pleased enough to have added her Tsundoku experience to her stories and shared it with us.

You can book a discovery meeting for help sorting through your own TBR. Until we advertise the experience as a package, it’s available at a massive discount to clients willing to try something new and a bit different. Our usual private librarianship (collection management with or without cataloguing) and professional organising (decluttering and restoring order to any room in the house) and virtual organising services are available too.

Originally posted to Instagram.

Client Photo: Tsundoku

Tsundoku.

The morning after: client photo.

“tsundoku, noun ... the practice of buying  a lot of books and keeping them in a pile because you intend to read  them but have not done so yet; also used to refer to the pile itself.” —  Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus.

Huge thanks to my lovely client for trialling a new experience I’m developing to help people get to grips with the size of their To Be Read shelf, and for sending me this photo of their tsundoku – the pile of books I helped them realise they wanted to read when they bought them, but which they aren’t actually going to read any time soon (or possibly ever).

These are all heading off to new homes and my client has half a shelf of usable space. More importantly, the weight of all these books is off their mind, and they have a personalised plan for the order in which they will read their remaining TBRs.

If you’ve acquired more books during lockdown than you’ve had time to read, you may be interested in Tidy Beginnings’s new experience, which we’ll be announcing soon.

If you are really keen to shed your lockdown book weight and happy to trial a brand new service, get in touch to find out more and book a hugely discounted pre-launch session. Contact details on webpage.

Note: client has contributed photo and approved the text. We offer a confidential service and *never* share before photos. Everyone knows what an overflowing bookshelf looks like.

Originally posted to Instagram.

Tsundoku Experience Coming Soon

Book pile and quote card.

Really excited to be trialling a new experience for people who feel they buy too many books. First run-through with a client today, so more details coming soon.

For now, here’s some #wednesdaywisdom from Marie Kondo:

“Tidying books is a powerful means of self-discovery. The ones you choose to keep because they spark joy reveal your personal values.” (Joy At Work, London: Bluebird, 2020, p. 38).

Originally posted to Instagram.

Book Organization: Bookends

Over on KonMari.com it’s the end of the 8 Week Tidy Challenge, which included a day to organize books by category.

Day 45: Organize Books by Category

As a rule of thumb, store like items with like – and don’t disperse storage throughout the house. Books are a special case: Group these by category – cookbooks, coffee table books, novels, etc. – and store them where they make the most sense. If you like to read before falling asleep, designate a book zone in your bedroom – this way they won’t overwhelm your nightstand or end up in a stack on the floor.

Marie Kondo.

Following this advice, there’s a link to a small selection of bookends on the KonMari shop. I thought now might be a good time to look at why bookends are useful not only in organization but also in preservation.

There’s lots of advice on the Internet about how to store books properly, and some of it is more reliable than others. The British Library has a good public advice page which keeps it simple and straightforward:

Store books on flat, smooth shelves, strong enough to support their weight. Ideally, books should not come into contact with unsealed wood which can release organic acidic vapours. Line shelves with acid free board to avoid this problem. Stand books vertically close together and if possible by size. Use bookends to prevent books collapsing.

Although it can look aesthetically pleasing to use different objects as bookends, remember that they are placed against the cover or board of the book, and a danger they can present is pushing unevenly against this. Uneven pressure can cause warping or, over time, even detachment of a board from the spine. This is also why we shelve books of a similar size together – tiny books next to large books can similarly put the spine and cover / board of the larger book under stress.

A good bookend lays flat against the book, and holds it upright. It should be pushed over far enough that the books stay in their positions but are not so tight that we put stress on any of them when we remove one from the shelf.

So, now we’ve established what good quality bookend looks like, let’s have some fun browsing for them. There are so many styles to choose from, there’s at least one to suit every home.

1. Keep it simple.

As a career-long librarian, I tend to go to library supply companies like Gresswell for basic bookends, but highstreet stationers like Rymans and Office Monster stock them too.

This style lifts the books up slightly, so don’t place a volume “half on and half off,” as that will damage it over time.

With “flex” systems, like Wickes’s, you need to make sure the bookends are always, always straight to avoid spring-loaded pressure.

2. Channel the past.

The book has been around for centuries, so there’s a wide range of antique and second-hand bookends out there to suit every budget.

I found my pair of plaster of Paris dinosaur bookends in Crystal Palace, which as well as being famous for its dinosaur park, is a significant place to me. They are both kitsch and historical, which fits my style perfectly.

Online sources of second-hand bookends include eBay, Etsy, and Preloved. Remember to look for flat backs though!

3. Be inspired by nature.

These days, everyone from Made in Design to Robert Dyas to small specialist stores seems to be offering bookends created from natural objects. There are obviously extra ethical concerns buying or collecting fossils.

On the desk in my study, I use a pair of agate bookends to hold books on which I’m working. They were a present from my parents, so they’re both functional and spark joy (as Marie Kondo says things should).

Most books are robust enough to be shelved in this type of desk arrangement for a short space of time.

You have to be careful standing books next to natural objects. Bringing things in from the garden can introduce extra moisture (even if they don’t feel damp to the touch) and even insect life. Never place books against unsealed wood, as it can release acid which is extremely damaging to books. Be careful with waxed items too – you don’t want anything to transfer onto the cover or board from your bookend.

4. Share your interests.

There are bookends themed to suit almost every hobby and interest you can imagine – #bookends on instagram includes dogs, and bicycles and Star Wars, and, of course, reading.

Here’s a pair of bookends posted by @mylesfromhome_uk that would suit someone with an interest in phrenology or tattoo art, or who simply loves vintage style in general.

The shop gives the advice, “They’re so unique that they’re never going to blend in, so instead create a conversation point!” That’s true for any bookend beyond the basic.

5. Put on a display.

Bookends aren’t the only support on the market. Sometimes you might want to highlight a book by having it face outwards.

I spotted this in the Publishers Association when I was attending a BIC course on ONIX metadata last November. As well as making me want to read Kingsford’s book (which I thoroughly enjoyed, by the way), it gave me something appropriate to look at in their reception area.

With this sort of display easel, it’s important that the book is supported but not forced – never try to squeeze a book onto a stand that is too small for it. Prefer one with a base, as pictured, to one with individual strips of metal or wood running under the book, as they will put pressure unevenly on the tail of the boards / cover. Recipe stands aren’t just for cookbooks! Some shelving systems, like Ikea’s Billy bookcases, are designed the option of display stands.

There’s so much more to be said about book supports – I’m aware of not even touching on bookends for children – but perhaps that’s a post for another day.

Unpacking Your Library: Books about Book Organization

As well as cataloguing home and studio libraries, we offer services to organise them and advice on how to do so.

Anne Welsh‘s latest publication is a blog post at myVLF.com sharing top tips on how to organise your library.

You can read the tips in full on the myVFLF Blog (update: myVLF ceased trading in 2021, and the blog is republished here) alongside lots of other bookish posts. Librarian to the core, we thought it might be helpful to share a bibliography of the books and articles mentioned. Wherever possible, we’ve shared links to fulltext, WorldCat libraries, the original publisher, and secondhand sellers, in that order.

Continue reading “Unpacking Your Library: Books about Book Organization”
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