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Is There A Book Sharing Network? 59

Posted by Cliff from the providing-a-steady-stream-of-literature dept.
dmorin asks: "Having recently been laid off I find myself with more time to read and less money to spend on books. I stare at the shelves full of books I already have, most of which I won't read again, and wonder if there's an easy way to move them around the universe a bit. Get some new ones. I've thought about eBay, but I'm not sure that time and effort (cataloging, pricing, describing, shipping, etc..) would ever balance out. What I'm looking for is a site where people basically say 'Hey, here are some books I have, if you want one, I'll send it to you.' Note I didn't say 'sell'. This would be more about keeping the books in circulation for the sake of getting fresh stuff to read, not for making a profit. You paid for the book, you got something out of it, now let somebody else share it. And, of course, you're supposed to be asking other people for their books, too. Anything like that out there? Would anybody use such a thing?"

"This is not Book Crossing. Although I find that an awesome idea, I'm looking for more of a steady stream of books at my disposal, not just being lucky enough to stumble upon one under a picnic table.

I suppose such a service would have to have some sort of karma/moderation system to make sure that people were playing nice and not just hoarding others' books (since, unlike bookcrossing, the person donating would have to cough up some money for shipping it)."
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Is There A Book Sharing Network? More

Is There A Book Sharing Network?

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  • First library post! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 24, 2003 @11:36PM (#5588596)
    That's a good booksharing network. Donate.

    • Book sources - cheap, if not free: (Score:5, Informative)

      by tadd ( 51292 ) <tadd.davis@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @12:08AM (#5588737) Journal
      Cheap:
      1. Library book sales (they sell old/slightly damaged/redundant copies, two of them by me have permanent rooms full of books set up and sell them as a fund raiser)
      2. Thrift shops
      3. Flea markets/swap meets
      4. Garage/yard/estate sales
      5. Slightly illegal: Your local big box super stores dumpsters have TONS of "stripped" (no cover) books and magazines in them
      Free:
      1. Project Gutenberg
      2. Many University web/ftp sites
      3. Some warez web/ftp sites (if you're not averse to that sort of thing)
      4. .e-books. Newsgroups (again, if you're not averse to that sort of thing)
      5. Baen books
      6. Memoware
      7. Several more e-book sources that I cannot think of right now ... Also... there are 3 coffee houses/cafes within about a 1/2 hour drive of me that have book swap shelves... a sort of informal leave 1, take 1 (or 2 or 3) sort of deal
  • 1. Your public library.
    2. Gutenburg project.

    Non-free but worth a look:
    Some colleges, such as mine, have online libraries with downloadable books. If you're a student, see if your college offers this.
    • Yep, the library. If you're feeling guilty for reading books for "free," I'm sure they'd be happy to take some of yours off you hands.

      As for moderation, librarians are well trained to select materials. If you have suggestions, they might even take them. I've been really impressed with the sci fi sections of several public libraries I've visited, but going to library school (IANAL(ibrarian)) I realized just how many librarians are also geeks, though perhaps not all of the computer variety.

      Bookstores tend
      • Not all libraries have geeks on staff that can select decent sc-fi and fantasy... but in a good library, they tend to pick one trustworthy patron to help them make selections... use to do that at the one library I went to.

        Made good use of the interlibrary loan system too...

    • Amen! When I saw the question, I was amazed. What's next?

      Ask Slashdot: I just received an automobile for my birthday. The fuel gauge indicates that it is nearly out of fuel. Does anyone know of a place where one can purchase more automobile fuel?.

      This is one of those things we were taught in second grade. If he's been paying taxes, he's been paying for the library anyway, using it or not.
      All I can think of is that the submitter may come from some benighted country without a public library system,

  • I know you probably prefer dead-tree books, as do many people. But O'Reilly's Safari [oreilly.com] service supposedly offers a relatively inexpensive way to gain exposure to a lot of technical titles. I haven't used it myself, so I can't really comment beyond that, but I'm sure others can share their experiences.

  • Library (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Mr_Person ( 162211 ) <mr_person@mrpersoYEATSn.org minus poet> on Monday March 24, 2003 @11:53PM (#5588676) Journal
    Why not donate the books you don't want anymore to your local public library? Then others can read them for free and if other people donate their unused books you can read them for free. Sounds like it fills most of the requirements you listed, though perhaps over not quite as large a geographic area. And as a bonus, most libraries will even put a nifty "Donated by" tag in the front of the book!

    • Re:Library (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Well, if it's anything like my local library they don't want them. They have no room and no staff to deal with used books.
      • I should depend on the book. I'd have a hard time believing that they wouldn't want a copy of a book that still on the NYT best sellers list, or other recently released hard cover books.

        What libraries Don't want is crappy used paperbacks. You may find local middle / high schools that will take them however.

        Don't forget local nursing homes too. Retired people usually read a lot.

  • It wouldn't work, buying/selling is practical (Score:4, Interesting)

    by RalphBNumbers ( 655475 ) on Monday March 24, 2003 @11:56PM (#5588690)
    You need to make people pay for what they get, even if it is a big markdown over new books.
    If not you'll run into the same tradgedy of the commons that ruins all systems with insufficinet accountability. Every user will have more incentive to take from the system than to give, and since these books are a finite resource, they will be quickly snapped up (especially the ones worth reading).
    A karma like system might lessen this problem, but it would have to be pretty strict to keep the system flowing with finite, and probably scarce resources.

    A system facilitating free market exchanges of used books is about the closest to this concept that I can forsee working in real life. You might try Amazon's marketplace for that kind of thing. They are better organized for books than ebay, however their shipping surcharges are somewhat exorbitant if you're just ordering little paperback books (shipping sometimes costs 4+ times a cheap used book's price).
    • "You need to make people pay for what they get, even if it is a big markdown over new books."

      No need to make anyone pay; I want to make it easier for the people to take the reading material! I've got boxes and boxes of books and magazines (mostly history-related) that I've had trouble giving away.

      "and since these books are a finite resource, they will be quickly snapped up (especially the ones worth reading)."

      As finite as grains of sand on the beach, I wonder? It seems to me that there are more and mo
  • Man this is one heck of an idea. The reason I have such a hrad time spending $40 to get a top quality book is that I know once I've finished it I probably won't need it a whole lot again. I think it would be great to set up a "people's library". If anybody wants to team up with me to begin writing somnething like this (in Linux|Apache|MySQL|Perl of course) let me know.

  • places to swap (Score:3, Informative)

    by araven ( 71003 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @12:08AM (#5588735)
    Another place to look, if you've got an RV campground nearby, some of those have really good trading libraries. Lots of Danielle Steele and similar muck, but good books too. Full-time RV'ers are...interesting...people. You might be surprised at what you find in those swap shelves.

    Likewise, lots of used bookstores will give pretty decent credit for trade-ins (you usually get less cash than credit for trade when you sell). You'll diminish your collection slowly that way, but used bookstores are wonderous places to spend a lot of time if you've got a good one. If you spent money on more books rather than shipping costs you'd be able to keep that trading up indefinitely.

    -
  • Find a local public library that has survived the rounds of budget cuts and is still open. You might be suprised at the level of sophistication and timeliness of tech books in most library collections. Be sure to browse the collection in their catalog rather than the stacks. Its a safe bet that 75% of the books are in circulation. To get one put a hold on it. Its almost always free, and the library will usually even ship the book to you. Some libraries do this for free as well. If they don't have a b

  • Usenet (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @12:12AM (#5588764)
    Newsgroups are always the source for things of this nature
    Other people are the most valuable resources for OCR books (and PDF scans.) if you do not have a scanner of your own that is.

    Alt.binaries (will now be represented with a.b. for non Usenet fanatics) a.b.ebooks, a.b.e-book, a.b.e-book.flood, a.b.e-books, a.b.e-books.flood, a.b.e-books.technical.

    If there is an author you would like posted, you post a request for them.

    If you don't want to be a usenet freak with a client and all, you can just sign up for www.easynews.com. good enough for me.
  • ...try nervousness.org [nervousness.org]. It's a site established for members to trade "Land Mail Art Objects," including books.

    Unfortunately, they're not accepting new memberships at the moment, but they promise to continue soon.

  • Have you thought of sending them to your local public library ?

    And you can also take a peek there while you're at it, I'm sure you will find something new :)

  • Often times, truck stops and campgrounds will have book swapping racks. It's not quite as high tech as you have in mind, but the next time you're out driving around, drop off a few and pick up a few.

  • Used bookstores too (Score:4, Insightful)

    by obtuse ( 79208 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @12:57AM (#5588990) Journal
    Libraries are great! But: Your library may not be able to use your books, and may end up selling them off cheaply at a booksale. It's kind to give them a shot. I believe in libraries, but I know they actually have to pare down their collections, so don't give them a pile of crap.

    Depending on the books you've collected, you may be able to sell them to used bookstores. They'll usually offer you more in credit than they do cash, so you can make trades more economically.

    I've gone & sold 2/3 of a large pile to a used bookstore, then taken the last 1/3 to another used bookstore, & sold 2/3 of that. Iterate as desired. The last few I either kept or gave to Goodwill. I've given lots of books to friends, too.

    I do a few things to economize on books. I am a real addict though. I even met my wife working in a bookstore.

    Buy books at thrift stores, rummage sales, or library book sales. There are lots of wonderful books being sold by the peck sack.

    Used bookstores can have bargains, but can also be overpriced. Very few computer books are of much use either to buy or sell, in a used bookstore. This akin to a friend of a friend's experience trying to sell a desktop computer to a pawn shop.

    I try not to buy books I won't want to keep in the long run. Lots of books are very available through Project Gutenberg & the public libraries. You can read most classics free.

    I also have a readers card at the nearest University library. It's not free, but it makes a lot of stuff available to me that I couldn't see otherwise. I think it's a better bargain at $75/year than O'Reilly's Safari.

    Safari's a nice idea. Especially for geek books with a limited lifespan. Renting books troubles me a little though. If I want it enough to pay to rent it, as a professional, I'll likely want to own it anyway.
  • Someone would collect and not share...until they had their own Library of Congress to measure data by.

    That, or sell the books on eBay. Free money.

  • Take a Book, Leave a Book (Score:3, Informative)

    by _iris ( 92554 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @01:16AM (#5589074) Homepage
    While it isn't on the global scale you seem to seek, I know of two coffee shops with "Take a Book, Leave a Book" libraries. They work out quite nicely. I see quite a few of the books I leave come and go more than once, so people definitely come back for more. Perhaps you could persuade a local technology store into allocating floor space to something like this for technology books.
  • Two things.

    1. BookFilter [bookfilter.com].

    2. Readerville [readerville.com].

  • I just had the very same idea (Score:4, Interesting)

    by km790816 ( 78280 ) <wqhq3gx02@@@sneakemail...com> on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @01:33AM (#5589145)
    1. Someone sets up a web site where people can register themselves and their books
    2. Advertise the site in a neighborhood or office (should be easy to go around and trade books w/ people)
    3. (Optional) everyone puts up $20 that a trusted party (the web site owner?) holds. This is to make sure you don't get ripped off by strangers signing up and taking books. One may also want to set up a reputation for happily loaning so many books to others and also safely returning books. Basically establist Karma
    4. People search for the books they want, find one, and set up a time with the owner to pick it up
    5. The book is marked as 'out' so others on the site don't ask for it. Maybe there is a waiting list. The book owner can also use this to see who has her books and how long they've been out
    6. The borrower returns the book when done. The owner marks it as availible. All is good.
    Alright, a cookie to the first implementation!
    • You know, strange enough, this idea has been popping up in a few places yet... been considering implimenting it as a project to get my PHP skills honed... but I'm too lazy.

      I'd skip the put $20 into a fund, and go with an ebay style comment system for relyability. Not simply slashdot style Karma, where people can hide.
      • I imagine some Pynchonesqe system involving guys in trench-coats exchanging plain wrapped packages on street corners... like a 2600 meeting [2600.com], only classier. A network of "no, I don't have that book... but I know a guy who can get it for you..." etc.
  • We have such a thing already in our city! It's called a Public Library! Lobby your city council to get one too!

  • Swappingtons (Score:4, Informative)

    by Omniscient Ferret ( 4208 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @02:26AM (#5589304)
    You might check out Swappingtons. [swappingtons.com] It works with swap points, and it's for books and other media. It's brand new, so you might have to dig for something you want.

  • Here's an idea (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Radical Rad ( 138892 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @03:04AM (#5589415) Homepage
    I'm guessing you probably would be most interested in geek type books so what about getting on the mailing list of your local Linux User Group and offering your already read books and asking if others have any they wouldn't mind sharing? Then just meet up and swap at the next meeting. No shipping costs involved, you make some new friends, and you might even broaden your job search network enough to get some inside leads.

  • books = pr0n ? (Score:3, Funny)

    by jayrtfm ( 148260 ) <jslash AT sophont DOT com> on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @03:22AM (#5589481) Homepage Journal
    a simple word substitution in the article may make this a more popular thread
  • Project Gutenberg [promo.net] is a project that published works that have expired their copyright. Books by Twain and Poe, that have been published for well over a century, and are no longer copywritten, are freely available, and downloadable off of the Gutenberg site. Several thousand works, from Shakespeare to... more Shakespeare to all types of classics from the 19th century are all at the site. Searching for 'Project Gutenberg' on Kazaa also brings up many results. These text's are great for putting on a PDA too.

    N

  • Most hostels I've been in while I was in Australia have a book trading corner. That way, backpackers can read loads of books while only carrying a single book, so they can travel light. You can leave a book and take another one if you're finished.

    I know I've enjoyed the possibility to read books I would normally not risk spending hard earned cash on, exposing myself to new authors. Just a pity there wasn't usually a good selection of scif-fi and fantasy around.
  • I interned at a place full of compulsive readers (lawyers). In the law library there was a shelf for book swap. Some interesting things up there, of course. I sort have set up something similar. It doesn't take much space, really, you just need like a shelf, or a box somewhere in the corner.

  • The E2 Great Grand Book Lotto [everything2.com] is just getting underway. Okay, it's a temporary thing, it's on a pretty small scale and the organiser clearly states that the administration is horrendous, but the idea is great.

  • This sounds like something that you could probably arrange with your local computer user group(s). I know my local LUG members occasionally swap more than just info, but it's more adhoc printer for a scanner type stuff than an organized swap-shop. It shouldn't be too difficult to arrange for everyone to bring anything they don't want or need anymore to the next meet and have a group bartering session.
  • Not quite the same as you're looking for, but an interesting idea: Bookcrossing [bookcrossing.com]. From the site: "Do you like free books? How about free book clubs?. Well, the books our members leave in the wild are free... but it's the act of freeing books that points to the heart of BookCrossing. Book trading has never been more exciting, more serendipitous, than with BookCrossing. Our goal, simply, is to make the whole world a library. BookCrossing is a book exchange of infinite proportion, the first and only of its kind
    • Come on. I _know_ /.ers don't normally read the articles (which doesn't apply here, I know) but don't we at _least_ read the posts all the way to the end? He specifically says that Bookcrossing is _not_ what he's looking for.

      -SS
      • There's quite a bit of book trading going on at BookCrossing. He seems to have the impression that BC is just about finding random books or leaving them for other people. There is a lot of trading and giving away going on through the forums there. I've found it to be a pretty good way to get books I want and to pass mine on to other interested readers. If he's looking for a more formalized system, I haven't used it, but might want to check out Swappingtons.
  • limewire [limewire.org] is great for finding books to download. You can automatically filter for documents (ps,pdf,doc...) although i find alot of the best computer related books are in zip format. I got a huge zip file (50MB) downloaded ages ago that basically was the whole o'reilly series on java.

    right now i'm sharing a giant zip file called AllDocsSubscription.zip which is the full documentation (up to 3.03) for the open source jboss project and would normaly cost a pretty penny. also available here [stanford.edu]
  • ... and swap with them or communally buy books. If say, 5 of you buy a book and swap it around you have paid a fifth of the price. Or agree on a list of books you all want to read. Buy them as a group and swap them around. To really expand this, get on any chat forum whatsoever and ask if anyone local wants to swap. For the record, I've done this with CD's, power tools, books ... drew the line at wives/husbands but I guess I'm just not open-minded enough :-)
  • We have a set of bookshelves in a central area where people leave books and take others. Everything from romance fiction (about 30 of these showed up one day) to Applied Crypto to Moby Dick.

    It works pretty well, and adds a nice "sharing" atmosphere to work without cost. Consider asking your employer for a bookcase to improve morale.

    • He needs to get an employer first. He has been laid off, which is why he has all the spare time (I would think he'd use that time to find another job, but that's just me).

  • Check out Everything2.com [everything2.com]. Not only is it just a cool site, they have several things going on with this (see here [everything2.com]
    and here [everything2.com].)

  • "Trade it on Trodo!" (Score:3, Informative)

    by DivideByZero ( 80449 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @12:47PM (#5591717)
    I think you're basically describing Trodo [trodo.com], a one-for-one media swapping service.

    There's problems with it's business model (Ex: ANY 'Book' is one 'credit' - So a moth-eaten copy of 'The Two Towers' is worth as much as an obscure out-of-print short story collection.), but my limited experience so far (one taken, one given.) has been good.

    If you want to sign up, a link is here. [trodo.com](No cost to you, small benefit to me.)
  • Take them to the nearest charity shop. If you are looking for cheap books then a few pence from a charity shop is not much to pay.
  • #bookz on undernet, and alt.binaries.e-book newsgroups.
  • Just pay shipping when the book is requested

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bookwormsgatheringsp ot/ [yahoo.com]

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