I recently encountered an article full of designer bookshelf advice. As a dedicated book dragon, I take bookshelves seriously, so I took a look.

Wait. What is a “book dragon,” you ask? Well, some may be worms, but others of us are wyrms, as in dragons. I am a self-identified dragon, and as such I have fierce opinions. Maybe especially about bookshelves and their uses.

I often find my opinions to be at odds with “expert designer advice.” But let’s be fair. I should let the designer – in this case, Cathy Hobbs – have her say. I based this post on her syndicated article about built-in bookshelves “done right.” So how does she think we should do them “right”?

The Designer’s Bookshelf Advice: DO

Hobbs organized her feature into “DO” and “DON’T sections. She offered the “DO” list first. Reading through the list reveals it’s all pretty much variations and expansions on her opening statement.

“Do treat each shelf as its own composition,” she wrote. This triggers my knee-jerk impulse to reject advice that views books as purely decorative objects. But again: let’s be fair. Books are decorative. And each shelf is, after all, its own treasure-trove of wisdom and possibility. Sometimes, on my shelves, it’s even clustered by subject.

But then she lost me: “Each [shelf] should have its own balance of books, objects, and ‘negative space.’” Books, yes. Certainly. But objects? She appears to mean “objects other than books.”

Why would other objects take up book space?

And “negative space”? As an artist, I understand the concept of negative space. But as a book dragon, I understand negative space on a bookshelf to mean “space for more books.”

She concluded this opening with “when you step back, the shelves should feel layered and intentional, not uniform.” Has she never appreciated the magisterial grandeur of an old-fashioned lawyer’s office? Never entered the enchanted realm of a well-filled library? Is this woman’s taste all in her mouth?

The Designer’s Bookshelf Advice: DON’T

After the “DO” section comes the inevitable list of “DON’Ts.” And in this section she confirmed all of my lurking doubts about how our opinions about what makes for aesthetic bookshelves diverge.

The very first line says, “Don’t stuff shelves with books.”

Them’s almost fightin’ words, Hobbs. Why else do bookshelves exist, except to be stuffed with books? To be filled to bursting with the rich, intriguing, enticing realms and worlds and universes that books encompass? What could be more beautiful than an overflowing bounty of books?

This “don’t stuff” bookshelf advice parallels her elaboration on the “negative space” advice noted above. In that section, she writes, “There is no need to fill every shelf.”

Wait. Isn’t an empty section of shelf an active invitation to fill it? “Intentionally leave entire rows of shelving empty,” she adds. By . . . stacking the rest of the books on the floor nearby? But wouldn’t that look as if I simply got tired in the middle, and didn’t finish the job?

Granted, “entire rows” of empty shelving does sound tantalizing. If one were lucky enough to have naturally-occurring empty rows, the only rational response I can think of is, “Challenge Accepted!”

More Designer Bookshelf Advice

Now that I’ve given you some big-picture glimpses of Hobbs’ woefully book-starved worldview, let’s zoom in on some of her more detailed bookshelf advice. “Stacking books horizontally creates a platform for objects,” she says.

We’ve already established that when she says “objects” she’s not talking about more books. No, she’s thinking about “something sculptural,” or “key, curated collectibles that look well together.” Doesn’t she realize it’s harder to access the books when there’s stuff stacked on top of them?

She also advises, “bring greenery into the mix.” I’m sort of with her on this one. My friend Randal R. Spanger is far from the only artist to understand the beauty of massed books and plants. For cases in point, see this, this, and this composition! However, you’ll also notice that in Randy’s artwork, the plants are well back from most of the books.

That’s because plants – living ones, not the dead, plastic kind – require two important things that can damage books: water, and sunlight. Hobbs suggests “potted succulents” and “traditional house plants.” Succulents would somewhat mitigate the water issue, but beware of the sunlight both kinds need for photosynthesis. What greens up a plant can bleach out a book jacket.

She also says, “Don’t forget to infuse color,” but – thank goodness! She does not whisper a word about shelving one’s books by color. (Good call, Hobbs!). That’s a whole other anathema we don’t have to address today.

About the Book Dragon

Jan S. Gephardt is the author of the science fiction mystery “XK9 saga.” These books tell the stories of a pack of uplifted police dogs who live on a space station and solve murder mysteries (among other things).

Her most recent completed novel in the series is Bone of Contention. In 2026, she released an omnibus edition of The Complete XK9 “Bones” Trilogy (all three books) and The XK9 “Bones” Trilogy Companion, which includes all of the “about” material, supporting maps and illustrations, etc. that normally would be part of the “back matter.”

She’s now revising the next volume, Bones for the Children for proposed publication in 2027. She’ also has begun early development of a fifth “XK9s” novel. Since 2019 she’s been the Chief Cat-Herder and Art Director for Weird Sisters Publishing, and a creator of fine art paper sculpture.

IMAGE CREDITS

Many thanks to Cathy Hobbs and The Daily Camera for the first photo (the one with one small built-in shelf unit, crowded with far too many things that are not books). I’m grateful to Wikipedia / Wikimedia for the photo showing the amazing archways full of books at the Upper Lusatian Library of Sciences in Görlitz, Germany: By OLB – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Much appreciation as well, to Arlene Eakle’s Genealogy Blog for the “Erasmus Library” photo of a place that still clearly could use more books. Finally, I want to thank sf & fantasy author Lindsay Buroker and her Facebook page for passing along the “@thebookishlibra” meme about not having enough bookshelves. Many thanks to all!