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Book swapping or book exchange is the practice of a swap of
Such bookshelves are popular also in
The Guardian and Observer Book Swap: how to take part
{{Books Book promotion
Book swapping or book exchange is the practice of a swap of books
A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...
between one person and another. Practiced among book groups, friends and colleagues at work, it provides an inexpensive way for people to exchange books, find out about new books and obtain a new book to read without having to pay. Because swaps occur between individuals, without central distribution or warehousing, and without the copyright owner making a profit, the practice has been compared to peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...
(P2P) systems such as BitTorrent
BitTorrent is a Protocol (computing), communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a Decentralised system, decentralized manner. The protocol is d ...
—except that hard-copy original analog objects are exchanged.
College book exchange programs
Many colleges and universities have developed online book exchange programs to help students save money ontextbook
A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...
s. Some colleges build their own systems and others use systems from third party service providers.
Informal book exchanges
Some book exchanges are informal – a shelf or box is provided where books can be left or picked up. The exchange relies on users leaving and taking books and is generally not supervised. This is a frequent practice inyouth hostel
A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...
s where travellers can leave a book and take a different book with them. Some railway stations
A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such a ...
in Great Britain have informal book exchanges and one has also been set up in a phone box
A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; typically the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...
in Kington Magna
Kington Magna is a village and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England, about southwest of Gillingham.
History
The name Kington Magna means 'great King's Town'; it derives from ''cyne-'' (later ''cyning'') and ''tūn'', O ...
.
Such bookshelves are popular also in Baltic states
The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...
, funded by local municipalities or by the governments. In Riga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
, the society "Zero Waste Latvia" counted more than 20 bookshelves and boxes in 2024.
Book swapping websites
*BookCrossing
BookCrossing (also known as BC, BCing or BXing) is defined as the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be 'caught' by others, who may then do likewise. The term is derived frobookcrossing.com a free online book community which was f ...
, an online book swapping site
* BookMooch
BookMooch is an international online book exchange community founded by John Buckman in 2006. By 2008, membership reached around 74,000 users in over 90 countries and about 2,000 books are swapped per day.
Site description
BookMooch allows ...
, an online book swapping site
* ReadItSwapIt
ReadItSwapIt (''RISI'') was a book exchange website co-founded in 2005 by Andrew Bathgate and Neil Ferguson of London, UK. And closed in Sept 2017. It facilitated direct swapping of books among its members in the UK.
Operation
ReadItSwapIt ...
, an online book swapping site
* Little Free Library
Little Free Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes neighborhood book exchanges, usually in the form of a public bookcase. More than 150,000 public book exchanges are registered with the organization and branded as Little Free ...
, trading posts that offer free books, housed in small containers, to members of the local community
* PaperBackSwap PaperBackSwap (PBS) is a book swapping website which was founded in 2004. The purpose of PaperBackSwap is to use the Internet to facilitate the parity trading of books among members in the United States using a credit based system for swapping. T ...
, an online book swapping club restricted to the USA
* Lenro
Lenro was a book sharing website that connected book readers on the local level so that they could borrow, lend or exchange books with each other. Members need to create a free account to borrow, lend or exchange books.
Site description
Lenro us ...
, used to connect book readers locally (same college/neighborhood)
See also
*Collaborative consumption
Collaborative consumption is the set of those resource circulation systems in which consumers both "obtain" and "provide", temporarily or permanently, valuable resources or service (economics), services through direct interaction with other con ...
, a trend describing similar swapping and lending organizations
*Public bookcase
A public bookcase (also known as a free library or book swap or street library or sidewalk library) is a cabinet which may be freely and anonymously used for the exchange and storage of books without the administrative rigor associated with form ...
References
External links
The Guardian and Observer Book Swap: how to take part
{{Books Book promotion