One book ministry says it has seen an increase in the number of people ordering books to give away.

Since the start of 2009, Speaking Volumes says it has had an unprecedented amount of orders for Christian books to be donated by churches to libraries across the UK.

The scheme works by offering churches and invididuals books for sale at half their retail price so that they can then be donated to schools, libraries, prisons and other lending outlets. The idea behind the scheme is to take Christian books to a wider audience than the faithful.

Paula Renouf, director of the scheme, said that although there had been a significant drop in the number of orders at the end of 2008, the number of orders has shot up since the start of the new year.

“People seemed to be sucking in their breath to see what was going to happen to their finances. But following a quiet January suddenly there was a flurry of orders and we are now nearly 50 per cent up on this period last year," she said.

Speaking Volumes is an initiative of The Christian Book Promotion Trust.

“In these days when library book buying may be the first budget to be cut by our local councils the donation of quality Christian books to such places is more vital than ever before” said the Chairman of CBPT, Geoff Booker.

CBPT said it hoped its new catalogue of books out in May would generate even more interest in Christian books and bring a change in life to those who read them.


On the web: www.speakingvolumes.org.uk