You've taken time to acquire a cool collection of entertainment options. Here's how to set up a home comic book and gaming library to preserve and protect them.
A great collection deserves a space where you can easily display, access, and guard it when not in use. Don’t leave your comics and games lying around the basement, stacked in piles, or strewn about. Give them the proper presentation and protection by setting up a room, closet, or wall to show them off. Here’s
how to set up a home comic book and gaming library with minimal effort and expense.
Keep Cool, but Not Too Cool
You love your comics, but the weather doesn’t. It’s one of the bigger destroyers of paper products. It’s best to store paper products of any kind in a cool, dry place. High humidity causes paper to curl, warp, and wrinkle. It can also encourage mold growth. Low humidity can dry out paper and even make it crack and crumble. Attics, basements, and other parts of a house that experience high or low temperatures are bad places to store comics. Keep them in a temperature- and humidity-controlled room.
A good HVAC system can remove humidity and maintain proper and comfortable levels of heat and cold.
(Don’t) See the Light
Another powerful but subtle comics destroyer is light, especially sunlight. Don’t display your collection in an area that gets a lot of natural light. The ultraviolet rays break down the chemical binds in the ink, causing them to fade over time. The more light they encounter, the faster they’ll fade. Sealing your comics in mylar bags and storing them away in a filing cabinet or long box can protect them. If you want to display your favorite books, put them in frames with UV-resistant glass and set up curtains and blinds on nearby windows.
Shelve It!
As for displays, you have several options. A basic shelving unit from a department or big box store can do the trick, but make sure the shelves are smooth and finished. This way, they’ll be unlikely to transfer stains or other cosmetic damage to the paper of cardboard. If you’re lucky, you might be able to get a dealer display rack. This is a great way to show off your collection but can take up lots of space. Also, cardboard display racks can break down over time. If you’re handy, build or commission racks. This allows for greater customization, with alternating shelves for smaller and larger books and game boxes.
Clobber Clutter
Here's the last of our tips on
how to set up a home comic book and gaming library. One thing to keep in mind is that less is more. The urge to show everything off is understandable, but too many things crammed in a small space isn’t good from an aesthetic or organizational point of view. Decide if an item is display worthy and whether it must be readily accessible. Frequently played games or read comics should be within reach, while less-often-used items deserve a lower shelf or even storage elsewhere. Go for a lean, mean, and organized look. It makes a better statement about your devotion to your hobby than a jam-packed set of shelves or a sprawling and unstable mess!
