The University of Sheffield Students’ Union has announced a new division of the Swap Shop, focused on literature. The Book Swap Shop, which is to be located next to the main Swap Shop on the third level of the Students’ Union, will allow students to exchange their old & read books for new publications of their choosing, all free of charge.
Taking to social media, the official Students’ Union page showed a picture of the new book installation, saying: “Our new book swap shop is here and can be found next to the swap shop!”. Encouraging students to get involved, the announcement urged readers to “take a book, and leave a book [they’d] recommend. Read, share repeat”.
Education Officer Maria J. Lourido Moreno praised the new initiative, saying: “Knowledge and education have to be free and community-based, these are little steps to getting that future”.
This new section of the Swap Shop builds upon the scheme established in 2022, whereby students can trade in clothes they no longer wear and get something new. This was expanded to include shoes, bags and accessories, with shop items often changing to reflect seasonal events. Earlier this year, the Swap Shop was reformed to operate on an amnesty system, removing the use of credit stamps and monitoring by volunteers.
The extension of the Swap Shop to include books and other written publications is a huge step forwards for exchange programmes within the university and student community. With the cost of living crisis still forcing prices up, many students have found their disposable incomes reduced, with much less left over for new books. It is hoped that this new initiative will help to alleviate this issue, and may encourage students to branch out into genres they haven’t explored before.
As the end of the year approaches and many students will be looking to move from one accommodation to another, this change will be instrumental in helping to declutter, get new books for free and encourage our student community to keep reading as the summer months approach.
The Book Swap Shop can be found on level 3 of The University of Sheffield Students’ Union, open from 10am to 3pm on Mondays to Thursdays
