how to buy a bookcase

[calimac]

Not a particularly useful article on selecting a bookcase.

The part reminding you to make sure the thing fits is good - into your car if you're taking it home yourself (I have a small hatchback, but the back seats go down and I can fit some amazingly large things in there), into the space you're going to put it, and also make sure the baseboard isn't going to keep the bookshelf from resting snug against the wall.

But two very important characteristics of bookcases are ignored by this article.

1) The problem with cheap materials isn't that they'll become unsightly through wear and tear, it's that particleboard and cheap plywood shelves can eventually bend and sag under the weight of the books. Don't use those for anything heavier than paperbacks. (For amusement value, you can sometimes take a sagging shelf and force it to fit in the bookcase upside down, making a hump, but once it's sagged in one direction, it'll begin sagging in the other faster than you might think.)

2) The problem with knick-knack display cases masquerading as bookcases - and many of them are actually marketed as bookcases, so beware! - is the limited number of holes in the side where shelves may be placed, and often an awkward total height mandating a waste of space even if the shelves may be placed at proper heights. Before shopping for a bookcase, measure the highest typical height of the books you're going to place in it, to see how the shelving height will work out. (Ignore occasional folios, which can be turned on their spines, unless you're shelving a number of them together - I keep all my art books together, for instance. To minimize waste of space, I shelve pocket-sized paperbacks separately from other books, using shallow cases, that were sold to shelve VCR tapes, to fit in a narrow hallway otherwise unusable for bookcases.)

Comments

[pyffe.livejournal.com]

This was interesting information. Both yours and theirs. I'm making floor to ceiling bookshelves to cover an entire wall in my office. Permanent ones. I drew up what I want, and Bog and I are planning to build it. We're just waiting until the kids are in school to start. :> Timing is everything!

[scribblerworks.livejournal.com]

The best bookcase I own is one I designed and my father built to my specs. I wanted one that could serve as a space divider in my bedroom (this was back when I was still in high school), so my desk would have its own alcove. And I wanted it to serve for the slew of paperbacks that I frequently used. It's double-sided. The bottom shelf uses the full depth for larger books, as does the top shelf. Next up from the bottom are three shelves of standard paperback height, on both sides. Then there's a knick-knack shelf, with a storage space with sliding door covers. Above that is another double-sided paperback shelf, for paperbacks of the slightly taller sort (like the Chronicles of Pyrdain).

Its very stable. These days, I use it as a divider to create a slight foyer at the door to my apartment.

I suspect I will keep this bookcase for forever. It is unfinished wood, and could possibly have been slightly better constructed. But dang! it works, and my dad built it for me.