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BookCrossing is defined as "the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise". The term is derived from bookcrossing.com, a free online book club which began and encouraged the practice. Bookcrossing. more...

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com's stated goal is to "make the whole world a library".

There are also short hand terms for BookCrossing which are: BC, BCing, or BXing.

Process

Anyone who wishes to participate in "releasing" books must register on the BookCrossing.com website (to "catch" a book users have the option to remain anonymous). Once registered, a member is able to participate in a number of ways:

Releasing

To "release" a book means that a member will pass the book on to a friend or fellow member or leave the book in a public place for anyone passing by to find. Leaving a book in a public place like this is known in the BookCrossing community as leaving a book in "the wild".

Before "releasing" a book it must be registered on the website. Registration produces a unique identification number called the "BookCrossing ID" or "BCID" which allows the book's movement to be tracked. The member must then mark the book with the "BookCrossing ID" and BookCrossing website URL so that the finder understands s/he should visit the BookCrossing website, enter the BCID, make a journal entry for the book to include where the book was found.

Finally, the member "releases" the book in any one of the ways mentioned above.

Catching

"Catching" can only be done with books that have been registered on the BookCrossing website. To "catch" a book, the BCID marked on the book must be entered at BookCrossing.com. A book can be "caught" in "the wild", traded, or merely received as a gift. You do not need to be a member of the website to "catch" a book.

After entering the BCID, the person is able to enter their location (Country, State and City). Anyone wishing to remain anonymous has the option to leave their location blank. They will still be allowed to make a journal entry about the finding of the book and anything else they wish to add.

Once the member is finished reading the book, they are encouraged to write a journal entry about the book or their experiences with it, and "re-release" the book so that the process can be continued and other people are able to enjoy the book.

BookCrossing.com users can 'go hunting', where a member will go to the website to view a list of books that have recently been "released", then go to the location it was left to "catch" it.

History

The idea was conceived by a partner of Humankind Systems, Inc., Ron Hornbaker in March 2001 . About four weeks later, on April 17, the idea was brought to life with the launch of the website. Since then it has grown into a global movement; by April 2003 the website had over 113,000 members, and in 2004 the Concise Oxford Dictionary began to include the word "bookcrossing", as defined above. (bookcrossing n. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Eleventh edition revised . Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2006.)

Read more at Wikipedia.org