Why, yes, “The Year in Reviewment” would normally suggest a December date of publication. But the hurricanes down South sucked the lumber away from the Woodland Mills, so the last of the shelves didn’t arrive until early February. And then, well… Yeah. (N.b.: This is currently the first stage of book-shelving, wherein each book gets cataloged, measured, mylared and/or DDC categorized as appropriate, and placed on a shelf in some reasonable semblance of order. Then comes building the long-term shelves.)
A quick tour of the library so far! First up, and first to be built, there are the under-eave shelves in the study. Yeah, the boards are cut for that fourth case, they just need to be, you know… attached to each other. And stained. (See, this, this right here, is why I relented and used pre-made shelves downstairs. Because I kinda wanted all of my books off of the floor within a decade of moving in, no joke.)
Sized for standard hardcovers, made modular by the plinth underneath so they aren’t custom-cut for the baseboard (said modularity immediately nullified by angling the tops of the uprights to match the eaves), these have nonfiction, mostly biography and World War II history. 280 books shelved!
… out of 6,012, so ~4.66%.
Under the window in the study, we have comics. Somewhat fewer than before, because the bulk have been shifted to the new stand-by shelves on the first floor. (The window vent is for the air conditioner obtained once the novelty of literally sweating into my computer keyboard and/or typewriter wore off.)
(67 more books shelved, 347 and counting! And yeah, there’s a ton of empty space on that bottom shelf, but based on my calculations, I expect it to be full by the end of the year. I’m planning on running the numbers sometime to see what the growth rate in terms of shelves/year etc. would be for the library as a whole, if historical trends continue, but right now the thought terrifies me.)
The library main room of the library first full room of the library at… early evening, I think. From the corner!
I picked up a couple of Norrebo shelves from a friend who was moving and, flip a coin, this room got to be the one where the… ‘not-taking-like-five-years-or-whatever-to-finally-get-books-off-the-floor’ ready-made shelves live for now. The ends hold various mementos, odd-sized and to- read/process/refer-to/etc. books, and such. Lights will likely be added at some point.
The case near the door has mostly trade paperbacks and a few hardcovers, some comics; and the far one has more hardcovers. Nonfiction facing the door, fiction on the far side. 743 and 464 books shelved respectively, up to 1,554 total!
Of the corner –
This room will retain its original, obviously-accessible closet (for now, at least). After all, if a house doesn’t have a closet on the first floor somewhere in the general vicinity of one or more entrances, people tend to be suspicious. And yes, I’m aware of the irony of detailing the presence of one or more secret rooms in order to discuss preventative measures intended to allay suspicions regarding the presence of one or more secret rooms –
Anyways, that’s a wall of paperback bookshelves from Woodland Mills holding 816 books. (The ones on the very top are processed and awaiting shelf space.) Turning around is another wall of Woodland Mills shelves, this one deeper & with some more sizewise variety:
The Sarah’s Scribbles print is totes apposite.
These shelves hold comics, some hardcovers, trade paperbacks, some smaller volumes, etc. A mix of fiction and nonfiction as can be seen from the DDC labels – 818 in total shelved here.
Still hoping to eventually design some handmade shelves for this room –
Anyways, this brings it to a grand total of 3,188 books shelved, which, well, means that I’m – drum roll – 53% done!
Only about 2,824 books left to shelve.
Don Norum 