At this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival The Loft contained bookcases, each with colour coordinated books, which the City of Sydney Library offered for free: “Find a book you’d like to own … It’s yours to keep and carry home.”
The books themselves bore stickers: “Take me home and read your heart out.”
The library obviously had books it could do without … but found a creative and generous way to dispense with them.
This is a problem faced by many book-loving hoarders: treasured belongings are gathering dust, taking up space that could be occupied by new literary delights (Clutter? Never!)
Parting with books is a sorrow that can be sweetened, however. If you need motivation to let go, think of the gift of giving. Sharing your joy with someone else. Perhaps even knowing your book has gone to a good home.
And if releasing your books involves sharing or trading, you might even receive a much-desired book in return.
Little libraries bring neighbourhoods together
A fun way to share books is tapping into the Little Free Libraries network.
Resembling large birdhouses, the Little Free Libraries are weatherproof cabinets with a couple of dozen books inside. Borrow a book, read it, bring it back or bring another.
“It’s the charm of yard art, the wonder of a message in a bottle, sprinkled with the spell cast by a deft writer.”
The Little Free Libraries mark personal tales of love: of people, books and the world, and the power of a story to change us all.
The mission of Little Free Libraries is:
- To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.
- To build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations.
Little Free Libraries have a unique, personal touch and there is an understanding that real people are sharing their favourite books with their community. These aren’t just any old books; this is a carefully-curated collection and the library itself is a piece of neighbourhood art!
At the time of writing there were three Little Free Libraries in Australia.
See also:
If you love your books, let them go
Perhaps better known is BookCrossing, “the world’s library”, where it’s “easy to find books, share books, and meet fellow book lovers”.
BookCrossing is “a modern-day message in a bottle” — a site where readers are encouraged to “release” their books by leaving them in public places, ideally to be found and enjoyed by other book lovers.
Readers register a book at the site, print out a label explaining the idea, stick in the book and then leave the book on a park bench, a barstool or in any other serendipitous spot that presents itself.
They sit back and see if anyone reports finding the book — and if they read it, what their opinion of it is — at BookCrossing.
Very public libraries
You may have seen some amazing outdoor libraries. Here is another good example. Being outdoors is not the library’s only exceptional quality: no registration is required; books are taken and returned on the honour system; and it is open 24 hours a day.
Other ideas for creative book sharing
- Street Books is a bicycle-powered mobile library, serving people who live outside.
- Have a book exchange party. Introduce friends to good books, and each other. Set the tone with party decorations on a literary theme: giant letters, book banners, quotation cakes. Ask guests to bring a wrapped book to exchange. The names of givers and recipients are picked out of a hat and the book swap, which can involve several exchanges, begins. Talking about books provides an icebreaker at parties for adults. And a simple book exchange for children (bring one, take one) is a break from the usual emphasis on presents.
- The Guardian and Observer book swap.
- “Give books away. Get books you want.” Give away books to get credits, and use those credits to get other books you find online.
- Project Gutenberg, the first producer of free ebooks.
- Your local library.
- Give away your books.
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