My book box, made social.
More than a piece of furniture, these boxes are a place of exchange, inclusion and solidarity.
We provide a simple, low-cost way to encourage residents to read and to dream, for the sake of the values of living well together, and in support of regional booksellers and authors.
A participatory web page, for every box
One resident tidies the box. Another photographs it. A third reports a book gone. Every gesture tells other users what is there and pushes a dial up, and the higher it climbs, the more comics the town hall drops in next month.
An automatic inventory, genuinely useful
The inventory is browsed online, covers and all. It comes from photographs of the box analysed by an artificial intelligence: when a resident reports a tidy-up or takes a picture of the box, the inventory and the book covers are updated.
Second-hand comics, to thank and to encourage
At the start of each month, the town hall stocks the box with second-hand comics or books, in proportion to the previous month’s civic involvement (photographs, tidying up, sharing a favourite book, and so on). Residents subscribed to the box are notified of the additions by email. The town hall, or a body it delegates to (a youth council, an after-school service…), approves our bookseller’s selection each month: 3 alternatives for every comic proposed = plenty of choice to please everyone.
A glued insert, inseparable from the book
It is glued to the first and the last page, and cannot be taken out. It invites every reader to pass the comic on once read, to this box or another one, and it makes known the service and the town hall’s action to promote sharing, civic spirit and living well together.
The figures tell it
Comics: children already read them, adults keep reading.
77%
of children read a comic book during the year, in France
43%
of 16-to-75-year-olds read them too, in France
99%
of child readers read them on paper, in France
51%
of children borrow their comics from a library, in France
Ipsos Connect for the CNL, "Les Français et la BD 2020". Library budget: Bibliosuisse, "Richtlinien Öffentliche Bibliotheken", 2020.
We keep the box alive!
- Monthly round of every box: tidying up, removing damaged books, delivering the books and comics earned, checking the condition of the box, promoting the service to residents.
- Marking the books and comics: every reward book carries an insert from the town, glued behind the cover and behind the back cover, impossible to tear out.
- Circulation: a book seen in the same place for more than two months moves to another box in the town.
- Alert to the technical services in the event of breakage or danger to the furniture.
- QR cards fitted on every box, replacement included.
- Moderation of the messages exchanged between residents.
Your residents, the box in their phone
- A web page for every box, installable as an app.
- The box gauge: every gesture pushes it up, and the number of books and comics with it.
- A dated inventory, photographed, identified automatically, with the official covers.
- Email alert to subscribers for every favourite and for the monthly delivery, with covers.
- A discussion for each box on the page, between residents.
- Favourites: a photograph, a few words or a spoken introduction attached to a book someone liked.
- A map of neighbouring boxes, within ten kilometres.
The town, put forward
- The town’s name and logo on every book given to every box.
- The town hall appears on the home page of each box, with a link to its website (or several links: town hall, social action centre, municipal service…).
- Shops and associations can be shown as partners.
- A word from the town hall on the page, which you edit yourself.
- The insert in every comic, at the beginning and the end of the album, thanking residents and promoting the town’s initiative.
The town hall, independent with a new tool
- Title approval: the comics planned are shown to you before delivery, each with three substitutes. A youth council or a reading club can take charge of the selection.
- Restocking settings: guaranteed minimum, ceiling, number of comics per resident gesture.
- Settings for the gestures that count: which ones feed your boxes’ gauge, which ones are left out.
- Question campaigns for visitors: once or twice a year, put a few questions to your users.
- An annual steering meeting to adjust the scheme, with support by email.
Books added, chosen with care
A child can help themselves, unsupervised. What the town hall puts there commits it.
- Condition. Only albums in good or excellent condition are dropped in. Sorting is done by hand, album by album.
- Audience. The selection as a whole is for all audiences, and it clearly separates albums meant for children from those addressed to adults. No adults-only content.
- Provenance. A local partner bookshop, and regional publishers whenever possible, marked with a label.
- Series. No orphan volume, unless the album reads on its own without losing any of its story.
- Author comics. As soon as stock allows, author comics enter the selection alongside popular series.
- The last word is yours. Every title is put to you before it is dropped in, with three stand-ins. You decide, or you hand that choice to the young people of the town.
Authors from the area, brought forward
Choosing a local bookshop as the supplier is not only about short supply chains. The bookshop knows the authors and illustrators who live and publish here, and can bring them into the selection. In the Pays de Gex, several of them are dropped into the boxes, alongside the series everyone asks for.
Are you an elected official or a town hall officer?
The scope is settled in one conversation. Write, and the price list and agreement follow.
Contact us!Resident, shopkeeper, or simply curious? Write too.