Taking Your Private Library to the Next Level

We have looked at ways to obtain free books for your private library.

We have looked at ways to obtain books for your private library for less than $1 a day.

We have looked at ways to build the infrastructure of your private library using free or otherwise very inexpensive materials.

We have looked at how, or whether, to organize your private library by examining the differences between an accumulator and a collector.

We have glimpsed a tiny bit of what makes a collection more valuable than an accumulation to scholars and to the marketplace (should you eventually decide to dispose of your collection).

And we have suggested that you should, first and foremost, collect what you please!

We now look at ways to take your private library to the next level.  We start with a look at infrastructure.

Infrastructure includes everything from the shelves you store your books on, to various types of furniture manufactured specifically for libraries, all the way up to designing and planning a specific room or rooms within which to house your books.

The range of furniture crafted primarily for use in home libraries is truly astounding.  And often of superb quality.  Having looked at a lot of companies that manufacture and distribute such furniture (including shelving), we continue to be very impressed with what's on offer at Library Essentials. A half-hour or so spent browsing their very comprehensive website will give you tons of great ideas for your home library (we're lusting after one of the neoclassical revolving bookcase tables shown below):

Don't think their site is all about new and expensive stuff--there's lots about used furniture and breaking down "old stereotypes about [what is acceptable as] library furniture."

You also might want to spend some time with Brodart, which supplies institutional libraries and booksellers, as well as private individuals, with everything from books to furniture to library automation.  This is an especially good company to explore in depth if you have the bucks to design and create a specific room or rooms within which to house your private library.

And if you are indeed going the latter route, while there certainly are lots of such plans readily available on the Internet (here, for example, or here or here), most folks probably would prefer to speak with a local architect to insure that their own personal ideas about such a home library are fully realized....