Issue Date: February 29, 2004
Setting books free
Generosity creates community.
A different kind of "book club": Devoted readers share their favorite titles through bookcrossing.com.
|
Richard Loeffler has given away about 4,000 books since he joined Bookcrossing (bookcrossing.com) in 2002. He leaves books at cafes near his home in Saskatchewan, sets up free-book tables at hockey games and even ships books to readers on the other side of the globe. He puts a Bookcrossing sticker with a unique tracking number in each book. Then, when someone finds one of his books, that person can log on and discover where the new book came from.
Why does he (and more than 200,000 other members) do it? "I enjoy giving books to people who don't have access to them," Loeffler says. "The closest bookstore here is 150 miles south." While the quantity of tomes he gives away is unusual -- he's a retired bookseller and administrator at a library that gives him discards, so he has a lot of books -- his desire to spread literacy via the growing culture at bookcrossing.com is not. People are signing up at a rate of about 400 a day. Through books, members find a community of fellow readers, reading suggestions and an easy way to, literally, spread the word. "There is a powerful sense of community among these people," explains Ron Hornbaker, the site's founder. "They share a keen mix of literacy and generosity, and they are very dedicated to the group."
You can leave a tracking number in a book anonymously, then get an e-mail when someone finds and logs your book, no matter how far it has traveled. Giving books away might make you a legend. Take Loeffler. His name is known around the world. "It's true," he laughs. "One woman in China sent me an e-mail saying I'm famous in her town because they have a hard time finding the books they want and I send them. I liked that."
-- Christina Wood
|
