Forums/Favourite Pickup and Drop off Points
Public Book Exchange Shelves
Lottie Lodge
posted this on June 06, 2010 17:55
There are lots of awesome public exchange shelves all over the world - some of them are managed by bookcrossing members who like to register the books, and some are run by managers of cafes and pubs and suchlike. There's a wiki of these places, BC and non-BC, set up by a bookcrosser, and if anyone knows of a public exchange shelf they should feel free to add it to the wiki. Also, you can have a look and see if there's one near you that you didn't know about!
It's sorted by country so it's easy to find your destination. At the moment there are plenty in London, which I think is where this website is "based" right now? I've seen lots of releases on the map on the front page in London, so there must be a fair few BFBers in London. :)
Here's the wiki: http://www.wikihost.org/w/obcz/
OBCZ = Official BookCrossing Zone, ie: public book exchange shelf. :)
Comments
Thanks for posting the link to this list Lottie.
How useful would you find it if a feature was added to our site where you could see these on a map? We would somehow need to keep the list updated regularly but it may be useful - especially on the new "books nearby" page as an option that you can turn on and off...?
That's an interesting thought. The map would need to be sort of crowd-sourced to keep it up to date, though. Members here on BFB could be able to add shelves to the map - click the symbol to get a photo, address, opening times in a little window? If a shelf disappeared, members could leave comments for a moderator nearby to confirm and maybe remove? Like, "Flag this shelf as closed"?
If it was on the books nearby map, and you could turn either of them on and off, and there were different symbols for book exchange shelves, then people could find safe places to leave books where they wouldn't get thrown away, easily too. What a great idea!
Very well considered Lottie. My thinking exactly. Now to implement it appropriately ;) Thanks for all your help and suggestions. Have a good evening.
It sounds like a fantastic idea, I look forward to seeing it happen! :) Thanks, you too!
Thanks for that link. Could be very useful.
I love the idea of a map with zones on it. It would make it really easy to see which shelves are near to you. It might be good to have different colours for OBCZs and general swapping shelves.
We have decided that this is such a useful feature that we are building it into the new version before releasing it. As a result we are running a bit late with our update...sorry :( ...but we are working as hard as possible to get this out as soon as possible.
In this early version it will be a 'closed system' specific to Born Free Books and only update-able by members of our community but we are keen to release the information into the public domain so that BC can tap into it and integrate the same information into their own site if they are interested.
In fact, perhaps post-release we should set this up on a separate site altogether which is more service-agnostic. What do you all think?
P.S. official drop points are being shown differently to unofficial ones by means of different icons on the map :)
G'morning, :)
I think the separate site idea is a good one, service-agnostic is a probably wise because then those that want to stick to BC can stay there, and don't have to join BFB just for the map. But as BC has user-run things that do a similar job, it's optional.
As long as the exchange shelves can be seen here in BFB (eg: on the release map) I think it's a good idea. I think a lot of people on BC release books all over the place and some of them get thrown away or similar, all because they don't know about the book exchange shelves. I once left a fluffy romance book on the table opposite me on a train, and the conductor just picked it up and took it away, presumably to lost property, where no one would claim it and it'd get thrown away. Leaving books in public is great if you're prepared for the likelihood of not hearing back from the book, and not knowing whether it's in a bin somewhere. I think a lot of people would give books away a lot more if there was a local book exchange shelf somewhere, that was a safe place to give books away, and you knew that it's only going to be taken by someone who wants to read it. And having it very obviously available on a map, being able to see how far away they are, etc.
There's an OBCZ near Cardiff station and I've never been because I can never be bothered to work out directions and stuff, and I get the impression it's just a minute or two from the station but you can't tell from the address so I don't bother. There are lots of people as lazy as me!
I just realised that most of my post isn't actually about integrated map vs. service agnostic map, but my point being, as long as it's easy I'm in favour...! I hope that all makes sense.
PS: I'm happy to wait a little bit longer if the new version has exchange shelves on it, and if there's a new site for the exchange shelves then I'm happy to join up and promote it. :)
I empathise with your Cardiff OBCZ position Lottie- that's wht the map is a great idea. I think that it would be good if everyone could see the mao, but maybe keep editing to members so that it can easily be controlled.
On a side-note: I just received my release pack and I just wanted to say that it looks fantastic. I am much more attracted by these labels than the ones I've seen on BC
Thank you both very much for your comments. We will work on a separate site (wiki-style but with maps) once this new version is released but for now the feature will be an integral part of our site in the next update :)
Thanks very much for your feedback on the stationery too Abigail. We are thrilled that you like it so much.
I agree, Abigail! Andrew, that sounds fab. :) I don't want to be pushy, and if you haven't that's fine, but do you have an expected update day at all?
Not pushy at all Lottie - a perfectly reasonable question. We had hoped to have the new version live today but I suspect it will be Monday next week now as there are a number of images and styles that Ro is working on for this new version that will need to be properly tested in all browsers (including IE6...yuk!) before release. I will let you know again on the weekend how we are getting on.
Fantastic. :) It's good to know stuff like that. Thanks so much!
can you give me an example of a free book id? where can i find it if i want a pick up a book? im totally a newbie on this.. kindly help me ^^
tnx
Hi Ana
Welcome to Born Free Books and thank you for joining us.
As you are based in the Philippines and are one of our first members in that region, it is unlikely that you will stumble across a book with a Born Free ID in it, but if you are keen to start a movement in your country then you can begin by releasing your own books after registering them on our website and we will provide you with a Born Free ID to put in each one. That way, assuming you leave them somewhere close to you for others to find, hopefully they will discover your books, register as a member on the site and begin releasing their own books which you may in turn discover.
I hope that helps you on your journey. I will be sending you your stationery pack very shortly.
Thanks again for joining us.
Kind regards
Andrew
This is a brilliant thread! Very helpful link - Thanks so much Lottie!