Z-POINTS
We want to announce that we're starting work on a new service for exchanging paperback books between users. Books you have read should not gather dust on your shelf – instead, they can get a second life in the hands of new readers! This helps to preserve the literary heritage and spread the knowledge and ideas contained in books to more people.
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But how can we make the process of exchanging books between users from around the world as simple, safe, and efficient as possible? To solve this problem, we want to organize "Z-Points" – collection and storage points for books that will be the link between those who share their books and those who need them. Book owners who are willing to share them with other users can send books to the nearest Z-Point in their region. And those who need books stored in these points will be able to receive them for their use.
What is a "Z-Point" and what functions does it perform?
🔹Receiving books sent by contributors through postal delivery
🔹Keeping records of the books received. We will make this process as simple as possible – it will be enough to simply upload a photo of each received book or scan its bar code (ISBN code)
🔹Long-term storage of received books (some books may not be in demand for years, and that's okay)
🔹Sending books to those who requested them
Our goal is to organize dozens of "Z-Points" around the world, and we need your help to do this. If you are ready to perform the functions of a "Z-Point" or know how to organize their work, please contact us. What are we looking for?
🔸Public or university libraries that can perform the functions of a "Z-Point"
🔸Services (fulfillment, 3PL, etc.) that can take on the work of receiving, sorting, and sending books
🔸People who are ready to personally organize or carry out the activities of a "Z-Point"
Can you help or have any ideas? Write to us at support@z-lib.se with the subject line "Z-Point".
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After our story about plans to create an exchange service for paper versions of books, we received a huge number of responses and valuable comments regarding this idea. Thank you for such active feedback! Among the comments, there were a large number of questions and criticisms, which we have addressed and will try to answer now.
1. Why do we need Z-Point at all when you can arrange book exchanges directly between users?
The vast majority of book exchange services work so that the interaction between those who are willing to share a book and those who request it happens directly. This is easier in terms of implementation, but in many cases doesn't work. For example, you may move from one apartment to another and have nowhere to put your books. Or you have many books that you are willing to share, but you don't want to spend your time communicating with those who need them, and sending them one by one. Z-Point is convenient as it takes care of all the problems with processing, categorizing, storing, and sending books to those who need them. Nevertheless, we will also provide a tool for direct book exchange between users, bypassing Z-Points.
2. Is shipping books expensive?
As more Z-Points open, the cheaper book shipping will be. For example, instead of sending books one by one from Germany to Indonesia (which is very expensive), Z-Points can collect many books from Germany into one package and send them to a Z-Point in Indonesia, where they can be picked up by end users. This should significantly reduce delivery costs.
3. Is this legal?
Absolutely. The exchange of paper books between users is absolutely legal. It is important to emphasize that the entire process is transparent and legal.
4. The era of paper books has long passed. Why is this needed at all?
Despite the fact that we live in the digital age, little compares to the pleasure of reading a paper book. Moreover, many books are still not digitized and exist exclusively in paper form. And no one has canceled the zombie apocalypse, so who knows how long we will still have the internet and electricity? :)
5. Why not focus on digitizing and scanning books instead of sending them by mail?
You can digitize the received books at your own risk. However, we cannot scan and copy books at Z-Points, as this is illegal.
6. How is this scheme different from LittleFreeLibrary, BookMooch, or BookCrossing?
All of the above services are trying to solve the same problem. The main difference is how conveniently and effectively they do it. We believe that our approach will take book exchanging to a new level, making it more global and accessible.
7. Great! When will the service be available?
Believe us, we want to launch the project as soon as possible, but this is a big project, so please be patient. We hope that in the next 3 months we will be able to launch an application for bookkeeping, as well as organizing the first test Z-Points.
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