Many students carry their academic books everywhere, from class to the library to the apartment complex gym. However, this constant movement can cause your books to become battered and torn and even result in severe damage if you aren’t careful. Here are some ways to keep your books safe at home, so they look good as new when you take them back to the college bookstore next semester.
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Protect Books You Rarely Use and Valuable Ones with a Book Jacket
Protecting your academic books with a book jacket is an excellent way to keep them safe. That will help keep the dust off and prevent accidental spills from damaging the pages. If you have a particularly rare or valuable book, you may want to consider investing in a custom book jacket for added protection. The price of a customized cover ranges depending on its size and material, but it’s worth considering if you need something that will stand up to heavy use.
However, you can use poly mailers for a more efficient and economical option. Poly mailers are inexpensive and effective at repelling moisture and keeping out pests such as silverfish, cockroaches, and moths. Poly sleeves are great for storing smaller volumes because they come in several sizes–so no matter what the size of your book is, there’s likely a poly mailer available to fit it!
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Shelve Them Safely
You can do a few things to ensure your academic books are safe at home. First, ensure you have a sturdy bookshelf that can support the weight of your reading materials. Second, consider getting bookends to keep your books from toppling over.
Third, arrange your texts so that the heavier ones are on the bottom shelves and the lighter ones are on top. Fourth, keep your academic books out of reach if you have young children or pets. Finally, avoid putting them under other heavy objects like televisions or tables as this could damage their spines.
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Use Bookmarks, Not Dog Ears
Dog-earing pages are one of the quickest ways to ruin your book. Not only does it make the pages look unkempt, but it can also cause the pages to become wrinkled and difficult to read. A much better way to mark your place is by using a bookmark.
You can buy bookmarks designed explicitly for this purpose or get creative and use something else lying around the house, like a piece of ribbon or a strip of paper. Just be sure to write what page you are on in pencil, so you don’t forget where you left off reading.
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Use Book Ends for Open Shelves or Stick-Ons
Open shelves can be great for storage, but they also risk your books falling over and damaging. To help prevent this, use bookends! They’ll keep your books upright and looking great on the shelf. Plus, they come in fun designs so you can show off your personality. If you’re not into that idea, then another solution is to get some stick-on felt pads from a craft store.
You can place these pads under each book’s back cover, giving it more grip on the shelf. Suppose these methods are too cumbersome for you. In that case, there’s always an option to store your books vertically instead of horizontally. Ensure they return in order when you put them away again and are facing forward!
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Keep Your Home Library Organized
A home library can be a great asset, both aesthetically and intellectually. But if you do not organize your home library, keeping track of your books can be a pain. Managing your home library goes beyond neat stacks of subject matters, novels or philosophy texts. It also includes having a simple cataloging system, so you know what you have, where you put it, and when you need to return it.
If you are in college, this will help immensely as the semester progresses because when finals come around, students usually can’t find the time to clean up their shelves. Also, creating an environment conducive to reading by managing lighting, noise levels, and room temperature – all contribute to the success of a reading experience.
Conclusion
Keeping your precious academic books safe at home is possible! Whether you are trying to keep them in good condition for resale or research, it is essential to take care of them. Remember to use book jackets or poly mailers to keep your valuable reading materials and other documents safe. Also, being organized pays off! Use a shelf system that you can alter as your collection grows. Always take care of your collection of books; as Walt Disney, an American animation film producer, once said, “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”
