BookMooch is now my preferred source and sink for books. With some patience, and the price of postage, I can get or get rid of many things. Shelf space is limited now, and most books come from the library, but sometimes they don't have what I want, or I want to own the book, possibly only for a while.

There is a small number of books on my shelves waiting to be read, and after that I'll put them up for "mooching". BookMooch is an unusual model in that getting the book costs you nothing (in money) but giving it costs you postage. It's all kept in balance by a point system that compares the books you've sent to the books you've gotten.

I'm not a heavy user, as my tastes are a bit out of the way, but the community has come up with some things that were otherwise unavailable, and provided a good home to the unwanted. To use it, you sign up for an account and create a list of what you're willing to mail out and what you'd like to get. When there's a match, the system sends email to the parties involved. Mooching is first-come-first-served, so you have to be quick. You can monitor a book's number of requestors, which gives you an idea of your chances of a successful mooch.

If you're looking for books, more bookshelf space, a web-based community project to get involved in, or just a model for ideas on how to develop and maintain such things, check it out.