Celebrated on the fourth Wednesday of each January, Library Shelfie Day was started in 2014 by the New York Public Library. It’s a chance for book lovers across the country to share their love of libraries and books by sharing “shelfies” on social media.
Simply take a photo of yourself in front of your local library’s bookshelf or your own personal book collection at home and post your shelfie to your social media pages using the hashtags #LibraryShelfieDay or #ShelfieDay. Don’t forget to check out those hashtags and similar ones on Instagram and Twitter to see how other bookworms are celebrating Library Shelfie Day!
Want to really make your shelfie stand out? Here are five ways to get creative with your shelfie this year.
1. Take a Group Shelfie
The more the merrier! If you’re someone who works at a library or bookstore, get some of your coworkers together to take a group shelfie! Shelfie Day is about celebrating books, libraries, and how our love for them brings people together, so why not demonstrate that with a group shelfie?
2. Show Off Your Bookshelf Decorations
If you’ve got a unique theme or decorations on your bookshelf at home, show it off! Have you decorated your bookshelf to give off a dark academia vibe, or is it more along the lines of the light and airy cottagecore feel? Or maybe there’s no theme to it at all, and you’ve just got random Funko Pop figures strewn about the shelves like me (in my defense, I at least tried to be cool by putting my Jon Snow Pop figure next to my copies of my ASOIAF books). Whatever your bookshelf style, display it proudly for this year’s Shelfie Day.
3. Talk About a Book You’re Currently Obsessed With
Did you just finish a book that you can’t stop thinking about? Are you in the middle of a book that you just know you’ll be obsessing over well after you’ve read the final page? Add a little extra flair to your shelfie by holding up your current literary fixation so everyone can see what you’re reading at the moment. You can even take a moment in your caption to tell your followers your thoughts about the book so far and recommend it to your bookworm friends who are looking for their next book obsession.
4. Show Off Your Organizational Skills
Like decorating, everyone organizes the books on their shelves in a different way. Whether it’s alphabetized or organized by author, genre, series, or spine color. In a way, how we organize our bookshelves can reveal a lot about a person’s personality. The creativity that shines through when seeing people organize their books in out-of-the-box ways is amazing and inspiring! Bookshelf organizing party anyone?
5. Create a Digital Collage
This last one’s for all the digital bookworms out there. Just because you read books on a portable tablet or e-reader doesn’t mean you can’t show off your digital bookshelf! Library Shelfie Day celebrates all libraries- physical and digital. Use any free photo editor app and put together a collage of your digital bookshelf. Whether it showcases your most recent reads or all-time favorites, put it out there for people to see!
FEATURED IMAGE VIA NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY