Bookcrossing: A Book's Journey From Reader to Reader

How book exchange works, or a form of books staying in circulation.

Bookcrossing is an international movement created for the free, voluntary exchange of books between readers. Its core idea is that a book someone has already read doesn't stay on a home shelf, but gets passed along, finding new readers in the process.

Bookcrossing doesn't need any special oversight, since the exchange process happens without librarians or administrators and runs on trust between participants. Taking part in the movement is free, which lets a wide range of readers join in, regardless of age or social status.

How bookcrossing works in practice, and where to find it in Ukraine — read on in this DeTalks article.

How Bookcrossing Works in Practice

In practice, bookcrossing happens by leaving books in public places where anyone interested in reading can find them. Most often, people choose parks, cafes, libraries, or schools, since that's where the largest number of potential readers can be found.

In cities like Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Uzhhorod, Kharkiv, and Vinnytsia, dedicated shelves for book exchange have been set up, functioning as open libraries and ensuring constant access to literature.

A book handoff can also happen directly between specific people, when participants agree on an exchange in advance. In the bookcrossing system, this is called a "Bookray." Another format, "Bookring," involves returning the book to its owner once reading is done, while "Bookbox" is used for exchanging several books at once.

The Movement's Origins and Spread

The term 'bookcrossing' appeared in 2001 in the United States, where the idea of tracking books' journeys was first formulated. Its founder was programmer Ron Hornbaker, who wanted to build a system where every book could have its own travel history.

To that end, the team created the website "BookCrossing.com", which let people register books and record the places they ended up. Today, the movement spans over 90 countries, with roughly a million and a half books circulating freely.

Bookcrossing began developing in Ukraine in 2005. Over time, dedicated book-exchange shelves appeared in different cities, becoming permanent hubs for the movement. Books taking part in the exchange can include notes from previous readers sharing their own impressions. To make things easier to navigate, shelves and books get marked with special stickers.

Organized Forms of Book Exchange

One example of organized bookcrossing is the initiative "Book Square", run by the Lviv Municipal Library. The initiative aims to make books more accessible and get city residents interested in reading.

In 2025, the initiative grew into a multi-city effort, with Lviv, Ternopil, Terebovlia, Zhytomyr, and Dnipro all taking part. The total number of exchanged books came to over 12,000 copies.

Books can also be exchanged through various online resources and communities.

For instance, on Facebook there's a group "Obmin Knyhamy" ('Book Exchange'), where users post books to exchange and find new ones. On Telegram, there's a bot "Bookclub" that helps coordinate exchanges and find desired books. There are also Instagram communities "BookKSwap" and "Bookcrossing", where members share books.

Bookcrossing's Reach Across Ukrainian Cities

• In Kyiv, bookcrossing operates at high-traffic metro stations, including Politekhnichnyi Instytut, Teatralna, Arsenalna, Zoloti Vorota, and Khreshchatyk. Book exchange is also available at the cafe "Palitiurka", at Vcentri HUB, where bookcrossing runs continuously, and at the Karavan Outlet mall, which launched its own book-exchange project in 2024.

• In Lviv, bookcrossing is common at cafes like "Kava z Molokom", "Granny's Bakery", "Plekai", as well as at the coworking spaces "Sense Hub" and "Nat", where you can take books and leave your own. In Kharkiv, the bookcrossing shelf is located in Central Park, by the lake.

• In Dnipro, book exchange is available at the cafe "Horizontal" and at the internally displaced persons support center "MyRazom".
  
• In Uzhhorod, bookcrossing operates at the Zakarpattia Regional Universal Scientific Library, where a dedicated exchange shelf has been set up.
  
• In Vinnytsia, the bookcrossing shelf is set up at the stationery store Kantseliarskyi Sad, where residents can take books and leave their own.

Bookcrossing helps books find new readers, brings people together around a shared interest in reading, and makes books more accessible to everyone.