KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — For hardcore book lovers who want to own the latest books or classics without spending any money, Kuala Lumpur Book Exchange has the best alternative choice.
With their own books as capital, readers could now change their books with selected used books whether by their favourite authors or genres available by the side of Jalan Taman Desa on the first Sunday of every month.
According to the founder of the programme, Gladys Wong, 27, the book exchange takes place for two hours from 8.45am to 10.45am.
“Readers who have many old and used books can make the exchange here without any condition or rule,” she told Bernama.
Gladys, who works at a printing company, said she came up with the idea for the programme after visiting a recycling centre in 2013 and saw a pile of discarded books which were still in good condition.
“Rather than allowing the books to be recycled, I thought it would be a good idea to rent them out to the public, and starting from there, I carried out an online book rental service, 'Four Letr Word' but failed to solicit any response due to lack of publicity,” said Gladys who carried out the programme as a hobby.
Rather than giving up, Gladys who admitted to being a book lover, finally picked Taman Desa to start her book exchange centre in 2014 because the location was an area of public focus.
“Each time the programme is conducted, more than 30 readers will exchange books here, and some of them donated books,” she added.
Gladys said she opened a booth at The School in Petaling Jaya in 2014 and there was enthusiastic response from book lovers.
“Individuals who do not want to exhange books will buy them at RM5. Proceeds from the two-day book sale reached more than RM900 which were donated to welfare centres,” she said.
To date, a total of 1,000 books had been collected from the exchanges and contributions from readers, and she aspired to open a book shop to house the books and boost the level of comfort for readers.
Readers could refer to the official website of Kuala Lumpur Book Exchange here to find out the list of latest books available for exchange. — Bernama
