My city has an amazing library system. There’s a lot of them and, because they are all networked, you can order books from any branch and have it delivered to the branch most convenient for you. The collection is incredible, and it’s rare for me not to find something I’m looking for.

But, unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky. Even within Canada, there are areas with very little library access, and many municipalities are cutting funding for libraries as a way of saving money in the short term (which, as far as I am concerned, is extremely short-sighted, but that’s a separate discussion).

But regardless of a community’s library access, I think that these free neighbourhood book exchanges are fantastic! I know that a lot of employers and even some apartment buildings have them. The idea is quite simple – drop off any books you no longer want, pick up any books that take your fancy.

I’m sure that abuse does happen, but I’ve never seen it happen. The only problem I’ve ever seen with community libraries is that the book quality is often quite low. There’ll be the occasional great find, but community libraries will often be overtaken by read-in-two-hours mysteries and romances.

But despite this, I think they’re a great idea, and I’d like to see more communities and neighbourhoods set them up!

Make sure you read Taryne’s blog post about these community libraries!