Book sharing website

bakerjay · Post by **bakerjay** » 05 Apr 2008, 18:53

Some of you may be interested in a new site called unlibrary.com - it's for (physically) sharing books with other people. You can set up your own communities (so, you may have one for a workplace, church, book club, etc) and the members of that community can see and request to borrow books from the other members.

Cataloging your books is simple - enter in the title or author, and full details are pulled down from Amazon.

It's also good for keeping track of who has all your books, and what books you have borrowed from other people.

(Note - I run this site, so I'm not entirely unbiased...)

http://www.unlibrary.com

sleepydumpling · Post by **sleepydumpling** » 05 Apr 2008, 23:10

And if you like that, some other similar communities are:

http://www.bookcrossing.com
http://www.shelfari.com
http://www.librarything.com
http://www.goodreads.com

Erasmus_Folly · Post by **Erasmus_Folly** » 06 Apr 2008, 02:20

While not a website I have run across a novel (pun intended) idea here in Seattle at least twice. It may be national in scope, I don't know.

I found a book on a bus one day and inside the front cover was stamped with one of those ink pad stamps words to the effect:

Share a Book! I read this book and now it's yours. If you like it, after reading it leave it in a public place for someone else to find or leave one of yours to share!

A friend told me that this had happened to them once also and that there was a place where one could get the ink pad stamp but I never found out anything else about it.

sleepydumpling · Post by **sleepydumpling** » 06 Apr 2008, 06:16

That sounds like book crossing to me Erasmus. Have a look on http://www.bookcrossing.com - there is a big merchandise section there.

Erasmus_Folly · Post by **Erasmus_Folly** » 06 Apr 2008, 06:31

Yes! I'm pretty sure that is it, sleepydumpling, however it has been many years since I found a book in this manner. All the books that I now thin out from my library I donate to the Veteran's Administration Hospital here in Seattle.

Syrcco44 · Post by **Syrcco44** » 15 Apr 2008, 16:09

I've heard that Shelfari is pretty good. That's the only one I can think of, though.

sleepydumpling · Post by **sleepydumpling** » 16 Apr 2008, 07:03

I like Shelfari but because it is so image rich it is slower to load than the others.

HeraSee · Post by **HeraSee** » 01 May 2008, 04:21

Right on! Sounds pretty cool... who takes care of shipping the books around?

bakerjay · Post by **bakerjay** » 01 May 2008, 04:40

HeraSee wrote:Right on! Sounds pretty cool... who takes care of shipping the books around?

The idea with Unlibrary is that it is based around physical communities (such as a workplace, club, church, street...whatever), so you'll actually meet up in person to hand over the book. This provides gerat opportunity for meeting people and discussing interesting things - it's great discussing a book with someone else who has enjoyed it.

I suppose there's no reason you couldn't run the whole system via mail though if that's what you wanted.

petertth · Post by **petertth** » 03 Jun 2008, 04:50

Book loan I think it's a bit troublesome as you need to return the book.

A more practical approach would be bookexchange like http://www.bookmooch.com.

While others prefer to just stick to virtual bookshelf, like http://www.sheflari.com, http://www.goodreads.com, http://www.bookjetty.com and others.