For over a millenium after the invention of the codex around 400 CE, finding a place to store one's books wasn't much of a problem.
First of all, most people were illiterate. The few people who were literate--mostly priests and assorted members of the "upper classes"--owned very few books. That's because all books were produced by hand, one copy at a time, a process that often took several years. It wasn't until the invention of movable metal type (a subject of continuing controversy) that books could be easily and inexpensively reproduced. In Western Europe, this invention fueled the rise of the university as well as the Protestant Reformation, historic processes that eventually would lead to widespread literacy and the dissemination of books to the masses.
So, being a literate member of the masses, what's next? Maybe start with these...
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