What is the next chapter in the book shelves? -Minneapolis Star Tribune

Library/sunroom in Jim Noble 19th-century Minneapolis House is about books. Leather-bound volumes, many of them antiques that have been in his family for generations, complete floor to ceiling racks, as an entire wall.

"It is nice to have books around. They add so much atmosphere, "said Noble, a principal with noble interior design. "I hope we never live to see the day when books are removed from the home."

Michael Jones also love books. But his ceiling Parc in Minneapolis has no room for a traditional library. He still buys books but downloads much of its lighter reading material on his Kindle. Recently he added a custom built-in bookshelf for his living room--mainly to display his art collection. "I ran the wall space," he said.

The two houses illustrate the role books have traditionally played in American homes--and the role they can play in the future, as e-readers will continue to revolutionize our relationship to the printed word.

Books were once strong symbols of knowledge, wealth and status. In the 1800s included upper-class housing often voluminous libraries.

"Books were very expensive, and a large library was marked by an aristocrat," said Clifford Clark, professor of history and American studies at Carleton College in Northfield.

In a well-educated man--and the library was definitely a male space according to Clark--books were goods for viewing and reading. At the beginning of the 20th century furnished many people their libraries with "Harvard shelf," a reference to the 5-foot bookshelf required to contain the Harvard Classics. (This 51-volume Anthology works, selected by Harvard President Charles Eliot, consisted of all the books he considered essential to the background of a trained person.)

Under bungalow era, built-in bookcases, moved into middle class homes, Clark said, but retained their symbolism as a marker for training.

Paperback explosion

But ' 50s and ' 60s, the role of books in the home started to change, Clark said. Cheap paperbacks became popular, and bookcases were a place to display collectibles and books. Family rooms and TVs began to make inroads in American homes, were books, even more like TV-a form of entertainment, Clark said. "Books were not a tank of knowledge, but a way to keep up to date, it reads the newest novel."

The current explosion of new media technology has again changed the books role. "In the 1800s, you used an encyclopedia--now you Google," Clark said. "Knowledge may be gained in so many ways, from so many sources. The book has lost its position as a symbol of knowledge. "

And now, where you can make a e reader everywhere, there is also a role for the rooms and furniture designed for books and reading?

Yes, said Noble. "Just about every House I go in has bookcases. No one has spoken to me about managing their books differently. I get asked to help people to look more attractive, "he said. "People always Weeding, books, usually ugly paperbacks."

In his own home which he shares with his wife and five children, the library is the most popular room in the House of Commons (there is, admittedly, a television, and books). "We kind of live here," Noble said. "I use more watchful time here than anywhere else. All makes. It is the scale. It is cosy.

So far, said the transition to e-readers did not have a major impact on the domestic front, interior designer Suzanne Goodwin of Suzanne Goodwin and Associates in Minneapolis. "The development is really young yet. I am sure it will come, but it will take a while for the majority of the public to obtain ".

Home builders still lay in the bookcases, and people still accessorizing with books, says Marie Meko, designer with Gabberts Design Studio. But clients are becoming more selective about what goes on the shelves, "she said. "People want books, look, nice, not only paperbacks. Not only the rows of books, as in old libraries. We do not piling rig them on the shelves. "

MEKO believe books and e-readers fulfill different roles. "I am a great iPad user. Professionally, I love it I have not [make] five catalogs. I love to travel, but at home, I personally am books to keep. " She buys still coffee-table books as mementos of art exhibits she seen or travel she was taken out. "Books give memories," she said.

Selective buyer

Jones, loft bebørne, which adds a bookcase for his art, has begun to draw the line between books he just want to read and whom he wants to keep, enjoy and display. "It is like to download iTunes vs. buy a CD," he said. "I know I want CD of Patty Smith's ' horse. '" He is now beginning to apply the same selective strategy in his book-buyer; He has a tendency to buy art books and over size Visual books, but are more likely to read on his Kindle best-sellers.

His new built-in bookcase, which spans most of a 17-foot wall in his living room, contains some books, but several art and artifacts. "I don't like the idea of completely filling it with books", he said.

He also does not like the idea of a traditional wood bookshelf. ' Heavy wood things are conducive to a ceiling, "he said. "I would essentially yet light."

He chose powder-coated steel. And he selected an architect to design and build it.

"Books are heavy, and do this in wood, bookshelf will become extremely present," said Ben Awes, an architect/partner with CityDeskStudio, the company responsible for Jones ' project. "With steel, we could achieve the objective of the implementation of all these things with a much smaller [structure]."

AWES has developed modern steel bookcases for more recent clients. "Clients, all living in the ceiling," he said. "It is a small kind of living. There are not so many places to put stuff. " And the open floor plan of most of the ceiling makes homeowners very aware of the putting on their shelves and how it looks. "Something about the spaces people live in makes them cautious what is," said Awes. "These all people declared that the books questions to them, but they wanted to be selective about it and process it all [bookcases] as an art piece."

This is what Jones appreciates about her bookcases, which incorporate a curved shelf, two non-related columns and a built-in desk in light orange to a pop of color. "I wanted this style, inconsistency," he said.

And although he can use his Kindle throughout its Parc, he still gravitates to spot the right in its bookcases. "I read here, on the couch," he said.

Kim Palmer • 612-673-4732