Books and your shelf

The archive

The book archive is open to everyone: one page per book with its ISBN, publisher, year, pages, description and the people who wrote or translated it, plus what members think of it. Books come from our earlier catalogue, from Open Library and Google Books, and from members who add them. Nothing is sponsored and no money passes through the site.

Adding a book

Signed-in members add a book from Add a book: type the ISBN (the number above the barcode on the back cover), or scan the barcode with your phone's camera in a browser that supports it. If the archive already has the book you go straight to it; if not, we look it up in Open Library and Google Books on the spot. If neither knows it, our book agent keeps trying and sends you a notification when it is found — or you fill the details in by hand and the book is in the archive right away.

Your shelf

Your shelf has two sides. Reading: mark a book as want to read, reading or read; a book you have read can carry a rating out of five, the month you finished it and a review of up to 4000 characters, all public under your name. Owning: tick “I own a copy”, note the edition and condition, and decide whether to share it — a shared copy shows you on the book's page as someone who has one; an unshared copy is visible only to you. A shelf holds up to 5000 books. Lending, giving away, swapping and selling a copy become listings in the next step; until then, message the member.

Honest numbers

A book's average rating appears only once 5 members have rated it; before that the page says how many ratings there are. “On the most shelves” counts real shelves only. There is no leaderboard for reading — it is not a race. Moderators can hide a review that breaks the community rules; they do not browse shelves. Closing your account deletes your shelf, ratings and reviews; books you added stay in the archive, because they hold no personal data.

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