The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) announced in a statement on Friday the return of its “Book for Book” book swap, with another round set for this coming weekend.
The statement noted that the upcoming book swap is aimed at fostering a “vibrant” reading culture. The event, which debuted last year, will take place again this Saturday and Sunday across various locations in Macau.
The initiative is a part of the “Culture at Your Doorstep” programme and aligns with the “Reading Month in the City of Macao 2025” programme, designed to inspire residents to cultivate reading habits, according to the statement.
The book swap was held this past weekend at the Leisure Area in Praça das Orquídeas (澳門蘭花前地). It will take place again this Saturday and Sunday in Areia Preta Urban Park, running from 12 noon to 6 p.m. “Participants simply bring their books that meet the criteria of exchange to the personnel on-site, select their favourite books and exchange them for the equivalent number of their books,” the statement said. Each person can exchange up to 20 books.
In order to maintain quality, the statement pointed out that specific types of books are not allowed for the swap. These include magazines, booklets, guidebooks for further studies, textbooks, activity catalogues, children’s cloth books, non-locally-published yearbooks, law books and examination guidebooks, science and engineering books published more than five years ago, computer books published more than three years ago, travel guides published more than two years ago, pornographic publications or violent books, religious books, pirated books or those in violation of copyright laws, damaged and soiled books, incomplete collections, poorly bound books, books with missing pages or with pages that are easy to separate, and books with more than five volumes.
Community members are encouraged to exchange their books and join in sharing the joy of reading, the statement noted.
One can find more details by calling the Public Library of the Cultural Affairs Bureau on 2855 8049 or 2884 3105, or by visiting their website.
This undated handout photo provided by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) shows members of the public taking part in a previous edition of the “Book for Book” book swap.
