Despite the prevalence of ebooks as well as various ebook apps and readers in the digital age, we still very much like physical books, no matter how bulky they are. Kindles just don’t stack as nicely as books on our shelves.  

It helps that the fresh whiff of paper, ink and glue in new books is so good that it might as well be crack. 

Lovers of good ol’ paper tomes would be glad to know that there’s a new homegrown app that acts as a social media network of sorts for fellow bookworms. 

A group of local students plugged their app — Hawkins Library — on Reddit yesterday (Nov 3), inviting feedback on the early beta version now out for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play. 

The concept’s pretty straightforward. It’s an app that lets users list the books they’re willing to lend to other readers, or even search for the ones they want to borrow. It’s a handy decentralised alternative to buying books, especially for voracious readers capable of finishing them within days. 

It’s a good way to offload books from crammed bookshelves too — letting someone else enjoy your paperbacks is probably a lot better than letting them collect dust. Unless you’re one of those hoarders who detest strangers from potentially ruining your precious books, of course. 

Aside from searching, lending, and borrowing, Hawkins Library also opens up another avenue for socialising. There’s an option to chat with other book lovers about their collections, or as the makers of the app put it, “express mutual admiration for the literary masterpieces, gripe about plot holes or moon over fictional heart-throbs”.

Listing books on the app involves the fuss-free process of scanning its barcodes, which automatically pulls up its title, author and synopsis. 

On Reddit, the makers of the app noted that they’re open to adding in more features like increasing the book catalogue database and integrating access to book discovery platform Goodreads. 

ilyas@asiaone.com

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