Transporting books - how to position the spine

Factual Questions
1

Heya, I figured I’d wriggle outside of GD and ask a question. For the first time since moving to college, I’m moving a distance of more than 10 blocks (about 600 miles). I’m sitting here preparing to pack my tiny “library” of a few hundred books, and it just struck my mind - what is the best way to pack books for a possible violent journey? Spine up, spine down, laying flat, what? I have a lot of older books I really don’t want to damage. Most of them are softcover, sized varying from about 9" spines to 8.5x12 course readers.

Any tips? I’m sure there aren’t any dopers out there who want to see any books damaged!

2

My expert bookmover says to pack them tightly in the box. I’d say just lay them flat without a lot of wiggle room.

3

Having moved a lot during college, I second packing them flat. In theory, so long as they’re tight, they won’t have too far to go, but it’s always a possibility that if you lay page-end-to-spine that they could get jostled and the pages on the page-end book would get crumpled.

How violent are you talking?

4

Back in my mispent youth, I was part of a crew that spent one summer packing ALL the books in an entire library. (Prep for shipping them to storage before a major renovation/new addition to the existing building.)

The instructions we were given were to lay the books flat, alternating which side the spine lay on, stacking them into a single column per box. If the box was wide enough, stagger the books slightly so the spine of one book could overhang the edge of the book beneath. The pile should be just as high as the box, to prevent the box being crushed when stacked. If there was a lot of excess room in the box, crumple wads of paper (we used unprinted newsprint, from a ginormous ‘end’ from a printing plant) and stuff around the edges.

This seemed a ‘waste’ of boxes – lots of empty space, lots more boxes needed – but given how heavy books are, that’s not a bad thing.

The reason we were given for doing it that way:

If you stand the books up in the box on any of the four edges (spine, front, top or bottom) you will end up with uneven heights. When the boxes are stacked, the box will likely be crushed down where the books don’t reach to the top, putting all the weight of the above boxes onto those few books that are full height, and likely smushing and bending them.

If you stand the books up on their ‘face’, that is, with the spines on top, not only will you run into the taller ones being crushed, all of the books will be vulnerable to having their spines damaged. The covers of hardbacks are deliberately made to extend a quarter inch or so past the page block, so when you stand a book on that front edge, all the weight of the page block is hanging from the, um, headcloth (? Not sure of that term, it’s been a long while) – anyway, the stiff cloth that all the page signatures are sewn or glued to, and which is in turn glued/sewn into the final cover. Under the steady pull of gravity, plus jolts as boxes are shifted and plunked down, threads can break and signatures come loose, or even the entire page block rip free of the cover. :eek:

So if you care about your books, lay them FLAT.

5

If you have books which you are concerned about the covers being damaged by scratches or rubbing during transportation, I’d suggest laying something between the books. Tissue paper, or ethafoam is ideal, but I found that my dishcloths did an admirable job. (I’d have to pack them anyway.)

Secondly, you’re going to want to use small boxes. I, too, know the temptation of wanting to get as many moved in one trip as possible, but it really is better to make many trips than break your back.

If you’re planning to leave any in storage, make sure you’re paking them in acid-free materials. Plain old cardboard will stain and damage your books over time.

6

I also think you should lay them flat. The best place I found for getting boxes for books is at the liquor store. They are just the right size and are very sturdy cardboard.

7

Dropping in before I pack my computer (Gah!) to say thanks, I’ll take that advice. The Straight Dope strikes again!