Read the article at The Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Looking for a quick and easy, and possibly cheaper, way to stock up on the books on your summer reading list?

Just go online and rent them.

“We find that when the summer comes, we get more subscriptions,” said Eric Ginsberg, spokesman for BookSwim .com, an online book rental service.

BookSwim.com is a year-old New Jersey firm that has grown out of the basement of one of the co-founders to a warehouse with more than 200,000 titles.

Patrons can rent a certain number of books each month, based on their membership level, and mail them back when they’re finished reading. There is no due date. For $14.99, readers get two books a month, but more avid readers can pay $35.99 for 11 titles.

Booksfree.com, in business since 2000, boasts 90,000 titles, plus about 18,000 audiobooks. Its plans range from $9.99 a month for two books to $37.99 a month for 12 books.

Both have free shipping.

There are also several Web sites that rent audiobooks, among them Jiggerbug .com, Audiotogo.com, Simplyaudiobooks.com and Recordedbooks.com.

And college students can rent textbooks at Chegg.com and BookRenter .com.

Ginsberg said the cost of books makes renting them an attractive option. The average cost of a book on The New York Times bestseller list is $22, he said.

And with gas prices going up, renting is a good option, particularly in rural areas where bookstores are not as easily accessible, because the book comes directly to your door, he said.

Moreover, Ginsberg said, “Who can continue keeping books? Who has the space?”

LIBRARIES JOIN THE CLUB

Public libraries in nine small North Texas communities will begin renting books next month from an online service to make sure they have enough copies to go around at their book clubs.

As members of the North Texas Regional Library System, the participating libraries will get $100 a month to rent up to 20 copies from BookSwim.com in New Jersey, system executive director Adam Wright said.

Many libraries can’t afford to buy multiple copies of a book, which has been a barrier to even starting a book club, he said.

What it means

The Mary Lou Reddick Library in Lake Worth tried starting a book club before but struggled to get enough copies of books, director Lara Strother said. She has selected The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold for the club’s first read through BookSwim.com.

“We’re a small library and have no budget to buy that many books,” Strother said. “This is taking the worry out of it.”

Saginaw’s John Ed Keeter Public Library has an existing book club of 15 members. Up until now, the library would buy only a few books and the members would pass them around, director Yvonne Flippo said.

Now, the library will rent 12 copies of a title, she said. Their first book will be The Whole Truth by David Baldacci.

Looking ahead

The North Texas library system is the first to become a member, but others will start in the fall, said Eric Ginsberg, BookSwim.com’s spokesman.

The Austin-based Tocker Foundation, which supports public libraries that serve a population less than 12,000, is giving $8,400 for seven area libraries to participate for one year.

– Sandra Baker

Participating libraries

Area libraries that are participating in book-borrowing through a grant from the Tocker Foundation, based in Austin, are:

Sanger Public Library

Mary Lou Reddick Library in Lake Worth

Krum Public Library

Dublin Public Library

Aubrey Area Library

Archer Public Library in Archer City

Alvarado Public Library

Local libraries paying with their own funds:

Benbrook Library District

John Ed Keeter Public Library in Saginaw

Source: North Texas Regional Library System
SANDRA BAKER, 817-390-7727
sabaker@star-telegram.com