“I have so many books that I can make a library out of it.” Well, do it (if you haven’t already)! Having your library is a blessing. It’s our (book lovers’) kind of luxury. But merely having a personal library isn’t enough for a luxury. We need labeled books for it! But who’s going to do that for us? Yes, We! So in this article, I’m going to talk about some incredible ways to label your personal library and the reasons to do so.
I don’t myself have a personal library yet. I have enough books for it, and I need to figure out the spacing. So the point is, I have a few friends who do have a personal library, and I’ve helped all of them label their library, with each one having a unique way of doing it. It’s a time-consuming but pretty fun thing to do.
These days, almost everyone who owns a personal library wants to label it and the books placed there for several reasons. One might want it to be a sign of identity or simply for fun. No matter the reason, everyone wants to do it in the best and the most sophisticated way possible, making the task even better.
Having a personal library is a boon, so one might cherish it dearly and take care of it in the best way possible. One of the tasks in cherishing it includes labeling it to make it attractive. In a few minutes, I’ll be sharing a few ideas on how you can label your library.
Why Should You Label Your Personal Library
As promised above, I will share some ideas about labeling the library but before that, let’s have a look at a few reasons why one should label their personal library.
1. It Invokes a Sense of Possessiveness
We all book lovers are highly possessive of our books. Everyone knows that, especially the person who borrowed the book from us and didn’t return it after the said period (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: never do that).
The point is, we would never leave any opportunity to tell everyone else that the book belongs to us and what’s the better way of doing this than attaching a mark of your identification to your books! Yes, most people label the books in their library to show everyone who owns that book(s). It’s not weird, it’s just the way we are, and it’s pretty cool if you ask me.
2. It Serves as a Sign of Identification
As a continuation of the previous point, a sign of identification is essential for our books. Imagine (god forbid) that you somehow left your book somewhere, or maybe someone took it from you. If there’s something on that book that clearly defines that it belongs to you, you’ll get that book back just fine, without having to put up much fight.
I’ve been in such a situation where a person took my book and later refused to return it, later claiming it was hers. I couldn’t prove my possession of it, so I had to give it away to her. So, your books must have a sign of identification on them. They’re our most prized possessions, after all.
3. It Just Feels Nice
The final reason to label our personal library and its books is that it makes us feel excellent. I mean, isn’t that good enough for a reason? We already love to keep our books and their storing place spik and span, so it would only add to the joy if we just went a little further and labeled them.
We’re a bunch of creative book lovers, after all, so obviously, we’re going to do it in a way as to make it look more attractive, so why not, right? Plus, believe me, it’ll be a nice feeling when you see your creativity in it every time you enter your personal library or open any book in there. It’ll take you at least a week to get over it and move on.
Amazing Ideas for Labeling Your Personal Library
Finally, The part you’ve been looking forward to knowing. Some of my personal ideas on how you can label your personal library and the books there. But before that, make sure you know the basics of storing books properly:
- How to store More Books in a Small Place
- What Kind of Bookends to Use in Order to Keep Your Collection Well-Groomed
- How to Protect Your Book Collection
After we’ve got all that sorted out, let’s move further on.
1. Use a Stamp
Ever been to a library. No, not your personal one. It’s a public library I’m talking about. Notice how they stamp every book, and that too, sometimes. Why can’t we do that with the books in our personal library? Obviously, I’m not talking about imprinting your books with those boring stamps.
What I’m talking about is designing our own! Or maybe at least choose our favorite ones from the market. We can get different colors or symbols stamps and mark our books with them based on how they’re organized in our library. For example, if I have organized my books according to genres, I’d use a different stamp for each genre.
2. Use a Sticker
Stickers literally bring dead things to life, and I’m not even kidding. You take an old rusty diary, place pretty stickers on it, and see the magic. It’ll glow up as if new. But here, it’s our own neatly done personal library we’re talking about, so adding stickers would be like decorating a cake with icing. Now, I’m not talking about those ten-in-a-pack stickers you get at every store. It’ll be nice if you get specific big stickers according to how you want to sort and label your books.
Get different stickers for different categories. If you don’t find many options in the stores, I’ve seen several small startups that provide you with customized stickers. You can opt for that as well.
3. Use Your Signature
Remember before when I talked about enabling a sense of possession upon your books? This is the best way to do it. What says “this belongs to me” than one’s signature! Now please, don’t use the usual signatures that you use everywhere. Try something creative with it. Make it as attractive as you can but remember, don’t make it too time-consuming as you’ve got a whole library of books to sign.
As for differentiation, you can use colored pens to sign different;y categorized books and novels. If you care to, you can add a little note or a simple line before you sign, just like the authors do in their book signing events!
4. Use a Postcard
Now, this might sound unique and, to some, even weird. I mean, you probably wouldn’t have heard anyone using postcards on their books to label them, but here we are. I’ve actually made one of my friends do this. Even though she was reluctant to do it at first, she didn’t have any creative ideas herself, so she decided to go with it, and trust me, it’s one of the best decisions she’s ever made. Not just does it look different, calm, and creative, but it also proves to be helpful, especially to those who have a habit of leaving stuff (books) at random places as postcards have an address column which we’re supposed to fill in.
There are still people out there who would be considerate enough to return it to you. Also, I’m not asking you to spend too much on it. After all, you’ve got tons of books to do. In that case, you can go on a design your own. It’ll be more personal and feasible.
Conclusion| Awesome Ways to Label Your Personal Library
Now since we’re done with knowing some ideas on how to label your personal library i.e.,
- Use a stamp
- Use a sticker
- Use your signature
- Use a postcard (highly recommended)
These ideas are time-consuming indeed, but this is a price you must be willing to pay to get an amazingly labeled personal library and books. Also, I’m sure you might have got some pretty amazing friends who would be willing to help you out in your mission (just like I did with my friend).
Also, if you liked my ideas here, I’m pretty sure you might want to check out some more:
