By Callum Ludwig
The bookshelves of the Seville Book Swap are still strongly stocked years on from their start during the Covid lockdowns.
The book swap provides the perfect place for community members to find a new read in exchange for one they’ve read themselves.
Patricia Ray started the swapping system shortly before one of the last lockdowns in Victoria and said they couldn’t get to the library at that stage.
“There were a couple of little bookshelves around, including one up in Wandin and I thought we needed one in Seville and I thought the best place would be outside the post office so I asked them and they agreed and thought it was a good idea,” she said.
“It started off with a very small, very old and decrepit bookcase that I had, then someone else brought down a bigger one and then a third one appeared,”
“Without a library, I suddenly ran out of books and I think a lot of people were in that position too.”
The book swap can be found between the Aldi and the post office in Seville, with signs taped above outlining the few conditions for leaving books there.
Ms Ray said it’s good for people to have somewhere to go and just find some interesting fiction without technical research papers or biographies and anything like that.
“I just picked up and it was one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and there was another one, a Booker Prize winner that I can’t remember the name of, but there’s been so many interesting books down there,” she said.
The only rules for the Seville book swap are to make sure to only leave books that are in good condition and not to leave items or types of books such as DVDs, magazines, recipe books, school textbooks, technical books, handicraft or children’s toys.
