BookSwap

Came across this site which is well worth checking out:
www.bookswap.ie

It offers complete strangers the opportunity to swap books. You register with the site, list the books you want to swap and then go looking at what the site has to offer. When you find a book you want, you contact the member through the site and arrange the swap.

Bookswap was set up just over a year ago by Martin Gormley, a Scottish IT programmer who has been living in Ireland for 10 years. He decided to act after growing resentful about having to fork out so much so often for books. It has more of a hobby than anything else and has been a slow-burner over the past 12 months. He has seen the number of people signing up “growing steadily” in recent weeks. “If you can’t find a book to swap, there are other things that you can do: post it for free, ask the other person to pay postage, or simply say no,” he says.

He says there are around 400 core users who are typically swapping a book a month. “I believe this is the kind of thing that could really take off during the recession.”

The cost of posting a paperback is around €3, he says and while he accepts that it might be “a pain” to find an envelope, a stamp and then post a book, “if you’re saving a tenner every time you do it, then it certainly is a great idea”.

Great idea – get swapping.