book-geek/ninja's Profile

I'm wondering, first, how many books you are thinking of putting up there. You say "a little library" but then mention you're an English prof, so your idea of "little" might be quite large :)
Also, how wide is it? Looks like perhaps four feet?

You might want to get a contractor in to check the weight capacity of the floors and walls. Also, if your contractor has an electricians' license he might be able to tell pretty easily if it would be difficult to at least provide the area with a grounded outlet or two.

If that L bend is a good size for it (hard to tell how far it goes) *and* you can get some sort of light source back there, that would be a cozy little area for a nice chair and perhaps a small table.

If your contractor indicates that the floors and walls are sturdy enough, you could easily build shelves intended to hold books at an angle (or small knickknacks, whatever).

I helped a friend build a 'library' in a closet a couple of years ago out of relatively cheap lumber which we then stained and painted to look like hardwood. (And because I'm a book geek, we lined them with acid free board to buffer her books from acids in the wood.)

Basically, we built shelving using exclusively 1x6 lumber and since we were doing it ourselves we could choose our own shelf heights: 16 inches headroom (tall enough for folio sized books) for the bottom shelves, then a 10 inch shelf (standard hardcovers), then 8 inch shelves up from there (fits most paperbacks).
*When I say headroom I'm referring to the space from the top edge the books are sitting on, to the bottom edge of the next shelf up.

For your low-ceilinged space it would be a matter of aesthetics versus feet of shelving. For the 6ft area I would (from bottom to top) simply go with 16-10-8in shelves and use the 38-inch height top as display area. that would be barely above the half-height point on the wall.

I know, you're going, I DO have 12x15 folios, how do I get them to stay on the shelf? very simply, you angle the books on the shelf (like magazines at the store). It takes up a lot less lateral wallspace. at absolutely worst, you lose perhaps one linear foot of shelving per case this way for the widest books. Hardcovers hardly have to be angled at all: you lose maybe one or two books' worth of space. Paperbacks will fit spine out, completely straight.
And of course if you are extravagant and make your sheves 8 (!) inches wide, the angle the books are kept at can be much less shallow and hold even more.

Other thoughts:
If you do decide to build your own shelving, you might consider leaving the upper part of the walls open so the place doesn't seem like a cave falling in, or leave at least some blank restful areas open. At most I think I'd go with four shelves, 16-10-8-8, which bookcase would have a total height of 47 inches (assuming your bottom shelf is flat on the floor).

I might (if time and $ permit) put in a couple MORE round windows (they are cool!) spaced along the long bar of the L.
If not, no big deal, but I definitely would place mirrors opposite the existing window, where ever light strikes, to bring natural light into the area (again, avoiding the caving-in cave feeling).

However, as someone pointed out, you do want to try to avoid inadvertantly destroying your books. If they're not particularly valuable, don't worry too much, but if any are expensive or rare, you won't want to store them in a former attic unless you've made sure it's a book-healthy environment. Really, rare books should be kept in climate controlled environments, but even I don't go to that much trouble except for four VERY old books I own.

Basically, if the air in your L is too dry, the bindings and papers will deteriorate; if it's too damp you risk introducing mold or pests. Direct light (natural and most types of incandescent) will photodeteriorate your bindings/papers/colors on the exposed areas of the books, (that's how the edges get all yellowed and crumbly, which can happen very quickly). However, you can get various treatments for window glass to cut down the amount of UV radiation getting in, and then there are of course always blinds or shades. Or simply fashion doors or covers for your shelves.

And remember YOU have to be comfortable here. Does it get really hot in the summer? Cold in the winter? You might have to check if this area and its roof are insulated well enough for YOU to be happy there!

If you go with half-height shelves, I'd put not only a mirror or two on the walls but also some nice bright prints or paintings. Or even frame the jackets of favorite books as decoration :)

I know this was loooong, but I hope it helps you figure out what to do with your interesting space! Good luck with your project, and congrats on the new house!