סֵפֶרְחוֹב

Ruti finds a gem

Why we built a map of street book cabinets, and how one photo of a shelf helps the next reader find the book they are looking for.

Issue#1for readers
1
A woman with curly auburn hair, round glasses and a mustard cardigan walks along a quiet street of white stone buildings, past a small teal wooden book cabinet.
What is in the cabinet today?
Ruti never walks past a book cabinet without a look. Many neighbourhoods have cabinets and shelves where neighbours leave books for anyone who wants them.
2
Ruti stands by the cabinet holding an open green book, smiling with delight.
I have looked for this one for years!
Sometimes you find a gem. But only by chance, and only if you pass right there at the right time.
3
Ruti sits on a sofa in the evening with a mug of tea, looking out of the window at the town lights, thinking.
There are dozens of cabinets in town. Which one has the book I want?
The problem: you cannot know what is in a cabinet without going there. And a good book is taken quickly.
4
Ruti, seen from behind, stands at the book cabinet and photographs the shelves with her phone.
Click!
So Ruti photographs the shelf with her phone. She opens the cabinet’s page in Seferehov and takes the photo. It takes a few seconds.
5
Ruti sits on a park bench smiling at her phone, small glowing book icons rising from the screen.
It read the names of all the books!

How to add books

  1. At a book cabinet: open it in Seferehov and photograph the shelf
  2. Seferehov reads the book titles
  3. Approve one book at a time. Cabinet not on the map? Add it with a photo

How to find a book

  1. Type a book title or an author
  2. Choose a distance: up to 1, 5, 20 or 50 km, or anywhere
  3. Not there? Ask for an alert, and hear when the book turns up
Seferehov reads the book titles from the photo and finds them in the catalogue. Ruti goes through the list, approves one book at a time and earns points for each. Now anyone can search the books in that cabinet.
6
A young man with a short beard, a blue hoodie and a backpack sits by a bus window, smiling with excitement at his phone.
“The Little Prince”, one kilometre from me!
That evening Yoni looks for a book. He types the title, chooses a distance, and sees which cabinets have the book right now.
7
Yoni stands by a book cabinet on another street, holding the book he found and smiling.
Found it!
Yoni walks to the cabinet and takes the book. If he likes, he marks it as taken, so the next reader does not look for it in vain.
8
Yoni places a red book on the cabinet shelf, smiling.
Whoever comes next will find this.
And he leaves one of his own. You do not have to leave a book to take one. Yoni just likes to give. Books pass from hand to hand.
9
Three neighbours by the street book cabinet: an old man with a white beard and a walking cane, a girl holding an open picture book, and a woman in a green dress who touches the cabinet and smiles.
There is a cabinet near our home too. Let us add it!
Every shelf someone photographs joins one big library that anyone can search. The shelves belong to the neighbourhood. Seferehov does not run them and adds no rules.

Why

  • Street book cabinets are full of good books, but you cannot see them from home
  • Someone looking for a certain book does not know where to go
  • A book nobody finds stays on the shelf

How

  • Photograph a shelf, and Seferehov reads the titles
  • Search by title or author, near home or anywhere
  • Get an alert when a book you wait for turns up

What it costs

  • Nothing. Seferehov is free
  • You can search without signing up
  • To photograph and add books, sign in with Google or e-mail

Is there a book cabinet near your home?

Open the map Find a book

Ruti and Yoni are made up. The drawings were made with an image model running on the Seferehov server.