A library in a small apartment is not a warehouse of spines. It is a landscape of timber, negative space, and the dozen books that actually get reread.
Shelves as Architecture
Oak or ash, not glossy white. Leave breathing room between stacks. Mix vertical books with a few horizontal piles and one ceramic or stone object so the eye can rest.
Architectural monographs, clothbound novels, a garden book with soil still imagined on its pages. Edit annually. A shelf that is too full is a closet, not a library.