Once upon a time, I worked in an office that had a beat-up, steel bookcase in the break room.  This was our unofficial lending library, where anyone could drop off a book they had read and were willing to part with, and swap it for another selection on the shelf that had been left by someone else. 

The concept is a simple one, and probably still exists today on bookshelves in buildings across the country.  But the next generation of the lending library is here.  And now you can browse available books - as well as movies, music, and games - from bookshelves far beyond just those found in your local neighborhood or office.

With a little help from your computer and your mailbox, you can swap books, DVD's, and CD's with communities of people looking to do the same. It's a great way to "recycle" and "reuse" - and the result is a literally unlimited resource of entertainment that will cost you no more than a little postage.

Here's a couple swapping sites that come highly recommended from users.  So if you're looking for a way to clear some space on your bookshelf or your DVD case - log on and submit your tired old titles.   What you're hoping to get rid of, someone else may be waiting for.  And in the meantime you can rummage through other people's collections from the comfort of your own laptop.

BOOKS
Paperbackswap.com
This is as close to the old lending library as you can get.  Log in, list the books you're happy to part with, and then search through the available titles for any books you would like sent to you.  You have to post ten books (listing them by their ISBN number) to receive your first swapping credits.  But after that, it's effortless to add additional books you want to trade and use your credits to request books you want to read. 

And despite the name, the choices for trading are not limited to paperbacks only.  This site also enables members to swap hardback books, audio books, and text books.  What I wouldn't have done to have access to something like this when I was in college!  I could have saved a small fortune in textbook costs.

This site also has sister CD and DVD swapping sites.  The DVD site especially is well recommended, which leads me to...

DVDS
SwapaDVD.com
Brought to you by the same folks at paperbackswap.com, this employs the same approach - but for DVD's. 

I used to be the type that wouldn't buy the DVD of a movie unless it was a real favorite of mine, and something that I knew I would watch over and over again.  But with some of the incredible deals I've found at both Amazon and Netflix.com, there have been some movies I've found that I could purchase and have shipped to me for less than it would cost me to drive to Blockbuster and rent it for a night.

Many of the movies I've obtained this way I've enjoyed, but I don't really need them in my DVD "library" because they aren't something I would really enjoy watching more than once.  And I also have several childrens DVD's that my kids have outgrown.  But now I have an option available to me to get them all out of my DVD storage drawer to other households that are looking for them - and in return I can request other potentially hard-to-find titles that I've been looking forward to watching myself.  This site was also recently endorsed by the Today show... so you know if Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira like it, it's got to be good.

BOOKS, MOVIES, and  MORE
Switchplanet.com

If your swapping needs transcend the mediums of simple books and DVDs, this "one stop shop" may be more to your liking.  Switchplanet enables you to request and swap books and DVDs... as well as music CD's, and games from the entire range of gaming systems.  You can essentially list your entire library of "swapables", and then earn credits for every successful swap that you make.  This one site makes it possible for you to switch out your rarely wached DVD of "Roadhouse" for a copy of the newest "Speed Racer" Wii game to play with your kids.

All of these sites are monitored and managed, and there is customer service support to help with any transactions that may have a problem.  But its inventory is truly user-driven, and the selection and speed that you have available to you only grows as the membership increases.

It's social, it's rewarding, and it's economically and environmentally terrific.  Instead purchasing new books, discs or DVD's that must be printed and shipped - you receive the same items for free, delivered to your house by the mail carrier.  (And he was heading to your house anyway, right?)  These sites are new discoveries for me, and I look forward to taking advantage of them.  I hope you do too.