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Steamboat Springs — It's no mistake that Off the Beaten Path Bookstore named its monthly collection of lightly used titles the Recycled Books Program.

"We call them recycled on purpose because it's our intent that : the books will get purchased again," said Ron Krall, who owns the store and began exchanging store credit for used fiction, nonfiction, children's, young adult and other kinds of books May 30.

The name also is meant to bring to mind the store's efforts to be environmentally friendly, Krall said, as the program serves multiple purposes for the reading public.

"One was our recognition that people in town who are avid readers often have books that they don't want to keep in their library and would be happy to share with others, in some way or another," Krall said. "And it also grew out of our interest in trying to be as green a store as we could possibly be, and recognize that even books could have a second life."

The next collection periods are from 2 to 4 p.m. on July 3 and 4. Generally, the store will collect books from 2 to 4 p.m. on the first Saturday of each month, said Kari Sandvig, events and advertising coordinator for the store.

For space reasons, the store sets a quota on the number of books it can take and the amount of credit it can give during each collection period. Once collectors hit that mark for the day, used book donators will be turned away, Sandvig said.

"We can only afford to give out a certain amount of store credit each time we do a collection," she said. Customers may bring a maximum of two boxes or bags for each collection period. On May 30, Krall and inventory manager Kathy Stephenson took in about five large bins of books, Sandvig said.

Desired varieties of donated books vary, but the program's No. 1 criteria is that each book be in good condition, Sandvig said - books that have been written in, have torn covers or damaged spines, or are missing their original dust jacket won't be accepted.

A program flier also lists encyclopedia sets, computer books, textbooks, literary journals, audio books, magazines and outdated business or travel books among items that should be left at home.

For a book that's in good condition and is likely to be resold, Off the Beaten Path offers store credit amounting to about 15 to 20 percent of the book's original retail value, Sandvig said. Those books are then marked with a colored "recycled" sticker and are shelved along with the rest of the store's inventory; some are on a "bargain books" shelf in the store's loft.

There's no firm resale pricing structure, but all recycled books will be marked well below new merchandise, Sandvig said.

"You'd look at paying $10 to $15 for a used hardcover, as opposed to $25 to $30, which is what a new hardcover fiction book would usually retail for," she said. On Monday, a recycled paperback edition of Ian McEwan's "Atonement" was priced at $8, compared to $14.95 for a new copy.

- To reach Margaret Hair, call 871-4204 or e-mail mhair@steamboatpilot.com.