Rochdale libraries get Book Crossing

Date published: 03 October 2006

Rochdale Libraries' staff are joining the worldwide Book Crossing phenomenon, and at the same time encouraging people who may have never picked up a poetry book before, to read and enjoy something new.

On National Poetry Day, Thursday 5 October, library staff will be leaving poetry books in public places such as health centres, leisure centres, pubs and cafes, hairdressers' salons - wherever they think someone will have time and curiosity, to pick up a book and read a poem or two.

Finders of books can read and keep them, or pass them on, after registering their "find" on www.bookcrossing.com. These books do not have to be returned to libraries.

Area Librarian Janice Tod said: "The idea is to get poetry into the hands of people who may never have picked up a poetry book before. We hope that after finding a Book Crossing book by chance, some readers will want to visit their local library for more poetry books."

Book Crossing is a worldwide book group with almost half a million members. It asks readers to share the books they have enjoyed with other people, by leaving them in public places. Books have their own unique number registered on the Book Crossing web site, so that they have the potential to be tracked on their journeys round the world.

The North West Book Crossing project is co-ordinated by Time to Read, the NW Libraries Reader Development Partnership.