ASIA-PACIFIC – JAKARTA, INDONESIA, DECEMBER 12, 2011: 2011 – In cities such as Paris, Barcelona, London, there are bicycle sharing programs that allow riders to pick up bikes and return them in different stations. What if you can do the same for books?
TCP-TBWA Indonesia has launched an experimental social participation project called "Buku Bergilir" (Sharing Books) in Birdie cafe, a popular suburban hangout. The idea was simple: make more books freely accessible to a wider audience with an`open library´ concept powered by the readers themselves.
Indonesia has an adult literacy rate of 90.4% (CIA World Factbook), a large local publishing industry and strong public interest in reading. Yet access to books is limited, as public libraries are scarce. Although bookshops abound, new book prices put them out of the reach of many Indonesians.
Another key insight is the fact that many of those who can afford to buy books, especially novels, read them once then leave them on bookshelves to gather dust.
The solution was to encourage people with books they no longer plan to read to liberate them from retirement and donate them to the Buku Bergilir project.
A network of book drop-off points will be grown where people can leave their donated books, which are then identified with a sticker explaining the project and distributed throughout the Buku Bergilir network.
The Buku Bergilir network will expand to include educational institutions, hospitals and clinics, bus and train stations, ferry terminals, domestic airports, even the seat pockets of budget domestic airlines – anywhere people wait and congregate, where a good read would be appreciated.
Anyone is welcome to borrow a book to read, take it with him or her, and then when they´re finished, simply return it to any participating location.
It´s the first time such a project has been attempted in Indonesia, one reliant on the continuous generosity, participation and honesty of individuals.
Social media, primarily Twitter, is a key element of the project. So the movement of books can be monitored and tracked as they travel throughout the nation, people are asked to tweet the book title and location each time a book is donated, borrowed or returned, mentioning @bukubergilir.
In the few days since its launch, the project has attracted a positive response on Twitter, and the media, while gaining the support of many book lovers. The collection already numbers hundreds of books, though it´s early days yet for a project that has the ambition to empower readers across the entire Indonesian archipelago.
Information about the Buku Bergilir project can be found at: www.projeqt.com/bukubergilir.
