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Posts Tagged ‘Members’

Dear Librarian,

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Dear Librarian- What happens if I get a request on Friday or Saturday (or Sunday!) before the postage change on Monday, and the wrapper prints out with the “old” postal rate on it? What do I do to be sure that the package has enough postage on it? –Worried in Worthington

Dear Worthy,

Don’t worry – you’ll just have to pay a little extra attention for a few days. Remember that anything you mail on Monday or after must have postage that satisfies the NEW postal rates. Anything you mail before Monday can have the OLD postal rate postage on it. So if you get a request on Friday or Saturday before the rates change, you should be sure to mail the books on Friday or Saturday, using the old postage rate. If you have to mail on Sunday, you should use the NEW postal rate – because packages mailed on Sunday (for example, put into a blue mailbox on Sunday) will not enter the mailstream until Monday, and on Monday the new postal rates will apply.

Dear Librarian- OMG the flu is scary! Did you read The Hot Zone? Is it safe to mail to and from strangers? Why doesn’t the government talk about the US mail as a risk factor for getting swine flu? OMG OMG OMG –Caffeinated in Carson City

Dear Caffy,

While influenza is not Ebola virus (as described in The Hot Zone), you don’t want to get it if you don’t have to! If you are careful to wash your hands frequently and well (using soap), avoid touching your face, eyes, nose or mouth while out and about, and stay away from anyone who is coughing or sneezing, your risk of getting this recent strain of influenza appears to be small. No one is talking about the mail as a risk factor because mail is not a risk factor. Yes, if someone with the flu were to sneeze wetly onto your mail and then hand it to you, that could be a risk. But the influenza virus does not live very long on surfaces, especially in warm weather. If you are very concerned, you can be sure to leave your mail in the mailbox for 2-3 hours before bringing it in. Reasonable precautions will keep you safe, Caffy. Hey, have you ever tried herbal tea? Just a thought!

COMING SOON:

The Twitter background contest beginning May 7th - submit your designs, and vote on the submissions, on TwitterBackgroundsGallery.com
Postage increase May 11th…the new rates will be in the PBS system, and in the Help Center, on the 11th.

Tags: Members, Printable Postage, Shipping Books & USPS
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members | No Comments »

Member of the Month

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Bernhard B (daboss)

Once upon a time, there was a 4 year old girl who had a beanie buddy named Steg. Steg went everywhere with the little girl. But one day – disaster! Steg was lost. The little girl was devastated. Her mommy tried to find Steg but couldn’t. A very nice man named Bernhard felt very sad for the little girl, and he decided that HE would find Steg and reunite the two buddies! He tracked Steg, who had actually gone in search of his sister Stegi, around the country. See this topic to read the whole story. We hope that Steg finds his way home to the little girl very soon!

As the little girl’s mommy said:

” Bernhard showed us that this site isn’t just about books. It is a site about friends. His was truly a Random Act of Kindness. And I don’t know how I will ever be able to repay him.”

Many members were touched by this. Bernhard, you are our Member of the Month for May. Congratulations!

If you have any nominations for Member of the Month, submit them to us here. Your nomination will not “expire”–anyone you nominate will have a chance at getting Member of the Month if enough nominations accumulate over time. Each month the person who has the most votes accumulated when the Newsletter goes to press gets to be Member of the Month and gets a newsletter mention and a nifty MoM icon to wear on profile and forum posts with pride. So go for it! Tell us who’s helped you in the Forums, who’s been a great swapper, who in your opinion is a credit to PBS. We are keeping a list of all the nominated members. Who knows–one of them might be YOU!

Tags: Member of the Month, Members
Posted in Member of the Month | No Comments »

Did you know PaperBackSwap.com has Local Book Club Chapters?

Friday, May 1st, 2009

What are Local Chapters & Chapter Leaders? (for more information on local chapters and how they started click here)

A member can volunteer to be “responsible for” an area–city, county, state, region–and that person is called a Local Chapter Leader.
The Local Chapter Leaders are the “contact people” for any PBS activity of a local nature. Chapters can do whatever they like–arrange book groups, author readings, PBS meet-ups, PBS fun runs–and they can organize them through the Chapter Leader.
If you have an idea for an event, contact your Chapter Leader to get the ball rolling! If you don’t have a Chapter Leader, why not be one yourself?

Note: This list changes over time… the official list will be kept in the PBS Local Book Club Chapters – Discussion Forum and updated here each month or so:

Only the regions below have been officially “organized” (have Chapter Leaders). Anyone who would like to organize an area, please contact us. <--Use this link, please do NOT send a Personal Message.
The Continental US list is divided by time zone, to make it easy to find your closest chapter. This is not perfect, since some states have more than one time zone in them, but…nothing is perfect!

How can I contact a local Chapter Leader?
First you need to register to become a member of PBS to gain access to the member only discussion forums. Then visit the Official PBS Local Book Club Chapters – Discussion Forum, it contains links to the Chapter Leader Profiles where you may PM them.

Outside Continental/Contiguous US:

Gail M – AKLadyWolf – Fairbanks/North Pole area, Alaska
Tami F – sugarkitties – Wasilla, Alaska (Mat Su Valley)
Tiffany K – tiffanyak – Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula

Continental US:

Pacific Time (CA, WA, OR, NV)

Jolene D – ravenseve – Spokane, WA
Jenna M – gilokee – Auburn, WA (South King County) area
LoriAnn D. -OregonMom – Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA area
Suzy V. -sanneca – San Francisco Bay area, CA
Sara D. – twinkletoes – Sacramento, CA
Jennifer M -mccullar- and Joyce B -Whitefeather – Central CA
Barbara I. Munro –South San Diego County, CA
Cheryl B. – cjbaltes – Orange County, CA
Sue J. – alex9319 – Hemet/San Jacinto Valley, CA
Scott S – Mentor – LA Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Los Angeles, CA
Pai E – PaigeOne – West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA
Paulette S – mswings4him – San Bernadino County, CA
Madeleine L – mjlaird – San Luis Obispo County, CA
Melissa Z. – moonlissaz – Ventura County, CA
Tina D – tdix – Las Vegas, NV
Carol C. -cnmor – Pahrump, NV
Lesley P – MagickAbounds – Reno, NV
Sari N. -Sarijj- Western NV (Carson/Tahoe area)

Mountain Time (MT, ID, WY, UT, CO, AZ, NM)

Brenda P. -endoux- Northern Utah
Anna G. – AnnaG- Southern Arizona
Ivy J – bookbean – Mesa, AZ area
Sharon C. -sharoncrachy- Great Falls, Montana
Julie S. -pern- Idaho
Deby B. – bobtail-mommy – Hobbs, NM
Anna B – annajay – Front Range area, CO

Central Time (ND, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, MN, IA, WI, MO, AR, LA, WI, IL, TN, MS, AL)

Katie B. – JeffersonsAmbrosia – Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St.Paul), MN
Lori S. -Sunnie- Southern MN
Joan O – JoanO0 – Nisswa, MN
Shirley P. — booknookchick MN/WI – St. Croix Valley
April W. -awentz- Madison, WI area
Elizabeth B – ebowen – NE Wisconsin (Green Bay, Appleton, Manitowoc, Sheboygan)
Maggie E. – Maggirayne – Bismarck/Mandan area, North Dakota
Carla K – CaraKaye – Southwest North Dakota
Vicki S – Smurfette872002 – Southeastern South Dakota
Fran S. – FranS –Oklahoma City, OK
Lorenda C. -lorenda- Tulsa, OK
Heidi F. -Lanah5280- Omaha, Nebraska
Pam J. -bugar-shaby- Northeast TX (Lubbock area)
Kenjii H. – Daalmonette – West TX (Midland/Odessa area)
Tricia J. -TexasHorseLady – Central TX (Austin area)
Aurora C. – aurora – Plano, TX area
Glenda B. zzemom- Deep East TX (Lufkin area)
Shelley N -shelleyn- Houston (“inside-the-loop”) and Spring, TX area
Monica L – babytweety2yo – Rosharon, TX
Karen S. -BoysMom- Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
Teresa K – Anjileyes2001- Ellis County, TX
Charity C. -fhlstables- Kansas
Ann R. – abooklover- Eastern Iowa
Amanda S – ABCatHome- Southeast MO
Robin R -rchyrch – Central MO (Phelps County)
Julie B – juliebabbersrnbsn – St Louis, MO
Michelle L. -inkandquill- Chicagoland (Chicago metropolitan area), IL
Tammy C -tammyc1023- Northeastern Illinois (Lake County area)
Steffanie A – hiyaworld – Northern IL (Quad Cities area)
Sheila S. – coalbeaner – Central Illinois
Sharon H. -aprilfool06 – Southern IL
Sharyla L. -love2lovebooks- Clifton, IL area
Kathy S – LAKOTAKAT – Rockford IL area
Kimberly W – – Lincoln Park (Chicago), IL
Kathie D. – GhostGal – Leland, IL and surrounding area
Jennifer W. – GeniusJen – Bloomington/Normal, IL
Erica H. – darkgypsyfire – Southeast TN/Chattanooga TN
Denise M – stilljoesgirl – Knoxville, TN
Tony H. – Tony500 – Memphis, TN
Angela C. – davesangel – Blount County, TN
Bobbie S – princessbobbie – Camden, El Dorado, Magnolia, AR
Steven W. – smw62485- Little Rock, AR
Sara H. – rasenna – Northeast Arkansas
Melanie G – bookvamp – Fort Smith/Van Buren area, Arkansas
Kristin F – kpoogoob – Paragould, AR
Linda S. – Susiq2 – Western Kentucky
Dana S. bookprincess- Mississippi
Rhonda M. -Rhondaleesings- Nashville, TN
Ashley D. – irishgurl19 – Crossville, TN
Karen L -wish2read – East TN (Johnson City area)
Theresa B. -ScoutMom- Blount County, AL
Chris T. – Defraggler- Mobile, AL
Carla P. – MemlingsAngel – Greater New Orleans area, LA
Molly R. – mugndoli – Shreveport, LA

Eastern Time (MI, IN, OH, KY, ME, VT, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, WV, VA, DE, MD, DC, NC, SC, GA, FL)

Taleah G. swingsistert – Southwest Michigan
Lisa W. – MudFrog – Livingston County, MI
Sherry N. – royaltech- Greater Michiana (Southern MI + Northern Indiana)
Don S. – Fanshawe – Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, Michigan area
Danielle L. – lemon-wedge – Southeast Michigan/ Metro Detroit area
Patti H. BrownsburgMom – Indianapolis (for KIDS!), IN
Sara D. – JillSparrow Bloomington, IN
Cheryl T. -cheryltroxel- Hamilton County, IN
Trisha L. – dakkota1599- NW Indiana
Debbie D – Darlin-D – Kentuckiana (Louisville KY + Southern Indiana)
Theodora D – teddyann – South Central KY
Sue K. -tbase- Northeastern OH
Alison B. -alisonada- Greater Cincinnati area, OH
Susan M -OhioSusan- Butler County, OH
Cindy C. -threebs1984- Southeast Ohio
Debby G. – DebbyGMomofThree- Central OH
Alice M. -ajm-wva- Mid-Ohio Valley (western WV and eastern OH)
Jane V – pitmomma – WV Panhandle area
Stacy T – stacy270 –Maine
Monica L. -ReadingMonster- Montpelier, VT area
Nikki D. – ndion – Burlington, VT area
Lori G. – auntielala-thebookpimp – Massachusetts
Sue W – RI-Sue – Rhode Island
Marion A. -ajaomom- Western MA (Holyoke/Springfield/Northampton)
Brook S. Brookie –NJ/Tristate area
Kristian P. -links2see- Southern NJ
Alyssha O. – ALMOverton -Marlboro, NY
Ruth T. – RegencyBelle – Long Island (Suffolk County), NY
Beverly f. – sara16 –Cattaraugus County, NY
Kristen S. -MamaKristen- Buffalo/Western NY
Carrie L. – nomadreader – Albany, NY
Bren H -theroselady – Finger Lakes region, NY
Dawn E. – 4csmom – Southern Tier NY/PA
Sara S – sunnshyne39 – Wayne County, PA
Kimberly S. – chimmer – Erie, PA
Debra D.- Nemo –Southeast Pennsylvania
Christine T. -chrissypen- Philadelphia, PA
Melissa S. -mstitzer – Central PA
Kimberly D. -Punkin- Western PA
Melissa H. – M-Hines- Charleston, WV
Rosemary K – boyzmom – Hurricane, WV
Robin-Jay B. -jade0607- Connecticut
Kate S. – BookwormMom -Delaware (Kent and Sussex Counties)
Aubrey H. – Bookpurrsn -Northern Virginia
Maria G. – MariaG – Hampton Roads, VA area
Chris H. – BeaksSoSweet – Roanoke Valley, VA
Kim L. -thienkim- Baltimore, MD
Trixie P. TrixiePhilpot -Central North Carolina
Hope D. -hopeydib – Rockingham, NC
Jennifer G. – jerseygrlnc – Triad Region of NC (Greensboro, Winston Salem, High Point)
Eduardo P – patrocinio – Raleigh/Durham/Chapel HIll, NC
LilyBelle F – LilyBelle – Carolinas Charlotte Metro area (North/South border region)
Dawne C. -screader- Upstate SC (864 area code)
Heather S. – canadianmama – Low Country of South Carolina (Charleston – Hilton Head area)
Amanda B – honey23bee – Northwest GA
Leigh Anne H. -lahaygood – Central/West GA
Holly H – moondanser – Canton/Cartersville area, GA
Tamara B. -songsiren- Northwest Atlanta, GA
Jenn E. – JennEscalona – Midtown Atlanta, GA
Barbara K -BKuchau- North Central Florida/South Central Georgia
Emily S. -emmer – Florida (Volusia & Seminole Counties)
Susan W. – zussuz – Bradenton/Sarasota area, FL
Gini D. -GRowenna – Central Florida (Orange and Osceola Counties)
Mary C. -maggieblue- West Palm Beach area, FL
Joseph C. -albannapoleon- Jacksonville, FL
Natalia G. – BAMBOOK- Miami-Dade County, Florida
Melody G – blondeprincess – Western Hernando and Pasco Counties, FL
Gray M. -gramurr- Coastal Georgia/ South Carolina
Lenore D -Lenore – Broward/Fort Lauderdale area, Florida
Mary Y – futluce – Tampa Bay area, Florida
Karin T – KarinKath – Jupiter/Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Candice C. -yellowstar – Citrus County Florida

Tags: Members
Posted in Local Book Clubs | 1 Comment »

Dear Librarian,

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

Dear Librarian- I got an offer of a book on my Wish LIst and then I got a Personal Message from the other member, saying it is an ARC and asking if I minded getting an ARC. What’s an ARC? What if I don’t want it? Should I click “Cancel” on the request?–Flummoxed in Florida

Dear Flo,

An ARC = Advanced Reader Copy. ARCs (also known as Uncorrected Proofs and Review Copies) are not permitted for swapping here. Actually, each time a member posts a book she or he is asked to confirm that the book is not an ARC. We don’t allow ARCs because they are not the “final” copy of books – changes can be made before the final version is printed. Some members will post their ARCs anyway in violation of the rules — if they do this and send the book out, they have to refund the credit if the requestor asks (and the requestor does NOT have to send the ARC back!). So posting ARCs, just like posting any unpostable book, is not a wise thing to do!

If someone posts a book that is on your Wish List and then tells you in a PM that it is an unpostable copy and you don’t want the unpostable copy, you should say “Please do not send this book to me” in your Personal Message but still click the button on your account to accept the offer – this is the only way to stay on the Wish List for the book. The SENDER needs to cancel in this situation, so that you stay on the Wish List. (The sender should not repost the book after cancelling, obviously.)

ARCs and other unpostables can be swapped in the Book Bazaar Discussion Forum or offered as “freebie incentives” to request books from a bookshelf. So they can still be exchanged here; it is just that they must not be posted to PBS Bookshelves. All books posted to bookshelves must meet swapping criteria. You can find new homes for your unpostables using the Book Bazaar – the items can be described in the Book Bazaar and members will know what they are getting. The Book Bazaar is in the main list of Discussion Forums, accessible under Community at the top of any page on the site.

Dear Librarian- I got my empty wrapping back for a book I mailed, along with a “sorry” note from USPS. Does this mean someone in the Post Office stole the book? What do I do now? — Stumped in Sweetwater

Dear Sweetie,

We’re sorry that this happened! No, it is exceedingly unlikely that anyone stole the book. Sometimes wrapping can tear and the book can fall out. Take a look at your packaging. If you used an envelope, was it taped down tight around the book, with no flaps to catch in postal machines? If you used a PBS Wrapper, did you use tape to reinforce the corners and seams of the package? Not that this situation always is attributable to wrapping inadequacies; even the best-wrapped package can fall afoul of the mighty USPS machines, but your chances of a mishap are greatly lessened if you wrap well. You can read about this in the Help docs on wrapping in the Help Center. If you are using other wrapping besides the PBS wrapper (envelope, padded mailer, brown paper, etc) you can place the “information for the receiver” inside the book itself. This can increase the odds of your book being “reunited” with its packaging, or being sent on to the requestor, even if the package gets ripped open.

Now that the book has been separated from the packaging, it most probably is lost. USPS may recover it – but if they do, they should send it back to you. The requestor should not have to wait for the book to be declared “lost” before she or he gets credit back to try to get another copy. If you get a notice of loss (or the empty wrappings for a book) back in the mail, let the requestor know in a Personal Message, and then contact us and ask us to cancel the transaction, as explained in the Help doc “USPS lost the book I sent” in the Help Center. When we cancel, either the request will be passed to a new sender (if there are more copies in the system), or the book will go onto the requestor’s Wish List and she or he will get credit back.

If you wrap well, this will be extremely unlikely to happen again!

COMING SOON:

Cool stuff…we’re always working on cool stuff. But you knew that.

Tags: ARC, How to Wrap a Book, Members, Shipping Books & USPS
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members, Newsletter | No Comments »

Dear Librarian

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Dear Librarian- I worry about the authors–your website promotes swapping and not buying books. How are the authors to survive? — Worried in Waltham

Dear Walt,

We do understand your concerns! We love authors too and we don’t want their income to be compromised. So we are glad to tell you that we have many authors who are members, and who love PBS. They have explained to us that PaperBackSwap is a great way for an author to find his or her public – members who would not take a chance and buy an unknown author will request unknown authors’ books here, since the investment is only a credit and that can be regained by re-swapping the book. In this way, members find new authors to love, and are more likely to buy their books in the future (we all know there are some books you just can’t wait for!). We have heard from many members, telling us that they have found new favorites here; and from many authors, thanking us for this way to get their books out to readers. We think of PBS as kind of like a library – just a huge one, with no “due dates” to return the books you get. It’s not a way to replace bookselling, but a great way for readers to get books and “meet” authors they might otherwise never have encountered.

Dear Librarian- I recently moved to a small town and was saddened to leave behind the used bookstores of the city. Then I found paperback swap. I love it – I can get my used books (and for less than I was paying in the city). I tell everyone about this site and the service you provide for us. — Rural Reader

Dear Roo,

Thanks for sending this message in! We are so glad the club is working to get books for you. This is another reason why authors love PBS – because it opens up a world of books to so many who might otherwise be cut off! A lot of America is still rural; not everyone has a bookstore or even a library nearby. We are humbled by letters like yours, Roo, which remind us that PaperBackSswap is playing a really big part in some of our members’ lives. It’s wonderful what the internet has made possible, isn’t it?

A whole lotta tweeting goin’ on. Follow PBS news on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/paperbackswap

Tags: Members, Twitter
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members | No Comments »

DEAR LIBRARIAN: Newsletter – February 2009

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Dear Librarian- I am not getting my Wish List notifications. I just get the email that I didn’t respond and the wish list book isn’t available anymore! Why is this happening?? — Confused in Carson City

Dear Connie,

This means that your email provider has been told not to send some categories of PBS emails to you. You were not necessarily the one who told your email provider this! Someone else could have done this, by marking PBS email as spam in their account.

If someone marks a PBS email as spam, it affects the delivery of PBS emails to all other members who use the same email provider. This is because marking a PBS email as spam tells the email provider “I have no relationship with PBS, I never gave them permission to contact me and they provide no method for me to stop receiving their emails.” So the email provider (AOL, hotmail, yahoo, etc) thinks PBS is a spammer, and they will blacklist PBS emails for all AOL/hotmail/yahoo/etc. users.

What can you do about this? First, you should be sure to add the PBS auto-email addresses (librarian@paperbackswap.com and noreply@paperbackswap.com) to your email account’s address book. This will really help!

You can also be sure never to mark any PBS emails as spam yourself; some members do this just to get the emails out of view, instead of deleting them. But you can control the emails you receive from PBS from your Account Settings:

Use the email settings in your Account Settings to opt out of categories of email that you don’t want to receive.
If you don’t want the Newsletter, unsubscribe to it in your account settings.
If you ‘watched’ a topic and you don’t want the ‘watched-topic’ emails, unwatch the topic to stop them from coming in!
If you subscribed to the Daily Digest or Daily Wish List and don’t want them anymore, unsubscribe in your account settings.

We are also pro-active about this. We have set up email feedback loops with the major email providers, to avoid getting blacklisted when members mark PBS mail as spam. So we are alerted when a member marks one of our emails as spam. If a member does this once he or she will get an email from us; if a member does this repeatedly we are required by the email provider to suspend/close the member’s account so that he or she will not get any more emails from us! And if a member marks our “Don’t Mark PBS Emails as Spam” emails as spam, this will also cause the account to be suspended/closed.

In this way, we are trying to keep the lines of communication open, so our members get the system auto-emails that are necessry to manage their accounts.
Dear Librarian- I heard about a new law going into effect this month, which requires anyone selling items for children to test them for lead content! Does this affect books swapped here (or DVDs at SwapaDVD, or CDs at SwapaCD)? How can we all test our books for lead? –Frantic in Foxborough

Dear Fran,

This law will not affect us, happily. The CPSC sent out a press release on 1/8/2009. The relevant excerpts follow:

“The new law requires that domestic manufacturers and importers certify that children’s products made after February 10 meet all the new safety standards and the lead ban. Sellers of used children’s products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards…The new safety law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold.” (emphasis added)

You can visit the CPSC website at http://www.cpsc.gov for more information, or call the following numbers for more information:

CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

So our swapping clubs should not have a problem because of the new law, we’re glad to say.

Dear Librarian – My children like to look for books on PBS with me. When I log in, the Member Homepage comes up and sometimes there are book images on it that I am not comfortable having my children see! Is there a way NOT to show all the images in the Books Posted Today sliding display? –Bothered in Belleview

Dear Belle,

Yes! You can set your homepage to exclude any genres you like in the sliding displays. This option is available in your Account Settings, in My Account. For example, you can exclude all but children’s books, and this will keep your Homepage “kid-safe” for browsing.

COMING SOON:

A couple of the Discussion Forums will be go back to “members only” this week…

Tags: Email from PBS, Members
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members, Newsletter | No Comments »

DEAR LIBRARIAN, Newsletter – January 2009

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

Dear Librarian-Please please please please do NOT send out emails reminding us to mail on the weekends or on holidays. The post office is CLOSED!! – Aggrieved in Altoona

Dear Aggie,

Please please please please do not select a mail-by date that is on a weekend or holiday, when you accept a request. The post office is closed!

Seriously- the PBS system works on calendar days. We do mean to put some alerts into the system to tell members when they are choosing postal holidays as their mailby dates (and to prevent doing that), but we haven’t been able to get to that item on our (oh-so-long) To Do list yet. In the meantime, remember that reminder emails won’t go out if the book is marked mailed on time; to prevent getting any of these, the sender needs to keep postal holidays and the like in mind when choosing the mail-by date at the time of accepting a book. You have a grace period after the mailby date you choose – just be sure that you can actually mail before the deadline, and you will not have any problems with this.
Dear Librarian- Can foreign-language books be listed under their own section so we can find them easily? – Polyglot in Peoria

Dear Polly,

We work with a database that is compiled elsewhere, and we are limited to their genres/subgenres. But there are a lot of ways to find foreign-language books on the site. And there are a lot of ways to help foreign-language-seeking requestors find the books they are looking for! For example:

Genre search:
- Use the Book Browser to search for Literature and Fiction > World Literature , choosing the geographic area of interest as a sub-subgenre.
Libres en Espanol:
- The database does have a genre for Libros en Espanol – this is one of the “popular genres’ in the list on the Browse by Genre area. To do this search, click Search at the top of the site, then click the Browse By Genre tab on the Search page, and you will see the Popular Genres list.
Book Tags:
- Many books in foreign languages have been tagged by members with a corresponding Book Tag. An easy way to find these tagged books is to tag a book you know is in Russian (for example) with the tag “Russian language”. Then just click that tag you just created on the book listing to see all of the listings that bear the same tag. This is an excellent, club-useful implementation of Book Tags. You can read more about Book Tags in the Help Center.
Change the title using the Edit Book Data link:
- If you have a book in a foreign language, help others find the book by adding the language information to the title, in parentheses : “(Lithuanian Language Edition)” after the title will make it very easy for requestors to know that your book is in Lithuanian! You can use the Edit Book Data link at the bottom of any page on the site to submit these title amendments to our Data Correction Volunteers who will need to review the information before it can be approved and added to the site.
Keyword search:
- Put “French language” (for example) into the search space at the top of the site. Any books that have this phrase in the book description information or in the title will be found using this search.
Publisher search:
- If you go to a listing for a book in the language you seek – click the publisher name to see all of the other books from that same publisher.

We hope this helps you Polly! We wish you des echanges joyeux, los intercambios felices, das glückliche Tauschen, as trocas felizes, de gelukkige uitwisselingen and gli scambi felici!

Tags: Email from PBS, Genres, Members
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members | No Comments »

DEAR LIBRARIAN: Newsletter – December 2008

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Dear Librarian-I love Printed Postage! Can’t believe I ever did without it. My printer ran out of ink though and I had already downloaded the wrapper with postage – couldn’t print it. I have put new cartridges in my printer – will I be re-charged when I reprint the wrapper? – Nervous in Newton

Dear Newt,

Nope! You won’t be re-charged. If you ever need to reprint a wrapper for any reason, just start over by clicking Print Wrapper on the request, be sure that you choose the postage option on the Wrapper Settings page, and print. You can confirm that you are not re-charged by looking in your Money Registry, linked from the top of your My Account main page.
Dear Librarian- I posted a book incorrectly – I used the hardcover listing when I had the paperback, and the ISBNs were the same so I was confused – and now I need to refund the credit. Is there an easy way to do this? -Careless in Coventry

Dear Carrie,

Yes, you can just go to the swap in your Transaction Archive (linked from your My Account main page) and click the Request Details link on the right, then scroll down a little on the details page and click the Give Refund button.

We are sorry you had this confusion when posting your book – because publishers sometimes re-use ISBNs and it is necessary for all books to match the listings used to post them (ISBN, title, author and booktype must all match), it is really important to double-check the booktype on the listing preview before clicking to post the book.

If you’re careful to use only listings that match the books you have (see How to Post a Book and Solutions to Common Book Posting Problems, both accessible from the Need Help? tab on the upper right of the Post Books page), you won’t have this problem again!

COMING SOON:

The year 2009! Are you ready? What are your New Year’s Resolutions?

Tags: ISBNs, Members
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members, Newsletter | No Comments »

DEAR LIBRARIAN: Newsletter – November 2008

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

Dear Librarian–I was totally psyched by the Similarity Index. But then I looked at my Buddies, and no one is more than 10% similar to me! Am I such a freak? Why don’t I have higher similarity to other people? –Outcast in Orlando

Dear Lanny,

Don’t worry! You’re not a freak. Well, you might be, but not because of low Similarity Index numbers . The Similarity Index is inaccurate if it doesn’t have good data to work with. If you haven’t chosen favorite genres, haven’t rated many books using the star-rating system, and haven’t put a lot of books on your Wish List, then it’s hard for the system to tell who is similar to you!

You can improve the accuracy of the Index by (1) choosing favorite genres on the Member Homepage (you don’t have to choose three- one or two are fine), by (2) putting items on your Wish List and (3) by rating books with the star rating system.

Number 3 above is super-powerful – the more books you rate with 1-5 stars, the more likely it is that you will rate the same books that someone else has rated. Giving the same books the same number of stars is really the most accurate measure of your similarity to another member. So turn to the stars to find your reading soul-mates! They’re out there, we just know it.

Don’t forget, you can see your similarity on ANY viewable profile -not just on Buddies. You can view a member’s profile by clicking his or her highlighted nickname anywhere it appears on the site.

Dear Librarian–I keep my books in a bunch of different places, and I have been using the Book Tags to help me find the books when they are requested. I have been tagging books “box 1″, “box 2″, “Living Room Bookshelf”, etc. The problem is that when a request comes in the Tags don’t even show on the pending request! Is there a better way to do this than using the Book Tags? –Cluttered in Colorado

Dear Rad,

Yes! There are two much better ways to do this: (1) the Book Journal (which you can read about in the Help Center – it costs 8 dollars per year to subscribe) will show the “space” to which you have assigned a book, right on the request on your account page. (2) the Book Notes – you can apply a note to any book on your bookshelf and that note will follow the book wherever it goes; you just have to mouse over the note to read the text. You can read about using the Book Notes in the Help Center (they are also described in What’s New linked from the very top of any page on the site).

Both of these are more useful options than Book Tags for information relevant only to you, that you want to show on an active request.

Dear Librarian– Well, then, what are the Book Tags good for? Should we all be clicking the “R” on tags like this, to report them as inappropriate?

Good question, Rad. No, you shouldn’t click the R on tags that are clearly “personal”.

Personal tags are tags that have meaning only for their creators (initials, numbers, “save for Joanne” etc). You can leave these alone – even though Notes are often a better way to manage this information, personal tags are not confusing or misleading, and if left alone they will disappear eventually, since other tags will be applied to those books and only the 10 most commonly-used tags are shown on any listing.

The Tags that SHOULD get the R click are the tags that are misleading: tags that describe book condition (“yellowed pages” or “ex-library book” or “some underlining”). Why? These tags do not apply to all copies of the book and do not help other members know more about the copy that is “next up” for requests. Note also that underlining is not permitted in books swapped at PBS (see the Help Center Book Conditions Guidelines for the exception to this rule for textbooks). You can read more about “personal”, “inappropriate” and “club-useful” tags in the Help Center (or click What’s New at the top of any page on the site and read “Book Tags”).

So you can use these personal Tags, Rad. Members can remove them (if enough members click on enough of your Tags you could wake up and find them gone!), so for personal information like this, Book Notes are safer – and more effective for your purposes! Plus, they’re really keen-looking, aren’t they? We can’t stop looking at them!
COMING SOON:

The unification of this wonderful nation. It’s time to remember that U.S. = US, not Us versus Them. We Americans have so much to be proud of already; yet if we all pull together, despite our differences of opinion, the country’s finest hours are yet to come!

Tags: Book Tags, Members, Similarity Index
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members, Newsletter | No Comments »

DEAR LIBRARIAN, Newsletter – October 2008

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Dear Librarian–How do I find a particular member’s bookshelf so I can look at her books?–Searching in Sweetwater

Dear Sweets,

There are a number of ways, depending on how you “know” the member. If you know the member’s nickname (if she has a nickname) you can simply enter that in the Member Directory to find her profile. Her book list is linked from her profile. Searching for her name in the Member Directory may not take you to the right profile – so many names are common here. The nickname is unique, so it is a good way to search for a member here.

If you know the member only from a forum post, you can simply click on the Books button on any post she has made.

If you have exchanged Personal Messages, you can click her highlighted name in any PM you have shared and it will take you to her profile (if she has made one) or directly to her bookshelf (if she has not made a profile here).

If she is on your Buddy List, you can click the link to her books from your Buddy List available in My Account.
Dear Librarian–I ordered a book and the first sender didn’t respond. Now I am waiting for the second sender. Can’t we do something about these unresponsive members? –Waiting in Wisconsin

Dear Connie,

Yes! We’ve tightened the “unresponsive member” mechanism a little bit and added a twist – now if senders miss a few requests, their accounts are placed “under review”. This prevents more requests from being submitted to them – and holds off any Wish List offers – until they return and remove the review from their account. We know that members don’t mean to be inconsiderate – they get busy, or their computers crash, or they have to go out of town unexpectedly and don’t think to place the Vacation Hold on their accounts.

This new “under review” status means that requestors aren’t inconvenienced AND the unresponsive sender isn’t penalized by missing requests and wish list offers while she is away from her account. She can remove the review herself, so it isn’t such a great inconvenience to her either, and that meant we could make it so that a smaller number of missed requests will trigger the Review. Too many episodes of being under review can culminate in a suspension (which the member cannot remove herself – we have to do this), but most of these missed requests are totally accidental, and we don’t want to suspend members too lightly. This way, everyone is helped, and everyone is less inconvenienced. We think this will really help keep swaps moving around the club!

Dear Librarian–What is the difference between the Book Browser and the Advanced Search? I get the same results when I use either one to search–Seeing Double in Denver

Dear Denny,

Not much, actually. The search engine is basically the same. There are a couple of additional search parameters in the Book Browser (for example you can search by book ratings, which you can’t do in the Advanced Search), and the layout is more convenient in the Browser (you don’t have to go “back” to the previous page to refine or change your search terms like you do with the Advanced Search).

It’s a bit of redundancy. We do know that many people use and like the Advanced Search and we didn’t want to snatch it away from them, although the Book Browser is a little easier to use. You can find both under Search at the top of the site.
COMING SOON:

The 2008 Election! Is everyone registered to vote?

Tags: Advanced Book Search, Book Search, Buddy List, Members, Public Profiles
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members | No Comments »

DEAR LIBRARIAN: Newsletter – September 2008

Monday, September 1st, 2008

Dear Librarian–I have been offered a book from my wishlist. The member who posted it sent me a message saying the book was listed as a paperback but her copy is hardcover, and do I still want it? The book on my Wish List is paperback! I don’t want the hardcover–I want a paperback because they’re lighter and easier for me to hold. Now I don’t know what to do. Do I cancel the request — which will take the book off my wishlist (and lose my place in the wish list queue!)? How can I cancel that request for the erroneously listed book without taking the book I DO want off my wishlist?–Stymied in Saratoga

Dear Sara,

The sender made a mistake here, posting the book she has with a listing that does NOT match her book. Book listings must match the book’s ISBN, title, author and booktype.

When a sender makes this mistake with a Wish Listed book, she puts the wishing member in a difficult position: of having to say “no I don’t want this book” in a Personal Message while ALSO having to click “Yes I want this book” on the request so she isn’t kicked off the Wish list by the system.

If you get a message like this for a book you have Wish Listed, you can tell the member something like this:

“Thanks for telling me you posted the book incorrectly. I do NOT want the hardcover. I will have to click to accept the offer though so I don’t get removed from the Wish list line that I have been waiting in to get the paperback. Please click “I cannot mail” on this request when you get it from me, and that will remove the book from the system, and then you can repost it with the correct booktype on the listing. The Help doc “Solutions to Common Book Posting Problems” in the Help Center can help with getting this book posted correctly, so that someone who wants the paperback can request it. Thanks again!”

It’s not okay to post a book incorrectly so it matches a Wish Listed item. This is unfair and members shouldn’t do this. Sometimes the ISBN/title/author will match the listing, but the booktype won’t, but ALL FOUR need to match. Reading “Solutions to Common Book Posting Problems” in the Help Center makes this situation (and how to solve it and post the book correctly) very clear.

We hope you get your paperback version soon, Sara! And that this sender finds a member who wants the hardcover she has to offer!

Dear Librarian– I logged in today, and OMG all my “Read” tags are gone! I tagged every book I have read “Read” so I didn’t have to load up my BIR List, or go to the Book Details page to see the notation that the book is already on that list. I have dial-up and it’s inconvenient to have to go to the Book Details page to see that notation! Why did my tags go away? They weren’t hurting anyone! How am I going to keep from ordering a book I have already read??? –Wailing in Waukeegan

Dear Kiki,

We are sorry that the membership pounced upon these tags and clicked the R on them to mark them as inappropriate. They weren’t technically inappropriate–just redundant. And of course if you were using “Read” without your initials or some other personalizing bit, who knows how many other people have also used this Tag, and it might be confusing to you and others to see this Tag there on books you have not read.

But dry your tears, Kiki, we have great news for you! You now can see the notations of what lists a book is on right from the search results in the Book Browser. Yes, the “On My:” (Bookshelf, Transaction Archive, Books I’ve Read, etc) notation appears right there, so you don’t have to click to load up the book details page to see it.

You can also use Book Notes for this kind of thing–just mousing over the note on the search result will show you what you wrote there. And no one else will see it! So no confusion. And no need to re-tag all those books!

You can read the Help doc Book Tags in the Help Center to understand better what Tags are actually inappropriate and deserve that report. Personal tags are merely redundant, and they will be “drowned out” naturally in time, by club-useful tags. The Help doc explains these different categories.

Dear Librarian–Oh no! You removed all the “Brand New Giftable” and “Book is from a nonsmoking home” Book Tags! I have been using them and so have others, to get gifts and to be sure we request books only from nonsmoking homes. Now how are people going to know that my books are from a nonsmoking home? How am I supposed to tell them that some of my books are brand new and giftable? And how am I going to be able to order books from a nonsmoking home? –Agitated in Alabama

Dear Allie,

The reason why those tags were removed (and will continue to be removed) is that they are confusing to members! They are false advertising, actually. Too many members don’t understand that a book listing represents all copies of that book in the system. Say there are 20 copies of a book in the system. Any Book Tag you see could have been applied by ANY of the members who posted that book, or by anyone just passing by. The Tagger could have the copy of the book that is #13 out of 20 to be requested, or #2 or #9, or that book could have already been swapped and the Tagger never took the Tag off (yes, people, you KNOW who you are). So when you go shopping for books from a nonsmoking home, or a giftable book, by clicking that Tag and browsing the list of books that come up, any time you click Order This Book on the book, your request will go to the next copy–the one that is #1 in the list, and there is no way of knowing if that copy was the one that was Tagged by that member.

And when you use the Book Tags to tag your books this way, you are saying (even though you don’t mean to) that every single copy of the book available in the system is giftable, or from a nonsmoking home. So…you could have been the cause of little Jimmy’s bout of wheezing last week. Yes, indeed. Jimmy’s mom ordered the book seeing your Tag and got the book from someone else. Jimmy’s mom wasn’t using Requestor Conditions saying she didn’t want books from a smoking household. Jimmy’s mom got a smoky book (not yours) and had to give Jimmy his inhaler and put the book into a big plastic bin with some kitty litter for a week. It got the smoky smell out and Jimmy is just fine but Jimmy’s mom was pretty upset, and thinks someone lied to her with the tag on this book. She doesn’t know who did it, but if she finds out…watch out.

So what do you do if you have allergies to smoke, to find books that are from a nonsmoking home, and to tell others that your books are in a nonsmoking home? Here is what you can do:

Make Requestor Conditions in your account that say you don’t want books that are currently in a smoking household. Remember to read about using Requestor Conditions properly, so you don’t just confuse senders by saying “I don’t want books exposed to smoke”. That kind of thing will get you a lot of declines, since these are used books and who knows if the books have EVER been exposed to smoke. If the sender isn’t sure, she or he will click to decline your request, and you can’t re-request the same copy after it’s already been declined for Requestor Conditions, so using Requestor Conditions carelessly could make you miss out on books that would be perfectly fine.
You can also double-check the Bookshelf Header when ordering a book, to see if the posting member has a Header saying his or her books are from a non-smoking household or that some books they are offering might be giftable. It’s not the best use of the Header, but it’s a lot better than using Tags and misleading members about the condition of the book they are going to order.

Now when you make your Requestor Conditions–what? You don’t know what we mean by the Bookshelf Header? You want us to explain that RIGHT NOW? Okay. You can read about it in the Help Center, but we see you are too ecstatic for the fine-motor control necessary to click your mouse. Just let go of our arm, please.

This is how to use the Bookshelf Header for this purpose: When you click Order This Book, you can then click “Order More from Member” on the next page (you don’t actually have to order more books after doing this). The next page will show you the bookshelf, and the Bookshelf Header will be at the top of that page. If a member wants you to know that his or her books are in a non-smoking home, the message will appear there. Then you can feel absolutely sure that the book will be coming from a non-smoking home, and you may even want to add more books to the order. Now–seriously, let go of our arm–remember that this is a new feature, so it may take a while for members to make their Headers, and not all members will use the Header to indicate smoking/nonsmoking home. So if you DON’T see a message in the Header about that, don’t presume you’ve hit on a bookshelf located in a nightclub or tobacco factory. Your Requestor Conditions will still make sure that books from a smoking home aren’t sent to you, even if the sender isn’t using a Bookshelf Header.

It’s important to continue to use Requestor Conditions, in case the first sender misses the request or doesn’t mail it in time or clicks “I cannot mail”. If the request cancels, your request will be passed along. The next sender will see your RCs though, so you’re covered.

And you can make your own header to tell people that your books are from a nonsmoking home, or which ones are brand new and giftable. Yes–okay, okay, that’s nice you’re hugging us, we love you too–you can do that and anyone who clicks Order More from Member on a request for one of your books will see that message you wrote. And anyone who clicks to see your books from your profile or a forum post or a personal message from you will see that message too.

That’s quite a good happy-dance, Allie! Whoa, careful with those backflips! We’re glad you’re so tickled. Now…get thee to the Help Center and use the Help Docs Search to read all about these features and how to use them to work best for you!

Tags: Book Tags, Members, Requestor Conditions, Wish List
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members, Newsletter | No Comments »

DEAR LIBRARIAN, Newsletter – August 2008

Friday, August 1st, 2008

Dear Librarian–A couple of months ago, I printed a wrapper to send a book and after I did that the SAME member ordered another book from me. I didn’t realize that the second request was from the same person so I printed the second wrapper and ended up with two wrappers with the same address, which was really annoying because I used DC so I paid 27 cents twice and only used one of the wrappers! I have been brooding about this incident ever since. Can’t this be avoided somehow? –Irritated in Iowa

Dear Wa,

Well, we fixed that! And that is why it hasn’t happened to you lately. We knew this was bothersome, so now the system will combine requests that are going to the same address, all behind-the-scenes and crafty-like. If you have already accepted a request and printed the wrapper, and the member adds a book to the request, no problem! The book request will “reset” itself so that you will need to print another wrapper–it will NOT charge you again for DC if you printed with DC–in order to assign that added book to the shipment and adjust the weight estimate for the shipment so the proper recommended postage/postal class will print out . (There is also an option to send the books separately if you already ran out and mailed the first one before the second request came in.) The only time that requests cannot be combined if the same member adds a book to the order is if you have printed already with postage. Because the weight of the shipment may change significantly when books are added, we cannot guarantee that the first wrapper printed with postage will have enough postage on it to mail the whole shipment with the additional book(s) in it. If the additional weight of the added book(s) doesn’t change the postage needed or the postal class, you can still use the printed wrapper to mail the books all together, of course; but the requests will be displayed separately (not as a bulk request) on your My Account page. In this case, of course, you would need to weigh your shipment with all the books in it and check the Postal Rates (available from the Need Help? tab on the upper right of your My Account main page) to see if the added books would require more postage.

The “combining-requests” feature took a huge amount of programming, but it went into effect so quietly a month or so ago that most people didn’t even notice. We hope this makes everyone’s swapping easier! If you are the requestor, keep in mind that it is ideal to add additional books to the order (using the Order More From Member button on the request, or during the process of the initial request) as soon as possible, before the sender accepts your request.

Dear Librarian–Color me frustrated. WHY has my request for a book passed from one sender to another without a response? I saw on my Reminder List before I ordered it that this book had many available copies. WHY am I sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting for someone to respond? You should punish these inconsiderate jerks! –Aggravated in Akron

Dear Aggie,

We are so sorry you have had to wait for someone to respond to your request! No, no, these are not necessarily inconsiderate jerks. They could be members who had an unexpected absence due to an emergency….they could even be in the hospital themselves….they could also be members who have abandoned their accounts and the system hasn’t detected their inactivity and shut the accounts down yet. But most commonly these are otherwise excellent swappers who went on vacation without using the Vacation Hold. Yes, Aggie, this horror DOES happen, and the result really IS inconsiderate to other members, even though the perpetrator may not be an inconsiderate person normally.

Members who ignore or decline too many requests will have their accounts suspended automatically and will have to contact us and pinky-swear that they will use the Vacation Hold appropriately in the future, in order to resume membership. The suspensions aren’t really punitive but practical: we want to limit the occurrence of this very frustrating situation for requestors! Too many incidents in an account may cause permanent account termination, of course. We know this doesn’t help you in this situation, Aggie, but the members who are “ignoring” you may be great swappers who just didn’t think to use the Hold when they went away, and the request that is being ignored now may be the one to trigger account suspension for that member. We hope your request reaches an active member soon.

The moral of this story: Don’t be one of those careless members--read about the Vacation Hold in the Help Center, and use it whenever you need it (whenever you will be unable to send books, not just when you are going away from home). You’ll be glad you took the few seconds to do this–and so will all the members who don’t have to wait for the request submitted to you to “time out” in order to get the book from someone else!

COMING SOON:

Your delight and surprise at the site changes…your joy and amazement when you first lay eyes on your Member Homepage…your careful perusal of the Help Center to explain anything that isn’t absolutely clear to you…your obsession with clicking the arrows on the sliding displays of books on the Member Homepage…your frantic clicking to order all the available books you didn’t even know about that you simply have to have…your increased overall Happiness Quotient at the imminent burgeoning of your TBR pile…
See you on the other side, in the Brave New World of PBS (cue “Theme to 2001: A Space Oddyssey” here…leave out the monkey noises).
You can make monkey noises if you want.

Tags: Cancellation of Book Requests, Members, Vacation Hold
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members | No Comments »

DEAR LIBRARIAN, Newsletter – June 2008

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

Dear Librarian– Why am I not getting my PBS emails? I just got a “FINAL NOTICE” email to respond to a book request…but that is the first email I got about this request! And I missed a Wish List offer last week. What is happening? –Out of touch in Ohio

Dear Hi,

If you look in your Club Communications file (linked from the top of your My Account page) you will see that we have been sending the emails to you. Your email provider may not be delivering them, though. Sometimes this is because PBS emails are being treated as spam. If you (or anyone who uses your same email provider) clicks to mark a PBS email as spam, this will tell that email provider that PBS emails should be blocked and not delivered. Some people mark mail as spam as a way to delete the email from their inbox! Yes, it’s maddening, because it affects not only their reception of PBS emails, but also yours, if you use the same email provider they do.

Anyone who is having this trouble should add “librarian@paperbackswap.com” and “noreply@paperbackswap.com” to his or her email address book (or list of accepted email senders), and this should work against the “spam-markers”. If you have done this and are still having trouble receiving PBS emails, you should contact your email provider, and consider changing your email address on your account to an alternate address until the matter is sorted out. A reliable email connection is crucial to managing your PBS account, and it is really frustrating when request notifications and Wish List offers are missed because the emails we sent were not delivered. You can read more in the Help doc If you think you are not getting your PBS emails… in the Help Center.

Dear Librarian–Why am I getting wrong books? First I get a Wish List book that had the wrong ISBN on it. I wanted one ISBN (it has the author’s notes in the foreword that I want) but someone sent me a totally different version of the book, with a different ISBN on it. And another time, I got the wrong ISBN and the member who sent it to me said she DID enter the ISBN and she used the listing that came up on PBS. She swears that’s what she did. And another time a member sent me a hardcover instead of a paperback. The ISBN on the book DID match the listing of the book I requested, but the book was hardcover and the listing said paperback! Is this a system problem? –Disappointed in Duluth

Dear Lulu,

No, it’s not a system problem! The member who posts a book using the listing for an ISBN that is not on the book is wrong to do so. When posting a book, the ISBN, title, author and binding type shown on the listing used must ALL match the book being posted. But some members do strange things when posting a book. The study of erroneous posting is known as Posteology, and we are (sadly and involuntarily) experts on it.

Posteology defines wrong-book posters as species Postus Erronatus, and there are several sub-species, distinguished by characteristic behaviors.

Titlius Solius Matchius. Familiar names: Match-by-title posters or “click-happy” posters.

These members match by title only. You can find them searching the Club Wish List and clicking “post this book” if the title on a listing matches the title of a book they have. A box comes down asking them to confirm that the ISBN matches, but they click past this to post the book. That’s how you get a Wish List offer for a book the member doesn’t actually have, and when the book arrives it has a different ISBN than the one you wished for.

Imagius Importantus. Familiar names: Cover-image posters or “so-close-and-yet-so-far” posters.

These members match title/author and cover image (but don’t match ISBN or binding type). They start off okay: they enter the ISBN on the book they have. But then their behavior abruptly becomes erratic: even though the Post Books screen says that the ISBN, title, author and binding type must ALL match, and that the cover image doesn’t have to match, they won’t use the (correct) listing that comes up for the ISBN they entered because the cover image does not match. They click one of the alternate versions shown below the listing preview, and use that listing to post their book, even though the ISBN (and sometimes also the binding type) does not match the book they have. That’s how you get a book with a different ISBN on it than the one you requested, and the member will insist that she entered the ISBN on the book she had. Yes, she entered the ISBN on the book she had–and that listing that she saw first would have been correct–but she didn’t use that listing. She passed it up to seek out and use one with a matching cover image.

Tertio-quaternarius. Familiar names: Three-out-of-four posters, or Drat-the-publishers posters.

These members match ISBN and title/author, but not binding type. They enter the ISBN on their book, check the title and the author and then click Post The Above Book, even if the binding type says Hardcover and the book they are holding is a paperback. Their characteristic cry is “PBS is to blame!” Sometimes the PBS listing is in error, actually (our database is compiled elsewhere, and does have some errors)…BUT that doesn’t mean it’s okay to use a listing with the wrong binding type on it.

Most the time this is NOT a database error. This happens when the publisher(s) re-used the ISBN when reprinting a book in a different format. When that is the case, ONLY the binding type on the listing at PBS can be posted with that ISBN: the “other” format(s) need to be posted without an ISBN, so that the correct binding type appears on the listing being used. To make the distinction between publisher re-use of an ISBN and PBS database error (and to figure out if the listing at PBS should be corrected), the ISBN needs to be researched on an internet search, and if there is NO evidence that more than one binding was used for that ISBN, the ISBN can be submitted to us for correction, as described in the Help doc “If the information on a book listing in the database is incorrect…” in the Help Center. If a member matches only ISBN and title/author, but does not match binding type, when he or she posts, that is how the requestor can end up with the right ISBN but wrong binding type.

Swappus Dentus. Familar names: “Bite me, PBS!” posters, or “We-don’t-need-no-stinkin-iSBNs” posters.

These members seek ISBNs to use to post their books that don’t have ISBNs at all! Some even go to other databases on the internet to find these ISBNs to use with their ISBN-less books. This takes a good amount of effort–far more than using the Post a Book Without an ISBN feature which would work to post the book properly. We find this behavior curious indeed; it is not adaptive in the least, and is correlated with poor longevity in the club.

There are other sub-species of Postus Erronatus, but the above are the most common.

Posteology indicates strongly that all of these sub-species will become extinct if all members follow the instructions shown while posting a book (full instructions can also be read in How to Post a Book in the Help Center), and if a member runs into trouble posting a book, the Help doc Solutions to Common Book Posting Problems in the Help Center will usually solve the problem.

All kidding aside, Lulu, we know that members don’t make these mistakes on purpose when they post books. You need to follow the instructions in the Help doc There is a problem with a book I received if this happens. The good news is that problem swaps are not as common at PBS as it might seem to you if you happen to get a couple wrong books in a row.

Everyone should post their books properly, to make sure that when a book is requested, that book is the one that is actually wanted! There is no point in sending a wrong book–no one is happy when that happens.

Tags: Email from PBS, ISBNs, Members
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members | No Comments »

DEAR LIBRARIAN: Newsletter – May 2008

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

Dear Librarian– I got a book request for a book that is not on my bookshelf! The request is staring me in the face on my account page, but when I go to my bookshelf the book isn’t listed there. How did this happen? Is there a book-posting poltergeist at PBS? –Chills Up My Spine in Chicago

Dear ChiChi,

Don’t worry! The book was requested from you because it WAS on your bookshelf–until it was requested. A book that is involved in a Wish List hold or an active request is removed from the bookshelf and displayed on your account page. How did the book get onto your bookshelf? It was posted there! Maybe you posted this book long ago, and have forgotten that you have it, or have given it away since then. Maybe you entered the ISBN incorrectly, and the wrong title got posted. If you have posted a lot of books, it can be easy to forget one.

You can see when you posted this book on the request itself, when it is pending on your My Account page. Sometimes it helps to “track it down” by looking at your Bookshelf and sorting the list there by Date (this = date posted). You can see what books were posted at the same time as this one, if they are still on your bookshelf. That may help you locate the book with those others in your house. (Members who use Book Journal will also see the Space to which they assigned this book when they posted it, right on the pending request.) That’s not to say there isn’t a book-posting poltergeist–but look for him or her in your house, not in the PBS system.

If you can’t find this book, you should click “I cannot mail”. If you do that and find the book later, just repost it.

Dear Librarian–Do NOT tell me there isn’t a PBS Poltergeist. My account keeps going on vacation, no matter WHAT I do! Every time I look at my Bookshelf, there it is: the notice that I am on vacation. I’m calling an exorcist, pronto! –NOT on vacation in New Hampshire

Dear Hamp,

The “Vacation Hold” you are seeing at the top of your Bookshelf is not a notice that your account is on vacation. It is just a link to the page where you can schedule a vacation hold. If your account is on vacation (or a vacation hold is scheduled), you will see a message telling you this in a pink box on your My Account page (at the top). If you do see that notice and you didn’t mean to put your account on hold, just click the button in the message to Unhold your account. Putting your account on vacation needs you to go to the vacation hold page, choose dates, and then click Apply Hold. If you don’t do these things, you won’t be on hold. You might want to send your exorcist over to ChiChi’s house in Chicago.

Dear Librarian–I got an email telling me a book I sent was received, but I didn’t get a credit. What happened? Bummed in Baton Rouge

Dear Batty,

Check your Credit Registry, linked from the top of your My Account page. The credit should show there. If you got an email telling you the book was received, and the credit isn’t shown as being deposited on the date/time of that email, check the email again. If you used PBS-DC or Printed Postage, you may have already gotten your credit, and the email was just telling you that the book was received. If that was the case, the email will say this, and you will find the credit listed farther down your Registry. The Registry is a great way to keep track of your credit activity.

Dear Librarian–A book that I sent came back to me for insufficient postage! I put on the amount of postage that the wrapper said to use! Why was the postage amount incorrect on the wrapper? –Puzzled in Peekskill

Dear Peek,

We’re sorry that this happened! Sounds like the “estimated weight” of the book in our database was incorrect, and you didn’t adjust it on the Wrapper Settings page before you printed. Our “required postage” amount is calculated based on what information our database has for the weight of the book. We get our database from an outside source, and it has inaccuracies sometimes.

You can ensure that the correct postage prints out on the wrapper by adjusting the estimated weight (if necessary) on the Wrapper Settings page before you print, and you can submit a permanent change to the weight of any book using the Edit Book Data link at the bottom of any page on the site, to prevent problems for future senders of that book.

You can read more in the Help doc The *recommended postage* on my wrapper was wrong! in the Help Center. You should also take a gander at the FAQs About Printable Postage and Sending Bulk (multiple-book) shipments, each of which has information about customizing the Wrapper Settings page to get the correct postage and postal class for your shipment.

Check the weight on the Wrapper Settings page before you print, and you’ll never go “postage-due” again!

Tags: Members, Printable Postage
Posted in Dear Librarian, From Our Members, Newsletter | No Comments »

DEAR LIBRARIAN: Newsletter – April 2008

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

Dear Librarian–I ordered books from a member in a 2 for 1 deal advertised in the Book Bazaar: I ordered one book from her bookshelf, and she was supposed to include a freebie. But then I got only one book, no freebie, and when I sent a Personal Message to the member she said she was never running a deal at all! What the heck happened? –Feeling Bamboozled in Boston

Dear Bossy,

One of two things could have happened here. (1) You could have requested the book from the wrong person; or (2) your request was passed along from the original person to a new sender.

(1) means that you were not on the specific member’s page when you submitted the request. You have to click Order This Book on the specific member’s bookshelf (nowhere else) in order to be sure that request is submitted to her. You can read more instructions in the Help doc How do I direct my request for a book to a specific member? in the Help Center.

(2) means that you submitted the request to the correct person, but if you had Requestor Conditions the book didn’t meet, she may have declined your request. Or she didn’t mark the book mailed in time, and the request canceled. In both cases, your request would have passed to a new sender, who could not know that you had arranged to get a “freebie” book from the other member.

To prevent (1) from happening, be sure to follow the instructions in the Help doc linked above. To prevent (2) from happening, you can make your Requestor Conditions clear when you discuss the “deal” in PMs before submitting your request, or simply toggle your Requestor Conditions to “off” (and click Update) in your Account Settings before submitting that request. It is harder to make sure the sender marks the book mailed in time (that is up to her), but you can remind her by PM if you are concerned, and also keep an eye on your “deal” requests on your My Account page. The deadline to mark a book mailed is 2 days after the mailby date that shows in the Request Details (or 5 days after the accepted date, if that is what shows in the details). If a “deal” book is not marked mailed by the deadline (if you do not get an email telling you it was mailed before then), you should be sure to cancel the new request that takes its place on your My Account page, because that new request will be with a new sender.

The system wasn’t designed for “unofficial” deals like this; deals were something that the members created themselves. We are considering making some changes to the request process purely for those who make “deals” on the site, because they have become so popular! Stay tuned.

Dear Librarian–I got a book and read it, but it didn’t survive the read. The book looked okay when it arrived, and it was a great read, but now that I am done with it there are pages falling out. I can’t repost this book–should I ask for my credit back from the sender? –Surprised in Santa Rosa

Dear Rosa,

Sounds like this book was on its “last read” when you got it. Books do have a lifespan, and eventually if read enough will wear out. I don’t think you should ask for your credit back–you say the book looked fine to post, and the sending member was able to read it without it falling apart. And you did get to read it before the book gave up the ghost. Books do need to meet the Book Posting Guidelines as described in the Help Center, and the vast majority of books will stand up to many, many reads. If the book meets the guidelines (and any requestor conditions on the request) the sender can’t be faulted for posting and sending it.

So now it is time to retire it from PBS bookshelves: you can’t repost it (not even if you are good at repairing books–there are members who offer simple repair tips in the Discussion Forums, and you can consult them if a book is not too far gone), but (if all the pages are there) you can offer it as a freebie incentive with an order from your bookshelf in a post in the Book Bazaar Discussion Forums. If it is just done, you can simply recycle it.

We know it is disappointing not to be able to repost this book. But remember, this won’t happen very often to any one member. It will probably happen once or twice to some; and some members will never encounter this. If it happens to you, enjoy the read and know that it won’t happen again for a long time (if ever). Yes, the book cost you a credit, but that’s a lot less than buying it from most used bookstores, and the book served a lot of readers well. We are glad you enjoyed the read. Tell that book to rest in peace.

Tags: Discussion Forums, Members
Posted in Dear Librarian | No Comments »

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