在德國的城市街角、廣場和郊區超市，一排排公共書架正在走入人們的視野。你可以隨意取閱或貢獻書籍，無須登記、沒有期限，也不限冊數。這項免費換書活動的組織者表示，這是針對每一位喜愛閱讀的人推出的活動，不限年齡和受教育程度；對每個人都是開放的。據悉，這些公共書架通常是由捐助基金資助、由當地志愿者組織維護的。每個書架約有200冊圖書，大約每六周完成一次圖書輪換。目前，德國大部分公共書架都設在高檔社區，組織者計劃下一步讓公共書架走進貧困社區，讓那里的人享受相同的閱讀機會。

these free-for-all libraries, people can grab whatever they want to read, and leave behind anything they want for others. There's no need to register, no due date, and you can take or give as many as you want.

Take a book, leave a book. In the birthplace of the printing press, public bookshelves are popping up across the nation on street corners, city squares and suburban supermarkets.

In these free-for-all libraries, people can grab whatever they want to read, and leave behind anything they want for others. There's no need to register, no due date, and you can take or give as many as you want.

"This project is aimed at everyone who likes to read — without regard to age or education. It is open for everybody," Michael Aubermann, one of the organizers of the free book exchange in the city of Cologne, told The Associated Press.

The western city's latest public shelf, a €5,000 ($6,883) steel bookcase with acrylic glass doors, was put up two weeks ago next to Bayenturm, one of the city's medieval towers. It is the fourth free shelf that Aubermann's group, the Cologne Citizen's Foundation, has placed outside; there are two more inside local Ikea outlets.

"We installed our other outdoor shelves last year and it's been working really well," said Aubermann, a 44-year-old who works in IT management.

The public book shelves, which are usually financed by donations and cared for by local volunteer groups, have popped up independently of each other in many cities across Germany including Berlin, Hannover and Bonn, and also in suburbs and villages.

Each shelf holds around 200 books and it takes about six weeks for a complete turnover, with all the old titles replaced by new ones, he said.

Even commercial book stores and online book retailers seem to support the idea of free book exchanges.

"We see this project rather as a sales promotion than as competition," said Elmar Muether, the acting branch manager at Cologne's Mayersche Buchhandlung book store. "If books are present everywhere, it helps our business too."

Bettina Althaus, a spokeswoman for buch.de, a German online bookstore comparable to Amazon.com, also welcomed the movement.

"Public bookshelves are in no competition with the online book trade. On the contrary, we are happy about any kind of motivation to read," Althaus said.

So far, the Cologne book group has had few problems with vandalism or other kinds of abuse, though a used-book seller once scooped up every volume on a shelf to sell at a flea market. Another time the shelves kept getting stacked with material from a religious group.

"We made sure to get rid of that stuff as quickly as possible," Aubermann said. "Propaganda is the only kind of literature we do not allow here, whether it is right-wing, racist or proselytizing."

At another bookshelf in the Bayenthal neighborhood, the lower shelves were reserved for children's literature only.

"It is important that we make it easy for everyone to overcome their inhibitions and participate in this 'reading culture on the street' — from old readers to kids to immigrants," Aubermann said.

While most of the shelves have so far been put up in upscale neighborhoods, Aubermann and the 20 volunteers who help look after the project are planning to put up future shelves in poor neighborhoods, where residents often don't have as much access to literature.

Nobody really knows where the idea for the public shelves originally stems from. What's certain is it's a popular grass-roots movement that's catching on — even abroad.

Just a few weeks ago, Aubermann said he was contacted by a Portuguese NGO that asked him for help with opening public book shelves in poor rural areas of Mozambique.

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(Agencies)

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen ）