More than 98 percent of the time, we are more concerned with our face, hair, skin, heart, tummy, cars and so much, but we never really think about our books now, do we? We are always particular about where we keep the most precious things in our home, but again not our books. As a matter of fact, some people see their books and bookshelves more as part of their interior décor to beautify their living spaces, than as a reservoir of knowledge and an avenue of improvement and self development.
“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”
― Oscar Wilde
For a person who sees books purely aesthetically, just anything might be good enough for their books, but for a book lover, his or her bookshelf is much more precious than any locker because that is where he/she keeps books. As the bookshelf houses your most precious belongings, you must take care of it.
Most people don’t know how to clean bookshelves properly, and thus their books keep getting dusty for years. The bookshelf does get dirty quickly and it is really hard to maintain it properly. However, if you know the right ways to clean your bookshelf, you should not face any problem.
Here are four simple tips on how to clean and maintain your bookshelves:
Ensure you arrange books properly
If you want to make your job of cleaning and maintaining your bookshelf easier, you must arrange the books properly. Keep the books of similar shape and size together so that you can dust them easily. Also keep hard bound and paperback books separately. Hard bound books are always easier to clean.
Keep only books on your bookshelves
Never keep show pieces, photo frames and other tiny things on your bookshelves. All these things make the process of cleaning books more complicated. These showpieces have to be removed every time you are dusting your books or else they will fall and break when you are cleaning.
Endeavour to wipe the bookshelf once every week.
It is not possible for you to clean your bookshelf every week. And it is also not possible for you to live with all that accumulated dust. So, for the sake of your health and environmental hygiene, keep a weekly ‘wipe’ routine. During this weekly cleaning regime, you will wipe and dust the books on the shelf without removing them from the shelf. This reduces your work considerably.
Empty the bookshelf once monthly
Once in a month, when you have some time on your hands, you can remove the books from the shelves and dust them. You have to put them back with naphthalene balls (what is popularly known as camphor) and/or dried tea leaves. You need to do this one shelf at a time and you will be fine. But do not get tired after cleaning half the shelf and postpone it to next week. All the hard work you did on half the shelf will be wasted. So try these ways to clean your bookshelves and maintain your precious books in good condition.