A 94-year-old man who walks Tumamoc Hill three times a week wanted to find a good home for his thousand-book collection. The University of Arizona's Desert Laboratory had an idea.

The Desert Laboratory is hosting a free book swap this Friday, March 13, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tumamoc Hill Boathouse, and nobody has to bring a book to take one home.

The donor, who still makes the climb with a walker, approached the laboratory with roughly 1,000 books he wanted out of his house but felt were too valuable to drop off at Goodwill.

"He just feels very connected to the hill," said Desert Laboratory Director Elise Gornish.

The initial idea was to slowly add them to its little free library, that typically houses seed packets, educational handouts and stickers, but the laboratory didn't have space to store that many books.

So the laboratory decided to give them all away at once.

"We have a thousand people a day walk the hill," Gornish said. "So (we thought) what if we just did a book swap?"

The book swap is a departure from the laboratory's usual environmental focus, but Gornish said that's fine.

"Not every single event has to be something where people are learning about the Sonoran Desert," Gornish said. "We are really trying to support activities that enhance community in any way. If there's an opportunity for the community to get some free, cool books, why not?"

The event is free and open to the public and has been planned with accessibility in mind.

"We want to make all of our events very accessible to people, so we almost always have them at the bottom of the hill," Gornish said. "People can just walk in and they don't have to worry about carrying stuff or if they have difficulties, like mobility issues or anything like that."

The swap will feature books on history, culture, language, arts, gardening, animals and more.

"We wanted to make sure we had tons and tons of books, so people felt comfortable showing up without a book," Gornish said. "We're calling it a swap, but nobody has to bring something to take something."

The laboratory has hosted plant swaps before and found most people show up empty-handed, and that has never been a problem.

"I imagine this would be a one-time thing, because we don't have the capacity to host a book drive and have people over the course of two months bring their books here," Gornish said. "I think anytime there's an opportunity where anyone from the community can come to a space and get something for free, particularly when it's knowledge."

For more information, follow the Desert Laboratory on Instagram at @uaz.tumamoc or sign up for their mailing list here.

Katlyn Vargas is a University of Arizona student and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at katlynvargas@arizona.edu.

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