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Hey! The L I B R A R Y right in your home town does this - no shipping, no waiting…unless you want something we don’t have, then you need to wait a little while until it arrives, but still no shipping…
While I still think this is a great site and idea, I wish people would consider their local public libraries first.
BookMooch
BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books.
BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want.No cost: there is no cost to join or use this web site: your only cost is mailing your books to others.
*Library = NO COST as well
Wishlist: you can keep a “book wish list” that will automatically arrive to you when you have the points and/or the book becomes available in our catalog.
*One of the coolest things about small community libraries is the fact that your local librarian(s) really get to know who reads what, and I bet before you even know your favorite author has a book to be released in 6 months, your name is on a list at the librarian’s desk to be called as soon as that book arrives. Now THAT is service!
Why create this?: if you’re passionate about books, you know how emotionally difficult it is to throw a book away, even if you will never read it again. You want to find a good home for your books, have them find someone who appreciates them. Also, you may be interested in trying a lot of books out, and keep the ones that are great. It’s a great crime to have a book disappear, out of print, for none to read. BookMooch keeps books in circulation, and finds new readers for them. If you’re interested in getting free books, you can donate to charities, the points to gain by giving your books away.
The library will take your beloved books and find them good homes, too. Either on the shelves of the library, or in book sales that have the added benefit of raising funds for the library to do all of the other cool things libraries do, which you get to attend and reap the benfits of …like concerts, art & craft workshops, book groups, story times, puppet shows, movie nights, summer reading clubs, ESl classes, computer and internet training, art exhibits,….. I could go on for quite a while!
Bottom line: love your library!
http://www.paperbackswap.com/ is another, which my wife and I use quite often.
The main difference being, I like to actually keep the books that I enjoy.
Add to that the fact that our local library, for all of it’s technical advantages and nice new shiny furniture, has a horrible selection of new books. Also add to that the fact that not a single librarian in our local library has the slightest clue about the computers they are using, and you might begin to understand why sites like these are becoming popular. It’s gotten to the point that visiting our local library (what we used to consider a day-long fun-filled event before we moved) is almost a depressing chore.
And I’ve got nothing against libraries or, for that matter, librarians… otherwise I wouldn’t have married one.
I interviewed the owner of bookmooch recently (John Buckman)
http://librarytwopointzero.blogspot.com/2006/10/interview-with-john-buckman-owner-of.html