Fifteen months since its inauguration, the Book Exchange Center in Tehran has received over 150,000 books, said its director, Mohammad Bahrinian.
The secondhand books cover a wide range of subjects including religion engineering, medicine, accounting, art, economy, foreign languages, psychology, novels, academic, religion, history and more. They are priced cheap with the purpose of providing an opportunity to the people to purchase books at affordable prices. The center was established in June 2015 by a group of book enthusiasts. It has now 16 staff members working in two shifts, IRNA reported.
The center buys books from people who have no use for them or simply want to give away the books.
“We don’t accept school textbooks, offset-printed books, periodicals, article abstracts and educational aid books over three years old,” Bahrinian said.
If a household has over 50 books to sell, the center sends its representatives to collect the books. They are then priced after evaluation based on print and edition, paper quality and typesetting. “Most of the books are on religion, followed by academic works, poetry and novels.”
High Demand for Literature
But the books most in demand, however, are in literature, followed by psychology and academic and educational aid.
“Once the price is fixed the book owner has to wait for it to be purchased. If a book doesn’t get sold within a month it will be returned to the owner or donated to schools or libraries in less privileged parts of the country,” the director said.
To see the list of the books available, enthusiasts can visit the center located on Northern Baradaran-Mozafar Street near the intersection of Valiasr- Enqelab avenues. They can also refer to the website of the Book Exchange Center at tabadoleketab.com or at the social app https://telegram.me/tabadolketab.
The center is open from 9 am to 9 pm daily and on Fridays from 2 pm to 8 pm.
