Warning: another post that is sadly not about Iceland.
But second best is good. Have you discovered BookCrossing? As so often happens, Wikipedia does a wonderful job of explaining it:
BookCrossing is defined as "the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise". The term is derived from bookcrossing.com, a free online book club which began and encouraged the practice. Bookcrossing.com's stated goal is to "make the whole world a library".
There are also shorthand terms for BookCrossing which are: BC, BCing, or BXing.
What could be better? Currently there are about 600,000 members, and I'm the newest for the next minute or two. Over 4 million books have been registered, and many are currently "in the wild". Soon I will select a favorite book to send off into the world, on its own journey. I'll keep you posted!
10 comments:
The VCU Libraries lists its giveaway books on BookCrossing (http://www.bookcrossing.com/hunt/1/48/28474/356718/travel_-USA-Virginia-Richmond-VCU-Library-Book-Swap-Shelf-(next-to-coffee-bar)). How subversive is that?
I just joined! This sounds much more entertaining and useful than "'Where's George?" (register dollar bills and track them). John, how do you keep people from "freeing" books from your collection, although I do have some dusty back runs of serials that might need a new home....
John: ALL of its giveaway book? I'm puzzled...
Karen: let me know what title you decide to "release". I haven't decided yet...
Rose,
Thanks for the BookCrossing mention! We have some big announcements coming up with Libraries and Educators so stay tuned!
best,
Scott
CEO BookCrossing
The books on the free shelf are not former library books. The initial collection was donated by the staff. If someone takes a book, the are supposed to replace it with one of their own, making it a book exchange. It is a small collection of books -- just a bookshelf worth. An industrious staff member records them in BookCrossing. I have thought of sneaking some of the moldy books in their from the permanent colletion ...
John, who is the mystery staff member, I wonder?
Released yesterday, my 1st book got "caught" today by someone attending Family Weekend at ISU. This is so fun!!
What was the book you released, Karen? And did you find out it was caught because it has already been registered? Did you select something you thought would appeal to a lot of people, or something esoteric, that would need to wait for just the right person?
Karen,
I tried searching your book. It was fun seeing how the tracking works--lots of options! I was hoping to puzzle out the title of the book you released, but failed... :-(
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