Last night the online cooperative library MyBookYourBook was launched. The premise: you pay a small annual fee (which is currently being waived for new members) and agree to donate ten paperbacks to the library. Then you can browse the online library and pick any book you wish you read. The email address of the person who has the book is sent to you, you send them a padded SASE envelope, and the book is sent to you. Five weeks later the book is re-entered into the library catalogue (so you have that long to read it) and you also have to repeat this process for anyone who wants one of your books. Whew. Are you with me?
This system is supposed to bring books you wouldn't normally read to your awareness (or basically - the paperbacks you either never read or abandoned because they were terrible are entered into the catalogue). I do understand this idea, but the brilliant Book Crossing does the same thing and doesn't cost a penny.
Also - MyBookYourBook is only available in the UK at the moment. And I can only see it working there due to the speed of Royal Mail which I blogged about in a previous post. I love anything that promotes books and reading, so three cheers for MyBookYourBook, but my local library is free and just as imaginative. And they have hardcovers.
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Yeah and YourBookMyBook charges people money.
My boyfriend's book swap site, www.readitswapit.co.uk, is totally free to use.
Apart from that it's pretty similar to MyBookYourBook - you can swap books you don't want for books you do.
He set it up in 2003, two years before MySwapYourSwap 'suddenly' came up with their 'new' concept for a website.
ReadItSwapIt also has a lot more books available to swap with.
the url is http://www.readitswapit.co.uk
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