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Clean Out Your Bookcase Day – How To Organize Books & Book Facts

It’s time to celebrate Clean Out Your Bookcase Day! Keep reading to learn how to organize books and celebrate this February 20 national day.

If you’re a book lover, this special day is for you. It’s a time to give your book collection a little extra care and attention.

Once you’ve cleaned out your bookcase, I would encourage you to read one of your favorite books to celebrate a job well done!

Keep reading for ways to observe this day, tips on bookcase organization and fun facts about books.

A pile of vintage books with a pocket watch and a text overlay that reads "Clean Out Your Bookcase Day, how to organize books, how to organize bookshelves, book facts and ways to celebrate".

What is Clean Out Your Bookcase Day?

Clean Out Your Bookcase Day is a day that falls annually on February 20. This day is dedicated to physically cleaning, organizing and decluttering your bookshelf.

A collage of twenty five different book stacks as suggestions for how to organize books in different ways.

Today is the perfect day to give your books a little love. Start by taking all the books of your shelves and physically cleaning your bookshelf and books.

Then, before you put them back straight away, think about which books you really want to keep, and which books you can let go of, so another reader can enjoy them.

How to organize books

Once you’ve decided which books you want to keep, find a system to organize them! Picking how to organize books varies from person to person, there’s no right or wrong way to organize!

Four piles of books with twinkle lights draped over them.

Some popular ways to organize books are alphabetically (by title, or by author) and by genre.

I personally love organizing books by color! It makes me so happy to see a rainbow of books staring out at me from my bookshelf.

Let us know in the comments section how you organize books! We’d love to hear from you today, on Clean Out Your Bookcase Day.

How to organize a bookshelf

Now that you’ve decided how to organize books, it’s time to decide how to organize a bookshelf (or bookshelves, if you have more than one).

An example of how to organize a bookshelf, with minimal books, a plant, and a couple of other decor pieces.

Since the first step of Clean Out Your Bookcase Day is physically cleaning your bookshelf, you should have a nice fresh space to work with.

Now you get to decide if you want only books in your bookshelves, or if you want to mix your books with other items like plants, or photos! 

Styled bookshelves

If you decide to add other items into your bookshelf, the sky is the limit with creativity! You can stack books horizontally and place objects on top of them (like succulents, or trinkets). 

A styled bookshelf next to a desk in a minimalist room with a text overlay with inspiration for how to style a bookshelf.

If you decided to only keep a few books after your bookshelf cleaning, you can organize your bookshelf so these special books really stand out!

I’m guessing you’ve seen tons of styled bookshelves floating around instagram (bookstagram). Clean Out Your Bookcase Day would be a fun day to make a styled bookshelf of your own!

Let us know in the comments if you have styled bookshelves, or if you’ve been inspired to make one!

This post may contain affiliate links. I earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you if you purchase through an affiliate link.

Where to donate books

So now that you’ve cleaned out your bookshelf, you’ve probably got a pile of books earmarked to be donated. Let’s talk about where to donate books – below are a few places to get you started.

A little library with the door open showing where to donate books.

Libraries – Check with your local library to see if they accept book donations. Some libraries accept donations for book, audiobooks, and DVDs!

Local Bookstores- Check with local bookstores in your area. Many are willing to buy books, and those that aren’t are often still willing to accept donations!

Little Free Libraries – You may have seen a little free library near you. The picture above is an example of what they look like! 

5 book facts for Clean Out Your Bookcase Day

Celebrate Clean Out Your Bookcase Day by learning some fun book facts!

An open book on a white background with roses and two candles.

  • The Harvard Library has contains a book bound in human skin.
  • According to Merriam-Webster the term bibliophile means “lover of books”.
  • The first novel ever said to have been written on a typewriter is Mark Twain’s The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer.
  • John Steinbeck’s puppy, Toby, ate the original manuscript for Of Mice and Men. Talk about the dog eating your homework!
  • Dr. Seuss’s book, Green Eggs and Ham contains only 50 different words. This was purposeful, and done as a bet between Dr. Seuss and his publisher. There is even a national day devoted to the author – Dr. Seuss Day. (It’s also called Read Across America Day.)

How to observe Clean Out Your Bookcase Day

There are lots of obvious ways to celebrate Clean Out Your Bookcase Day. Here are a few other creative ideas to help honor this day.

A woman reading a book on a bed to celebrate Clean Out Your Bookcase Day.

  • Clean and organize your bookshelf today, there’s no better day than Clean Out Your Bookcase Day to do some tidying!
  • Read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. She has a specific method for decluttering books, and making sure the ones that remain on your bookshelf bring you joy!
  • If you don’t already have one, get a library card! There’s a whole world of books just waiting to be borrowed from libraries. Plus, you return them once you’re done, so they won’t clutter up your newly cleaned bookshelf.
  • Sell or donate the books you no longer need! If a book has served it’s purpose in your life, let it go to someone else who will read and love it!
  • Make an account online to keep track of your books and read reviews! Goodreads is a popular site that has a large online database, and The StoryGraph is a new site with in depth analytics! I use both, and love them.
  • Do the word search puzzle for February to see if you can find Clean out Your Bookcase Day in it.
  • Once you’ve cleaned an organized your bookshelf, reward yourself with some reading time.
  • Use the hashtag #CleanOutYourBookcaseDay to spread the word about the day on social media. Here is a tweet to get you started:
Today is Clean Out Your Bookcase Day! Time to dust off your books, minimize, and spruce up your bookshelf! Head to Always The Holidays to learn more! 📚 🤓 📖 #bookstagram #SpringCleaning Click To Tweet

What is a national day?

National days of the year are a fun way to celebrate odd and unusual foods, animals and items. For more fun days to celebrate, check out my national day’s guide.

A February calendar of national days surrounded by hearts.

There are close to 2000 national days in the year and over 150 of them are celebrated in February. To see all of them, have a look at the national days in February post.

Is food your thing? Each day of the month has a food or drink associated with it, too. Check out all of the February food holidays here.

Be sure to also check out these other national days this month:

  • National Cafe Au Lait Day – Are you a coffee fan? Check out our post on National Cafe Au Lait Day which also has a recipe for the delicious drink!
  • National Chocolate Mint Day – Looking for a delicious mint chocolate chip cookie recipe and fun facts about National Chocolate Mint Day? Check out this post!
  • National Football Hangover Day – Are you missing watching football now that the Super Bowl is over? Check out our National Football Hangover Day post!
  • Galentine’s Day – Looking for a reason to celebrate love this month that isn’t tied to a significant other? Read our post about the origin of Galentine’s Day.

More February 20 national days

Did you enjoy learning about Clean Out Your Bookcase Day? Well you’re in luck, February 20 is host to more than just one national day! 

An image of styled bookshelves with tan colored books laying diagonally with plants on top of them. Here is a complete list of all the February 20 national days:

Pin this post on Clean Out Your Bookcase Day for later

Would you like a reminder of this post for Clean Out Your Bookcase Day? Just pin this image to one of your trivia boards on Pinterest so that you can easily find it later.

Learn about the other national days in February by watching our YouTube video.

A rainbow stack of books with a text overlay for Clean Out Your Bookcase Day suggesting things to do like read book facts, tips for how to organize books, and ways to celebrate.

Jess author photoAbout the author

Since graduating from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Jess has been living and working in Los Angeles, CA. She is a freelance writer, specializing in content related to fashion, food and drink and film industry topics.  Find out more about Jess here.

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