Hub City Books and the Hub City Writers Project in Sparatanburg, S.C., have launched Free Books for Travelers, a new community outreach project. Travelers passing through the Sparta Passenger Center are encouraged to take a free book along for the ride next time they hop on a bus.

The bookshelf, topped with an eye-catching sign featuring a Dr. Seuss quote (“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”), is stocked with a rotating selection of post-publication ARCs as well as new and gently used books donated by customers of the Hub City Bookshop.

“We are gratified to be able to offer books to travelers, whether they are headed across town or across the country,” said HCWP’s Anne Waters. “For years we have distributed free children’s books through our ‘Growing Great Readers’ program and this enables us to extend our outreach to adults.”

She added: “Every day we receive ARCs of books that will be released in the coming months. Once the finished books are published, the ARCS are destined for the recycling bin. We determined it was far better to share them. If this initiative ignites or rekindles a passion for reading we have furthered our mission to ‘Nurture Writers and Cultivate Readers.’ ”