What is Book Crossing?
BookCrossing is the act of 'releasing' books in public places for others to find. Members register their books on a website, enabling them to track books as they travel locally, nationally or even internationally. BookCrossing currently has 495,392 members in 130 countries, and 3,330,214 registered books.

What do you do?
Members register a book to get a bookcrossing ID number. This number allows the book to be tracked on its journey. They then label the book with its ID number together with instructions for whoever finds it. The book is then left in a public place, and the owner writes 'release' notes on the site, telling other members where to find the book. When someone finds the book, they log onto the website and type in the ID number and they can then write a journal entry for the book, which appears on the website. Any previous readers, including the original owner, are sent an e-mail of the entry to let them know someone has found the book. The new owner then 'releases' the book.

Types of Release
There are many ways of 'releasing' a book. “Wild releases” involve leaving a book in a public place e.g. park bench, cinema, cafe etc. Controlled 'releases' are when a book is given to another individual, either in person or by post. BookCrossers also trade books through the post. Random Acts Of BookCrossing Kindness are where a bookcrosser sends a book to someone without expecting anything in return. In bookrings and bookrays, members subscribe to a mailing list for a particular book, which is then passed from one to another as each person reads it. The last person on the list then returns a bookring book to the original owner, but the last member of a bookray list either 'releases' the book or starts another chain.

Official bookcrossing zones can be set up in places such as cafes, and contain a designated area for people to leave and collect books. The zone in St Mary Magdalene Church, Cobham is the first in a Kent church. Within hours of it being set up, the first book ‘left’ and favourable comments are filling the visitor’s book. Evangelism, but not as you know it.

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