Catalogue Help

How do I register?

Go to the Log In page. The link is at the top-right of the screen. Enter your barcode and PIN or password. If you haven’t registered before, you’ll be taken to the registration page.

Why do I have to register?

Registration is a one-time process that allows you to create an easy-to-remember login name, or username, that you can use instead of your barcode to check your account. If you have a Google or Hotmail account, you already know about usernames. If not, think of a username as your library nickname. Need ideas? Use your initials and your street number (SDK203), your dog’s name, or something about you (Twilightfan), that’s short and easy for you to remember. Remember that the public comments and lists that you post will include your username. Registration is required to take advantage of all of the features of the site, including the ability to manage your renewals and holds, contribute ratings and reviews, and follow others to see what they’re enjoying.

Do I have to provide my birthdate?

No, your birthdate is not required for registration. But note that if you decide not to provide your birth year and month, the system will assume you are a minor, and for safety reasons, some features will not be available to you. 

Do I have to provide my email address?

An email address is optional. It will be used if you forget your PIN/password and request a reset. Your library may also use your email address to send you notifications of items ready for pickup, coming due or overdue.

What if my name or birthdate shown is incorrect?

You should complete the registration online even if the data is incorrect. Please ask a staff member at the circulation desk to update this information the next time you visit the library to ensure the library’s records are accurate. For additional information about registering and logging in, please see the FAQs. 

You can use the site to search the catalogue and look for recently acquired and reviewed items. To place a hold, check your account, or use some of the site’s interactive features, you need to first log in.

Logging in requires two things:

• your library card number which is a 14-digit number on your card.
• your PIN (personal identification number) or password. 

Once you have registered with the site you can choose to log in with a username you created, rather than your library card number. You may find it easier to remember, especially if you need to access your account when you don’t have your card with you.

► To log in to your account

1. On the menu at the top right, click Log In, and then click Log In / Register.
2. On the Log In page, enter your barcode or username, and your PIN/password.
3. Click Log In.

You’ll see your My Library Dashboard page. If you were in the middle of doing something, such as placing a hold, you’ll return to what you were doing prior to logging in.

Problems Logging In?

Can’t remember your user name? A user name contains only letters, numbers and underscores. If that doesn’t help you remember it, log in using your library card number. Your username is for your convenience. You can always log in with your library card number.

Can’t remember your PIN/password? 

If you can’t remember your PIN, you can reset it. Click the Forgot your PIN? link. You’ll get an email with a link in it that will enable you to create a new PIN.

Still can’t log in? Contact the library. 

The Checked Out page displays all titles you currently have on loan from your library. You can use this page to view due dates, renew your loans, and contribute ratings.

► To view your checked out items

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click Checked Out.

Titles listed on the Checked Out page are displayed in order of due date, so overdue items are listed first, with the due date in red.

There’s a button at the bottom of each checked out item you can use to add the title to your In Progress shelf. Click the arrow next to the button to choose either your For Later or Completed shelf.

Once you have returned a title, it will no longer appear on this page. However, if you rated it, the title will appear on your Completed shelf.

In addition, if you have enabled the Borrowing History feature, all returned titles will appear on your Borrowing History page, so you can keep track of what you’ve borrowed. 

If you’re not finished with the items you’ve borrowed, you may want to renew them instead of returning them to the library before they are due.

You renew the items you’ve borrowed from the Checked Out page. By default, titles on the Checked Out page are displayed in order of due date, so overdue items are listed first.

► To renew a single item

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click Checked Out.
3. Find the title you want to renew.
4. Click the Renew button below the item.

A popup message will let you know if your renewal was successful.

► To renew multiple items

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click Checked Out.
3. If necessary, filter your checkouts by clicking Overdue, Next due or Due later under the My Borrowing summary on the left of the page.
4. Do one of the following:
   • Click the checkbox next to each item you want to renew
   • Click the checkbox above the items to select all of the items on the page.
5. A bar appears at the bottom of the page. Click Renew selected. The number of items affected appears in brackets on the menu.

A popup message will let you know if your renewals were successful.

Notes:

• On a tablet or smart phone, the Renew selected option is on the Manage items menu.
• You can renew up to 25 items at a time

From the On Hold page, you’re able to keep track of the titles you’ve requested, and where and when they will be available for pickup. By default, items on the page are sorted by status, with items ready for pickup first. If you prefer, you can sort the page by hold position, expiry date, title, author or format.

For holds that are ready for pickup, you can also sort by pickup location or pickup expiry date.

If necessary, filter your holds by clicking Ready, Not ready or Pause under the My Borrowing summary on the left of the page. On a tablet or smartphone, tap the My Borrowing button first to display the filters.

You can also cancel and pause your hold requests. To change the status of a request, click the Pause or Cancel button for the item you want to change. Active and paused holds are each shown in separate blocks.

You can activate a paused hold by clicking the Resume hold button.

Note: Use this page to manage holds. To place a hold, do a search, or view a title’s details page. See below.

The content of the On Hold page is visible only to you. Please consult our Privacy Policy to learn more about how your private information is protected. There’s a link to the Privacy Policy at the bottom of every page.

Placing Holds

You place holds on items you want to borrow from search results, or from a title’s details page. If you want to pick up the item at a specific location, you can see which branches currently have the item, as well as the circulation status of all available copies.

► To place a hold from search results

1. Log in to your account.
2. Enter some keywords and run your search.
3. Find the title you want.
4. Titles with at least one copy in the library show Available. To see the current status of all copies of the item, click the availability details link.
5. Click the Place hold button.
6. In the Place hold popup, select the branch where you’d like to pick up the title. The default location is your home branch, or the one you specified on your Preferences page as your preferred location. (If your library has only one location, or you’ve enabled single-click holds, you won’t see this option.)
7. Click the Place hold button.

Your requested title will now appear on your On Hold page.

Notes:

• You can skip the step of choosing a pickup location every time if you enable single-click holds.
• Placing a hold on an electronic item such as an eBook is slightly different. If the item is available now, the button is labelled Check out. If it isn’t, the button is labelled Place hold. 

► To place a hold from a title’s details page

1. Log in to your account.
2. Find the title you’d like to place a hold on by searching or browsing the catalog. Go to its details page by clicking its title.
3. The details page shows all the formats of the title held by the library. To see the location and current status of each available copy of your selected format, click the View details link.
4. Click the Place hold button.
5. Select the branch where you’d like to pick up the title. The default location is your home branch, or the one you specified on your Preferences page as your preferred location. (If your library has only one location, you won’t see this option.)
6. Click the Place hold button.

Your requested title will now appear on your On Hold page.

Notes:

• If you need an item in a hurry, use the View details link to view locations that have copies available.
• Placing a hold on an electronic item such as an eBook is slightly different. If the item is available now, the button is labelled Check out. If it isn’t, the button is labelled Place hold. 

If you don’t want an item you have requested to become available when you’re unable to pick it up, you can pause the hold. Pausing, or suspending, retains your place in line until you’re ready to resume. It’s useful if you have items on hold and go on vacation, or already have things checked out you haven’t finished yet.

► To pause a single hold

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click On Hold.
3. Find the title you want to pause.
4. Click the Pause hold button.
5. Depending on the system your library uses, you may also be prompted to choose an end date, or a start and end date. Pick your dates, and then click Yes, pause holds.
6. You’ll see the message “Successfully paused holds.”

► To pause multiple holds

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click On Hold.
3. If necessary, filter your holds by clicking Not ready under the My Borrowing summary on the left of the page. On a tablet or smartphone, tap the My Borrowing button first to display the filters.
4. Do one of the following:
   • Click the checkbox next to each item you want to pause
   • Click the checkbox above the items to select all of the items on the page.
5. A bar appears at the bottom of the page. Click Manage items, and then click Pause holds. The number of items affected appears in brackets on the menu.
6. Depending on the system your library uses, you may be prompted to choose an end date, or a start and end date. Pick your dates, and then click Yes, pause holds.
7. You’ll see the message “Successfully paused holds.” 

If you no longer want an item you have requested, you can cancel your hold.

► To cancel a single hold

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click On Hold.
3. Find the title you want to cancel.
4. Click the Cancel hold button next to the item.
5. Click Yes, cancel hold to confirm.
6. You’ll see the message “Successfully cancelled holds.”

► To cancel multiple holds

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click On Hold.
3. If necessary, filter your holds by clicking Not ready under the My Borrowing summary on the left of the page. On a tablet or smartphone, tap the My Borrowing button first to display the filters.
4. Do one of the following:
   • Click the checkbox next to each item you want to cancel.
   • Click the checkbox above the items to select all of the items on the page.
5. A bar appears at the bottom of the page. Click Manage items, and then click Cancel holds. The number of items affected appears in brackets on the menu.
   Click Yes, cancel holds to confirm.
6. You’ll see the message “Successfully cancelled holds.”

The Fees page displays a list of messages from your library, including library fines.

► To view your fees and fines

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click Fees.

A colored indicator at the top of the Fees page displays the total amount you owe.

The default sort order is by fee date. You can also sort the list by amount, fee reason or title.

To pay your fees, visit your library or send payment in the mail. Your library may also allow you to pay your fees online.

Note: The content of the Fees page is visible only to you. Please consult our Privacy Policy to learn more about how your library protects your private information. There’s a link to the Privacy Policy at the bottom of every page.

Your library does not keep records of your borrowing without your permission. However, when you enable the Borrowing History feature, the system will start building a list of all the titles you borrow.

You can turn on the Borrowing History feature in the registration process and start saving your titles immediately, or do so later.

► To enable or disable Borrowing History

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, under the Account Preferences heading, find your Borrowing History setting.
4. Click Change.
5. On the Borrowing History page, click the current setting to change it.
6. Click Save Changes.
7. You’ll see the message “Your new information has been saved.”

Notes: 

• When this feature is disabled, any existing Borrowing History titles that have not been added to your Completed shelf or to a list will be permanently deleted.
• If you don’t see a Borrowing History option under Account Preferences, this feature is not enabled at your library.

Your Borrowing History page is visible only to you.

► To view your Borrowing History

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Library Dashboard.
3. Under the My Borrowing summary on the left of the page, click Borrowing History. On a tablet or smartphone, tap the My Borrowing button first to display the My Borrowing summary.
4. The page displays your recently returned items. Click the View all Borrowing History link to see the complete list.

Notes: 

• You can rate items you have checked out from your Borrowing History page by clicking a star. Rating an item also adds it to your Completed shelf.
• You can manually add an item in your Borrowing History to your Completed, In Progress or For Later shelf using the button at the right of the item.

The easiest way to search the library catalog is to type one or more words in the search box at the top of the page, and then click the Search button (the magnifying glass). The search results include items with all of the search terms in either the title or author fields, or in headings or tags.

If you want to find an exact group of words, such as global warming, you don’t need to put these in quotes, as you do in some search engines. Just type the words. The items that appear at the top of the results will be the ones that include the phrase global warming in the title.

If you know the author or some words in the title, you can restrict your search by selecting Author or Title from the dropdown list. You can also search by Subject heading or Tag.

How Search Works

Search results are ordered based on the best match. The items at the top of the search results will be those that contain your exact search text, in the exact order you typed them (if you used more than one word). After exact matches, words in the title are given a priority, followed by author name, headings, and tags. Popular titles appear ahead of less popular ones.

You can filter your search results by selecting from the headings on the left side of the page. For more details, see Filtering Search Results and Shelves.

Getting Suggestions

Not sure how to spell an author’s name? Select Keyword from the dropdown menu, and then type a few letters of an author’s name to see suggestions. For example, if you can’t remember if it’s Ernest Hemmingway or Ernest Hemingway, just type ernest h and then pause. A list of up to five suggestions will appear.

Typing the beginning of the author’s last name — hem — would also display a list. Click the name to search on that name.

You can also use this feature if you want to search for a book or movie, but aren’t sure of the exact title. For example, if you’re not sure how to spell azkaban, just type harry potter and you’ll see harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban as a suggestion.

Additional Search Features

You can search for all titles in a specific format, or for a format in combination with an audience or language, by using the “smart search” feature. Instead of looking for these words in titles or author names, search returns the entire library catalog, and then applies filters based on what you type. You can use:

• Format, alone or with an audience or language term
• Audience (children, kids, teen, adult) with a format
• Language (any) with a format

You can also add the word new to a smart search, to limit your results to titles your library has acquired in the last 180 days.

Some examples:

• eBooks
• DVDs French
• new kids books
• teen graphic novel

If your search contains words besides format, audience and language, it will be interpreted as a regular search. For example, kids movies dog or new music rhianna would not be treated as smart searches.

Notes:

• Caps, spaces and punctuation are ignored, so searching for J.K. Rowling is the same as searching for j k rowling.
• If you know the exact ISBN number of a book, you can enter it in the search box.
• In your search results, you can click an author or artist’s name to do a new search for items by that author or artist.
• You can search by call number if you put the entire call number in quotes. For example, “J FIC Rowli”.

Advanced Searches

The quick search found at the top of every page should provide excellent results for most of your searching requirements. For those occasions where you have a particular kind of search in mind, you can use Advanced Search. It has tools that enable you to describe precisely where and how you want to search. You can do Boolean searches using the controls on the page, or by typing directly in the custom Boolean query box. To create an advanced search, click the Advanced Search link at the top of the page.

For details, see Using Advanced Search.

Changing the Search Results Display

By default, search results group all available formats of a title together in a block. This allows you to easily determine which formats your library owns, so that you can choose the one you want. Formats that are currently available appear in the group before formats that are not currently available to borrow. If you don’t need a specific format, you can choose one that is available now.

The grouped search view displays 10 groups, and the actual number of titles varies.

If you prefer, you can show each format as a separate item in your search results. For example, if your library owns print, eBook, audiobook and downloadable audiobook versions of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, you would see four separate cover images and the associated information for each format. Search displays 25 titles per page, and the results are ordered by popularity.

To change your search results to individual cover view, click the Jacket view button.

Click one of the other two buttons to exit the jacket cover search view.

Broadening Your Search

When you do a keyword search using more than one term, the items that contain all or most of your search terms appear at the top of the results. The more words in your search, the fewer the results.

At the top of the page, you’ll see a Broaden your search link. Click the link to re-run the search for items that include any of your search terms. Items that include all or most of the terms will appear first. For example, suppose you search for electrical appliance repair and get 0 results. If you use the Broaden your search link, you would see a number of titles, including many that deal with appliance repair. The broaden your search feature relaxes the search rules to find more items. 

If you are viewing a long list of search results, you can filter the view to help you find items of interest. For example, you may want to see only DVDs, or only books by a specific author.

On the left side of the screen is a series of clickable headings to help you do this. For search results, you can select a specific format, or view only new items, currently available items, or electronic resources. You can also see only those items available at a specific branch, handy if you want to pick up something immediately.

In addition, you can filter by:

• Content (fiction/non-fiction)
• Audience
• Form/Genre (mystery, biography, and so on)
• Topic
• Region
• Author
• Language
• Published date
• Average rating, if added by other users
• Tags, if added by other users
• Reading Level (Lexile score)

After each heading, the number of titles in the search result or shelf is shown, with the highest number of matches first.

► To apply a filter

1. In the left sidebar, click the arrow next to a category to view the available options.
2. Click the checkbox or heading you want to use as a filter. (If the heading has more than 10 items, click the Show more link to see more items in a popup window.)
3. You can filter the titles further by selecting additional headings.

Locking Your Filters
Suppose you want to see if any of last year’s Oscar nominees for Best Picture are currently available at your branch. You search for the first title you can remember, apply a filter so that you only see DVD format and your home branch, find the movie, and then check its availability.

To search for another title, you could repeat each step in this process. However, there is an easier way—you can lock your filters, so that the next search you do use all the filters you applied the first time.

► To retain your filters

1. Do a search.
2. Apply the filters you want to use.
3. In the Active Filters box above your search results, click the pin. The pin moves right, and the text changes from OFF to ON. You’ll also see another pin icon in the search box, to remind you the filters are on.
4. Run your next search.

Note: Pinning your filters does not save them permanently. Once you leave the library website, the filters are reset. 

Removing Filters
You can remove filters you no longer need, to change your search results. You don’t need to remove them in the order you added them, and it doesn’t matter if your filters are locked.

► To remove your filters

To remove a filter, do one of the following:

• For filters with a checkbox (for example, format, language), click the checkbox
• For other filters, click the X next to the filter.

OR

Next to the Active Filters box, click the X next to any filter you want to remove. You can remove all of your filters at once by clicking Clear Filters.

The search box found at the top of every page should provide excellent results for most of your searching requirements. It has a default keyword search plus additional options, each of which has been tuned to get complete results for most search types.

For those occasions where you have a particular kind of search in mind, you can use Advanced Search. It has tools that enable you to describe precisely where and how you want to search. You can do Boolean searches using the controls on the page, or by typing directly in the advanced Boolean query box.

About Boolean Searches

A Boolean search uses parentheses to group terms and “operators” such as AND, OR, or NOT to limit the search results. A search for potter NOT harry would find titles by Beatrix Potter but not about Harry Potter. On the advanced search page, this could also be entered as (potter) -(harry). Similarly, ( (mark twain) OR (samuel clemens) ) AND (tom sawyer) would look for either Mark Twain or Samuel Clemens, and Tom Sawyer.

Constructing Queries

You can use the tools on the page to construct a query. For most people, this is the best choice for doing an advanced search without having to know about how library catalog information is organized. The options you choose will be reflected in the custom Boolean query box.

► To construct a query

1. Specify whether you want the search results to include all of your search terms, or any. All puts AND in the query box; Any puts OR.
2. In the Includes section, specify the fields in the catalog you want to search, and then enter the word or phrase you want to find. For example, Title and Canadian immigration.
3. To search additional fields, click the Add Another link, and then repeat step #2.
4. To exclude certain titles, select fields and enter terms in the but do not include section. For example, if you wanted to find information on Canadian immigration but exclude census data, you could select Title and then enter census.
5. To exclude additional terms, click the Add Another link, and then repeat step #4.
6. In the Limit my search by section, specify additional search options to restrict your search. For example, you specify only items available at your branch, only items in French, and so on.
7. When you are finished constructing your query, review it in the custom Boolean query box, and then click Search.

Writing Your Own Queries

If you prefer to write your own queries, you can type them directly in the custom Boolean query box.

For example, you could enter…

Anywhere:(canadian immigration)  -Title:(census)  language:(eng)  format:(BK)

… to find books in English on Canadian immigration that do not have the word census in the title.

For details, see Writing Your Own Queries. 

You can create custom search queries by typing your query directly into the advanced Boolean query box on the Advanced Search page. For example, you could enter…

Anywhere:(Canadian immigration)  -Title:(census)  language:(eng)  format:(BK)...to find books in English on Canadian immigration that do not have the word census in the title.

The information below will help you construct your queries.

Fields

Advanced search makes it possible to indicate the kind of information you are looking for by specifying a field in the catalog. Below is a list of commonly used fields. Each field also has a two-letter code; either can be used to specify a field.

To create a search, specify a field, followed by a colon “:”, followed by a word or value. For example:

series:eye will find any work that is part of a series with the word “eye” in its name.

If you don’t specify a field, the search engine will look for the word anywhere and search all fields. The following query will look for “eye” in the series field, and look for the word “witness” anywhere:series:eye witness

Use parentheses to look for more than one word within a specified field:

series:(eye witness)

Boolean Operators

Search terms may be combined using the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT.

Boolean operators must be ALL CAPS. However, field specifiers and words or values are not case sensitive.

AND / OR

AND is the default operator when more than one field is specified. In an AND operation, only works that meet all field constraints will be returned.

Use OR to find all works that match one (but not necessarily all) of several field constraints.

Use parentheses to group clauses to a single field, or to group OR clauses together. For example, to search for a work with a title containing “Poppins”, and either dvd or video-cassette formats, use the query:

title:poppins format:(dvd OR vc)

NOT

The NOT operator excludes works that contain the term after NOT. The “-” symbol can be used in place of the word NOT, but must not be followed by a space. To search for works described by potter but not harry use either of these queries:

Potter NOT Harry
Potter -Harry

The NOT operator cannot be used with just one term. For example, the following search will return no results:

NOT Harry

Wildcard Searches

Wildcard searches use a special character, the * symbol, that may be replaced by zero or more characters to create a match. For example, to search for judicial, judiciary or judicious, you can use the search:

judici*

You cannot use a * symbol as the first character of a search.

Another use for wildcards is to find a group of titles using call numbers. For example, ca:330* or call number:330* (if the call number does not contain a space), or ca:”J 636.7*” (quotes required if the call number contains a space). You can use either an asterisk ( * ) to represent multiple characters or question mark ( ? ) as a single-character wildcard.

You can also search for a range of items. For example: ca:[“PRE” TO “PRO”].

Range Queries

Range queries enable you to match documents whose field values are between the lower and upper bound specified by the range query.

pubyear:[1960 TO 1999]

This will find works that were published between 1960 and 1999, inclusive.

sr:[4 TO 5]

This will find titles with average star-rating of between 4 and 5.

Range queries can be inclusive or exclusive of the upper and lower bounds. Inclusive range queries are denoted by square brackets. Exclusive range queries are denoted by curly brackets.

Escaping Characters

Advanced Search supports escaping special characters that are part of the query syntax. The current list of special characters includes

+ – && || ! (  ) {  } [  ] ^ ” ~ * ? : \

To escape these characters use \ before the character. For example to search for (1+1):2 use the query:

\(1\+1\)\:2

Note: The search syntax in the Advanced Search is largely based on Lucene.

If you periodically search for titles by the same author, or on the same subject, you can save your search and run it again later. That saves you time, especially if the search you’re doing is complex.

► To save a search

1. Log in to your account. You must be logged in to save a search.
2. Run your search. See Using Advanced Search and Writing Your Own Queries for information on creating complex searches.
3. If required, narrow your results by applying facets on the left side of the page. See Filtering Search Results for details.
4. When you have refined your search, click the Save Search link above the search results.
5. Give the saved search a name that will allow you to easily identify it later. If you already have a search by that name, you’ll have the option to choose a new name or overwrite your existing saved search.
6. Click Save it.

You can edit your saved searches after you’ve saved them. See Using and Managing Saved Searches for details. 

Your saved searches are displayed together, so you can easily run or edit them.

► To view and run your saved searches

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, under the Account Preferences heading, find your Saved Searches setting.
4. Click Change.
5. On the Saved Searches page, click the search name to run it.

Editing a Saved Search

You can edit a search you’ve saved if you want to change some of the search criteria, but don’t want to re-create the entire search again.

► To edit a saved search

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, under the Account Preferences heading, find your Saved Searches setting.
4. Click Change.
5. On the Saved Searches page, click the search name to run it.
6. Do one of the following:
   • If you created your search starting with the search box at the top of the page, apply or remove search options, as appropriate.
   • If you created your original search criteria on the advanced search page, add or remove the criteria you want to change.
7. Click Search.
8. Click the Save Search link.
9. If you would prefer to save the search with a new name, type the name.
10. Click Save it.

Deleting a Saved Search

If you no longer require a search you’ve saved, you can delete it from your list of saved searches.

► To delete a saved search

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, under the Account Preferences heading, find your Saved Searches setting.
4. Click Change.
5. On the Saved Searches page, click the check box next to the search name. You can select more than one if required.
6. Click Delete. 

The Recent Activity page displays recent user activity on the site.

Recently Reviewed

There are three carousels, one each for books, DVDs and music. Each carousel displays the 20 titles most recently commented on by library staff or other library members. To see the comment, learn more about the title or place a hold, click the cover.

Recently Rated

This carousel shows the 16 titles most recently star-rated by staff or other patrons. The rating is shown under the cover. To learn more about the title or place a hold, click the cover.

Recent Lists

Lists are ways to categorize titles and share your expertise. Anyone can create a list. The 10 most recently created lists are shown here. Click a list to see the titles on the list.

Recent Tags

This list displays the 10 tags others have mostly recently used to categorize titles. Click a tag to see all of the titles with that tag. 

The New Titles page enables you to browse items the library has recently purchased. The page is divided into two areas, described below.

New Titles Grid

This area displays 20 of the latest items purchased by your library. You can filter the display by format or audience by selecting from the dropdown lists. Using the tab at the top, you can switch between on order titles and those that have recently arrived.

Click the cover image to see more information about the title or place a hold.

New Titles Searches

The area below the new titles grid displays links to new items in a variety of categories. Clicking a link runs a search for items that meet the criteria you select. Use the facets on the left side of the search results to filter the items. 

The Newsfeed page displays a continuous “feed” of titles from people you follow. If you are familiar with Twitter or other social media, you already understand how this works.

For example, suppose you are following Jane_C. Jane adds Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar to her shelves and gives it a 5-star rating. This book would appear on your Newsfeed page.

The feed doesn’t just contain highly rated items. For the people you follow, you’ll see:

• items they added to their shelves,
• lists they created,
• comments and ratings they added to specific titles,
• lists or comments by others that they liked.

For information on how to follow someone, see Following Others.

► To view your Newsfeed

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Profile.
3. Your newsfeed appears on the right.
4. To see more of your feed, click the Show more button at the bottom of the page, .

How to Get a Useful Feed

The key to receiving a good feed of shared items is finding good people to follow. Here are some ideas to get started:

• View the details of a book or movie you loved. If another user has commented favorably, follow them.
• Find an interesting list on a subject that interests you, and follow its creator.
• Check the Recent Activity page for lists and reviews from library staff and follow them. Library staff are usually indicated with a special icon, or identifiable by username.

Your My Shelves pages are where you can keep track of the items you’ve read, watched or listened to, or plan to in the future. You can discover titles of interest to you by viewing another patron’s shelves.

To see another patron’s shelves, click their name anywhere you see it. For example, if you see an interesting comment from another patron on a movie or book, click their name to go to their profile page, and then click Shelves. Patron names also appear on the Recent Activity page, and on lists.

You can view the shelves of not only the people who use your library, but those of any other library system in the world using this system.

Note: When viewing the shelves of a patron at another library, you may see titles that your library doesn’t own. If you find recently published titles of interest, you may wish to ask your library to purchase them.

Your My Shelves pages are where you can keep track of the items you’ve read, watched or listened to, or plan to in the future. You can discover titles of interest to you by viewing another patron’s shelves.

To see another patron’s shelves, click their name anywhere you see it. For example, if you see an interesting comment from another patron on a movie or book, click their name to go to their profile page, and then click Shelves. Patron names also appear on the Recent Activity page, and on lists.

You can view the shelves of not only the people who use your library, but those of any other library system in the world using this system.

Note: When viewing the shelves of a patron at another library, you may see titles that your library doesn’t own. If you find recently published titles of interest, you may wish to ask your library to purchase them.

Your My Shelves pages enable you to keep track of library items you’ve borrowed, or plan to borrow in the future.

The Completed shelf is where you can store everything you’ve read, watched or listened to. In Progress is the place for what you are reading, watching or listening to right now. For Later is like a wish list, a place to keep track of the books, movies and music you’d like to borrow in the future.

When you are viewing one of the shelves, use the categories in the left sidebar to zero in on a smaller group of titles on your shelves. For example, you can filter your For Later shelf to show only DVDs you’d like to check out.

You can add to your shelves from just about anywhere, including:

• search results
• a title’s details page
• your On Hold, Checked Out and Borrowing History pages
• another patron’s Completed, In Progress or For Later shelf
• awards and bestsellers pages
• a list
• the shelf itself.

Items that you star-rate, comment on, tag, or summarize that are not already on your Completed shelf will be added to it.

Viewing Your Shelves

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click For Later Shelf, Completed Shelf, or In Progress Shelf.

You can move between shelves using the links below your username.

By default, titles are sorted by the date you added them, most recent first. By clicking the Sort by dropdown list at the top of the page, you can sort by date added, title, or author. You can also sort your Completed and In Progress shelves by rating.

Adding, Moving and Removing Items from Your Shelves

1. Log in to your account.
2. From any of an item’s details page, search results, awards and bestseller lists, click the For Later button, or click the arrow next to the button and select another shelf.

or

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to your Completed, In Progress or For Later shelf.
3. Click the Add a title button.
4. Search for the title you want to add.
5. Click the + Add link.
6. Search for additional items if required, and then close the popup window.

Once you’ve borrowed a title that was on your For Later shelf, you’ll want to move it to your In Progress shelf. Similarly, once you’ve finished a book that was on your For Later shelf, you can move it to your Completed shelf.

► To move a title to a different shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf that contains the item you want to move.
3. Find the item.
4. Click the Manage item button next to it.
5. From the dropdown menu, click the appropriate shelf.

You can also remove a title from your shelves if you no longer want it to appear there.

► To remove a title from your shelves

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf with the item you want to remove.
3. Find the item .
4. Click the Manage item button.
5. On the menu, click Remove from Shelves.

Notes:

• Items remain on your shelves unless you remove them, even if the library no longer owns the title you added.
• If you remove a title from a shelf, any content you have added, such as a rating or comment, is removed as well, and will no longer be visible if you search for and view that title again.

Filtering Your Shelves

You can further narrow the titles on your shelves by using the categories in the left sidebar. For example, to see if you’ve already read a book by a particular author, you can filter your Completed shelf by that author’s name.

Finding Available Titles on Your Shelves

Each of your shelves has a Find available titles button. Click it to search for titles on that shelf that are currently available to check out at at least one of your library’s branches.

Changing the Shared View

Items are added to your Completed, In Progress and For Later shelves either publicly (visible to the community) or privately (visible only to you.) This is determined by your account settings. By default, items will be privately added to your shelves for newly registered users.

Your My Shelves privacy account settings allow you to choose whether items you add to your shelf should be added publicly or privately. Changing your default privacy settings will not impact items that are already on a shelf.

Learn more about changing your settings on the Privacy Settings help page.

You can also make adjustments to each shelf item individually, or many at once. This allows you to decide how much or how little of your shelves you’d like to share with others.

Private items have a small lock icon next to them. Only you can see these items.

► To make an item public

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf that contains the item you want to make private.
3. Click the Manage item button.
4. On the menu, click the Keep this item private toggle. Public items are shared with the community. Your shelf item and other content you have contributed to an item will be visible to others.

► To make an item private

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf that contains the item you want to make private.
3. Click the Manage item button.
4. On the menu, click the Keep this item private toggle. Private items have a small lock icon next to them. Only you can see these items.

Adding Content to Titles

Rating, tagging and adding comments are great ways to enrich the library’s catalog and to make it easier to navigate your shelves.

► To add details to a title

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to a shelf.
3. To rate a title, look for the five blank stars, and then click the star representing the rating you want to give.
4. To add other information, click the Comment, Tag, Quotation or More links at the bottom of the items.
5. Add your comments, tags or other content.

Note: For information on the different types of content you can contribute to a title, see the individual help topics on star-rating, comments, tagging, summarizing, quotations, age suitability, and content notices.

Your For Later shelf is like a wish list, a place to keep track of titles you’d like to borrow at some point. You can make items on this shelf public (visible to others) or private.

You can add a title to your For Later shelf from:

• search results
• a title’s details page
• your On Hold, Checked Out and Borrowing History pages
• another patron’s Completed, In Progress or For Later shelf
• awards and bestsellers pages
• a list
• the For Later shelf itself.

► To add a title to your For Later shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. From any of an item’s details page, search results, awards and bestseller lists, or another patron’s shelves, click the For Later button next to the item.

or

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click For Later Shelf.
3. Click Add a title.
4. Search for the title you want to add.
5. Click the + Add link.
6. Search for additional items if required, and then close the popup window.

You can add as many titles to this page as you like. There is no limit. 

In addition to search and borrowing management features you expect, this site enables you to add your thoughts about titles you’ve borrowed from your library. This content can be as simple as a one-click star-rating you give to a DVD you borrowed, or it can be a carefully considered summary of a book you’ve just finished. You can also add comments, quotations, age suitability ratings, content advisories, similar titles, and tags to help others find the item by searching. How much content you add is up to you.

Why Add Content?

You may wonder “Why should I bother? I’m really busy. And does anyone really care what I think?” Here are just a few reasons why you should take a few seconds to offer some feedback on titles you’ve borrowed.

• Help other library members. Every one of us has an area of interest or expertise. Know something about woodworking, genealogy or Italian cooking? Got an opinion on the best books for pre-schoolers, or which Oscar Peterson recordings are the classics? Share it. The content you add guides other members to discover items of interest to them, and helps them determine if you would be a good person to “follow” as a source of recommendations.
• Help your library. You know how important your library is to your community. Adding content to the catalog makes it a more valuable asset to your library.
• Voice your opinions. Everyone has an opinion about a movie they’ve watched or a book they’ve just read. Share yours. It’s fun.
• Track your borrowing. Star-rating or commenting on titles can help remind you what you’ve enjoyed when you’re choosing new titles in the future.

Note: For information on the different types of information you can add, see the individual help topics on star-rating, comments, videos, tagging, summarizing, quotations, age suitability, and content advisories.

Star ratings are the easiest way for you to let others know what you think about a title.

Why Add Star Ratings?

Star ratings guide other library members to discover items of interest to them. Any title that you rate will be recommended to other users who are “following” you. Star ratings are averaged across all members who rate a specific title, and add value to your library’s catalog by highlighting high-quality items.

You can add star ratings to a title from:

• the title’s details page
• your Checked Out page
• your Borrowing History page
• your Completed or In Progress shelves.

On a title’s details page, the orange stars are the average rating of everyone who rated it.

► To contribute a star rating

1. Log in to your account.
2. Find the title you want to rate.
3. Click the number of stars you think a title deserves. You can use-half star increments to be more precise.
4. To change the rating, click a different number of stars.
5. To remove your rating, move your pointer to the right of the last star, and then click the x when it appears. 

A comment is like a review. Use comments to provide your general impression of a title, and elaborate on your star ratings. Your comments will be visible to other users when they view information on this title.

Why add comments?

Comments guide other library members to discover items of interest to them. They also help other members decide if you would be a good person to “follow” as a source of recommendations.

► To add a comment from a title’s details page

1. Log in to your account.
2. Find the title you want.
3. On the title’s details page, scroll down to the Community Activity section.
4. Click Add a Comment.
5. In the Add a Comment popup, type or paste your thoughts in the text box. You can add up to 4000 characters, or about 700 words.
6. When you are finished, click Post Comment to add your comment to the title’s catalog record.

► To add a comment from a shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf containing the title you want.
3. On the toolbar below the item, click Comment.
4. In the Add comment popup, type or paste your thoughts in the text box. You can add up to 4000 characters, or about 700 words.
5. When you are finished, click Save to add your comment to the title’s catalog record.

You’ll see the comment below your star rating. Click the pencil icon to edit it or the trash can icon to delete it. 

Tags are descriptive category labels or keywords that you and other library members attach to a title. Tags help you categorize titles in ways different from how your library classifies them. A tag can be a single word or a phrase.

Why Add Tags?

Tags help other members to find what they’re looking for, and enable you to organize your shelves in a meaningful way. Tags work alongside traditional indexing systems such as author, title and subject to enrich the library’s catalog.

► To add tags from a shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf containing the title and find the item.
3.  On the toolbar at the bottom of the item, click Tags.
4. In the Add Tags popup, click in each of the boxes to add that type of tag. You can add four types.
   • Genre tags tell others what type of work this is, such as mystery, anime, or self-help.
   • Tone tags might include gloomy, exciting or straightforward.
   • Theme tags describe topics or specific subjects, such as coming of age or baking the perfect cookie.
   • Personal tags are for your personal notes. Words you enter in this field are not visible to other library users, but you can still use them to filter your shelves. For example, you may want to use this to tag books read in summer 2018.
5. You can enter single words or phrases. Use commas to separate multiple tags.
6. Press Enter when you’re done entering your tags in each category.
7. Close the popup when you are finished. 

Sometimes you just can’t say it with words. For those occasions, you might want to attach a video to an item on your shelves to help other patrons determine if they’d like to borrow it. Some types of videos you can add to a title:

• Interviews with authors about a work, or footage of the author reading from his or her book
• Movie trailers
• Music videos
• Videos you create yourself describing your reaction to a book or movie, or illustrating some aspect of the title you’ve borrowed

If a video is available on YouTube, you can add it to a title.

Why Add a Video?

Videos help other library members discover items of interest to them, and they add value to your library’s catalog.

► To add a video from a title’s details page

1. Log in to your account.
2. Search for the title you want.
3. On the title’s details page, scroll down to the Community Activity section.
4. If the Video tab is not visible, click More, and then click Videos.
5. Open a new browser window and find the video you want on YouTube, copy its URL from your browser.
6. Switch back to the catalog window, and then paste the URL in the Video box. You’ll see a preview so you know you have the right video.
7. Add a title for the video. For example, “Wizard of Oz trailer”. This will appear directly below the video window.
8. Add a description of the video. A description is optional.
9. When you are finished, click Post Video.

To play the video, click the Videos tab under Community Activity, and then click the video.

► To add a video from a shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf that contains the title and find it.
3. Open a new browser window and find the video you want on YouTube, Vimeo, SchoolTube or TeacherTube. Copy its URL or embed code.
4. Go back to your catalog window.
5. On the toolbar at the bottom of the item, click More, and then click Video.
6. In the Add a video popup, paste in the video’s URL or embed code you copied from the video site.
7. Add a title for your video. You can enter up to 50 characters.
8. Add a description of the video. A description is optional.
9. When you are finished, click Save to add your video to the title’s details page.

Notes:

• You can add as many videos as you like, but only one video to each title.
• If you have a video of your own you’d like to add, you’ll need to create a YouTube account and upload the video first before you add it to a title on your shelves. YouTube accepts a variety of video file formats compatible with Windows, Mac and mobile devices, including MOV, MPEG4, MP4, AVI, WMV, MPEGPS, FLV, 3GPP and WebM.
• To view a video, you need to have the Flash Player from Adobe Systems installed for your web browser. If you can play videos on YouTube, you’ll be able to see them in your library account.

Age suitability information helps other users find age-appropriate titles in the library’s collection.

Why add an age suitability rating?

Age suitability ratings guide other library members to discover items suitable for them or their children.

► To add age suitability from a title’s details page

1. Log in to your account.
2. Search for the title you want.
3. On the title’s details page, scroll down to the Community Activity section.
4. Click the Age Suitability tab. (If the Age Suitability tab is not visible, click More first.)
5. Click Add Age Suitability.
6. Do one of the following:
   • Check the All Ages checkbox if you think the title is suitable for anyone, or
   • Enter a minimum age if you think the title is unsuited for a younger audience, or
   • Enter a maximum age if you think older borrowers would not enjoy this title.
7. Click Post Age Suitability to save your recommendation to the catalog.

Note: You can specify an age range by adding a minimum and maximum age. For example, you might want to indicate that a book is best suited for pre-teens, between the ages of 9 and 12.

► To add age suitability from a shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf that contains the title you want.
3. On the toolbar below the item, click More, and then click Age Suitability.
4. Do one of the following:
   • Check the All Ages checkbox if you think the title is suitable for anyone, or
   • Enter a minimum age if you think the title is unsuited for a younger audience. You can pick between 1+ and 21+
5. Click Save to add your recommendation to the catalog.

Content notices enable you to flag titles that may contain coarse language, violence, sexual content or frightening scenes. Advisories you contribute will be viewable by other library members.

Why Add Content Notices?

Content notices advise other library members about certain types of content, in case they would rather avoid such material.

► To add a content advisory from a title’s details page

1. Log in to your account.
2. Search for the title you want.
3. On the title’s details page, scroll down to the Community Activity section.
4. Click the Notices tab. (If the Notices tab is not visible, click More first.)
5. Click Add Notices.
6. In the Notices popup, click the check box for the notice you think is appropriate.
7. If you choose Other, add an explanation.
8. When you are finished, click Post Notice to add your notice to the to the title’s catalog record. 

► To add a content advisory to an item on a shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf that contains the title you want.
3. On the toolbar below the item, click More, and then click Content notices.
4. In the Add Content Notices popup, click the check box for the notice you think is appropriate. You can add up to 400 characters of explanation for each notice if wish.
5. When you are finished, click Save.

Note: You may want to use an age suitability rating in conjunction with your content notice.

Sometimes a good quotation is great way to give others an idea of what is in store for them if they borrow a title. The quotations you contribute will be visible to other library members when they look at this title’s details page.

Why Add Quotations?

Quotations give others a taste of the book or movie. They help guide other members to discover items of interest to them, and add value to your library’s catalog. You can add as many quotations as you like.

Every time you share a quotation, you earn a community credit.

► To add a quotation from a title’s details page

1. Log in to your account.
2. Search for the title you want.
3. On the title’s details page, scroll down to the Community Activity section.
4. Click the Quotes tab. (If the Quotes tab is not visible, click More first.)
5. Click Add a Quote.
6. Type or paste your quote in the text box.
7. When you are finished, click Save to add your quote to the catalog.

► To add a quotation to an item on a shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf that contains the title you want.
3. Click the Add Details link next to the title, and then click Quotation.
4. In the Quotations popup, click the Add a Quotation link.
5. Type or paste your quotation in the text box.
6. When you are finished, click Save.

Use the Similar Titles feature to recommend titles that have something in common—content, tone, style or plot—to the one you are viewing. It’s most useful for making connections between titles that aren’t obvious. For example, you could suggest Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as a title similar to the movie Apocalypse Now, since the book was used as a source for the movie, and the two share a dark tone.

Why Suggest Similar Titles?

By suggesting a similar title, you may help other users to discover new works they would enjoy. It’s a chance to use your knowledge and experience to make connections between titles that might not be apparent to the casual browser.

► To add a similar title from a title’s details page

1. Log in to your account.
2. Search for the title you want.
3. On the title’s details page, scroll down to the Explore Further section.
4. Next to the Similar Titles heading, click Add+.
5. In the Similar Titles popup, click the Add link.
6. In the Find Similar Titles box, enter the keywords to use to find the item, and then click Search to find it in the catalog.
7. Your search results appear in the popup window. If the title you want is displayed, click the Add to link next to it. You can also modify your search to display different results.
8. When you have finished adding related titles, click the X in the popup window to close it.

► To add a similar title to an item on a shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf containing the title.
3. Click the Add Details link next to the item to display the menu.
4. Click Similar Titles.
5. In the Similar Titles popup, click the Add link.
6. In the Find Similar Titles box, enter the keywords to use to find the item, and then click Search to find it in the catalog.
7. Your search results appear in the popup window. If the title you want is displayed, click the Add to link next to it. You can also modify your search to display different results.
8. When you have finished adding related titles, click the X in the popup window to close it. 

Use summaries to provide a synopsis of a title. Your summary will be viewable by other users when they view information on this title.

Why Add a Summary?

Summaries help other users evaluate a title when they view its bibliographic information, help them determine if you would make a good person to “follow” as a source of recommendations, and add value to your library’s catalog.

You can add a summary from a title’s details page, or from one of your shelves.

Every time you add a summary to a title, you earn a community credit.

► To add a summary

1. Log in to your account.
2. Search for the title you want.
3. On the title’s details page, scroll down to the Community Activity section.
4. Click the Summary tab. (If the Summary tab is not visible, click More first.)
5. Click Add a Summary.
6. In the Summary popup, enter your notes in the text box. You can use up to 4000 characters, or about 600 words.
7. When you are finished, click Post Summary to add your summary to the title’s catalog record.

► To add a summary from a shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf containing the title you want.
3. On the toolbar below the item, click More, and then click Summary.
4. In the Add a Summary popup, type or paste your thoughts in the text box. You can add up to 4000 characters, or about 700 words.
5. When you are finished, click Save to add your summary to the title’s catalog record.

Note: Summaries are designed so that you can provide a brief plot synopsis for a work of fiction or a movie, or a content outline for a documentary or non-fiction book. To offer your opinion on the title, add a Comment.

You can add a private note to any title on your shelves. Private notes are not visible to other library members or staff.

► To add a private note from a title’s details page

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf containing the title.
3. On the menu bar at the bottom of the item, click More, and then click Private note.
4. In the Add private note popup, type your note in the text box. You can add up to 4000 characters, or about 700 words.
5. When you are finished, click Save to save your note.

Private notes appear above an item’s menu bar and can be edited or deleted using the controls after the note. Click the pencil icon to edit it or the trash can icon to delete it.

Notes:

• Private notes are different from Personal tags. You can use personal tags to filter items in your collection. Private notes are not used for filtering.
• You might use a private note to record your reading progress if you have to return a book to the library before you finish it.

There may be a few titles on your shelves that you do not want to allow others to view. If so, you can hide these titles from the public view of your shelves. When another library member views your shelf, neither the title nor any comments or tags you have added to it will appear.

► To hide the title and its contents from public view

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the shelf containing the title you want to make private.
3. Click the Manage item button, and then click the Keep this item private checkbox.

A lock icon appears next to the title to indicate it’s private, and only visible to you.

Notes: 

• Excluding items from public view is handy when you are working on drafts of a comment or summary and are not yet ready to share your work with others. Once you’re happy with your contribution, uncheck the Keep this item private checkbox, and your finished work will be viewable by other library members.
• You can also make a list private. For details, see My Lists.
• You can make a title public, but add a private note to it. For details, see Private Notes.

► To specify a default privacy setting for a shelf

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, under the Privacy heading, find your My Shelves setting.
4. Click Change.
5. Use the checkboxes for the Completed, In Progress and For Later shelves to specify whether new items you add to each of these shelves are public (viewable by all) or private.
6. Click Save Changes.

Notes: 

• The privacy setting for a shelf only affects titles you add after you make a change. It does not affect the privacy of titles that are already on the shelf.
• When you make your shelves private, ratings, comments and other content you add to a title are not visible to other library users.

This site enables large numbers of users to contribute content. The reporting system allows other users to identify inappropriate comments, lists, and other community-created content that contains spoilers or offensive content, or violates the Terms of Use, while preserving everyone’s ability to express themselves. Reporting inappropriate content is referred to as flagging.

Types of Community-Created Content You Can Flag

You can flag any of these types of content:

• Comments
• Quotes
• Notices
• Summaries
• Videos
• Lists

How Flagging Works

If two people report a single piece of posted content as containing spoilers, the comment will be automatically flagged as contains spoilers.

If three people report a piece of posted content as containing offensive material it will be automatically flagged as contains offensive materials. In both of these cases, the comment will not be removed, but you can go to My Settings and have content of these types hidden by default.

If three people report a piece of posted content as a violation of the Appropriate Use Standards, the flagged material will be reviewed against the Terms of Service. If it is determined that the content violates the Appropriate Use Standards, the content may be removed, depending on the home country of the author and of the users flagging the material.

► To report an inappropriate comment

1. Log in to your account.
2. On a title’s details page, find the comment you want to report.
3. Click the flag icon below the comment.
4. Choose whether you would like to report the content as offensive, contains spoilers, or violates appropriate use standards

   • If you report content as offensive, add a brief explanation about what you find objectionable.

   • If you report content as violating the appropriate use standards, you will be asked to confirm that you have reviewed the appropriate use standards.
5. Click Submit to send your note.

Notes: 

• Reporting is anonymous. The author of a flagged comment will not know who objected to it, and there is no indication on the comment itself that it has been flagged.
• You can also report inappropriate lists.
• You can’t flag inappropriate usernames or tags, but you can report these to your library.

Each time you contribute information such as ratings, tags, comments or summaries, you receive community credits. Community credits are a way you can keep track of your contributions to the library’s catalog, and to the wider community of library users.

The simplest way to start earning community credits is to add titles to your shelves: each star rating, tag or other comment that you add earns one credit. When you create a list of at least five titles, you earn 5 credits.

► To see your community credits

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, under the Profile heading, find your Community Credits setting.
4. Click View.

Your community credits total is shown on your profile page and is public. Your list of community credits is private. Please consult our Privacy Policy to learn more about how your library protects your private information. There’s a link to the Privacy Policy at the bottom of every page.

Note: Not every library uses community credits. If you don’t see a Community Credits on your My Settings page, your library has not enabled this feature.

A list is a collection of titles related to a specific topic or idea of your choosing. For example: Knitting Books for Beginners or The 10 Best Movies about Baseball would be suitable subjects for lists. Although lists are meant for sharing, you can decide who gets to see your list when you publish it.

Why Create Lists?

Creating lists is a great way to help other library patrons discover new works. Best Italian Cookbooks, 10 Books My Daughter Loves Best and Movies That Changed My Life are examples of lists you could create. A good list is a curated topic guide. A list shouldn’t be just a group of titles by an author, since you can do that just by searching, or a group of titles you want to borrow, since you have a For Later shelf for that.

You will see lists in several locations on the site:

• When you browse the details of a title, you’ll see links to everyone’s lists that contain that title under the Listed heading.
• The lists you create are also shared with other users when they view your collection. (The exception is lists you have chosen to keep private.)
• Users’ lists are also featured at the bottom of the Recent Activity page.

When you have an idea for a list and you’re ready to get started, see Creating Lists.

Note: To track titles you want to borrow in the future, use your For Later shelf. You can add as many titles to a shelf as you like, and apply facets to filter the shelf if you have a large number of titles. 

A list is a collection of titles related to a specific topic or idea of your choosing. For example: Knitting Books for Beginners or The 10 Best Movies about Baseball would be suitable subjects for lists. Although lists are meant for sharing, you can decide who gets to see your list when you publish it.

► To create a new list

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click Lists.
3. Click the Create a New List button.
4. Click Guides andRecommendations.
5. Select the type of list you want to create. This will help inform others about the list’s contents.
6. Give the list a title. Others can search for your list by the words you use, so make the title informative.
7. Add a description, if you wish, to elaborate on the title. A description is optional, but will help others find your list.
8. Click Add to List to add catalog titles or website URLs to your list. For details, see Adding Titles to Lists.
9. When you’ve added all of your titles, click Finished Editing.
10. Choose who can see your list.Click Publish.

• Everyone.
• People in a specific location. This is useful for lists of local interest, such as school projects.
• Anyone with the link. Use this when you want to share a list with someone, but don’t want to make it available to everyone.
• Only me. This makes the list private. No one but you can see this list.

Notes: 

• Each change you make to a list is saved. The most recent version of your list appears in the Drafts section of your My Lists page. Once you publish it, the list appears in the Published section.
• You can publish a list when you’ve added four or more items. Lists with fewer items are stored in the Drafts section of your My Lists page. Drafts are only visible to you.

A list is a collection of titles related to a specific topic or idea of your choosing. An If You Liked… list is a specific category of list designed to let you share your expertise. For example, if you enjoyed the book The Fault in Our Stars or the movie version of The Hunger Games, what would you recommend that is similar?

► To create a new If You Liked list

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click Lists.
3. Click the Create a New List button.
4. Click If You Liked.
5. Search for the title you like, the one that will be the basis for the list.
6. When you find the title you want, click Use This.
7. Explain why someone who likes your likes your list subject would like the other titles you’ve chosen.
8. Click Add to List to add catalog titles or website URLs to your list. For details, see Adding Titles to Lists.
9. When you’ve added all of your titles, click Finished Editing.
10. Choose who can see your list.Click Publish.

• Everyone. This is the best option for this type of list.
• People in a specific location. This is useful for lists of local interest, such as school projects.
• Anyone with the link. Use this when you want to share a list with someone, but don’t want to make it available to everyone.
• Only me. This makes the list private. No one but you can see this list.

Notes: 

• Each change you make to a list is saved. The most recent version of your list appears in the Drafts section of your My Lists page. Once you publish it, the list appears in the Published section.
• You can publish a list when you’ve added four or more items. Lists with fewer items are stored in the Drafts section of your My Lists page. Drafts are only visible to you.

A list is a collection of titles related to a specific topic or idea of your choosing. Think of it as a subject guide. For example: Knitting Books for Beginners or The 10 Best Movies about Baseball would be suitable subjects for lists.

Adding a Title or Webpage from the List Page

You can add titles from the catalog, or webpage links to a list when you create it. Catalog titles can also be added from a title’s details page.

► To add a catalog title to your list

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to your My Lists page.
3. Click the Edit button next to the list you want to edit.
4. On the list page, click the Add to List button.
5. Search for the title you want to add.
6. When you’ve found the title you want, click the Add link.
7. Repeat steps 4-6 until you’ve added all the titles you want.

Notes

• To create a new list, see Creating Guides and Recommendations Lists and Creating If You Liked… Lists
• Remember to publish your list when it’s complete. Unpublished lists remain as drafts and are visible only to you.
• An item stays on your list until you remove it or delete the list, even if the library no longer owns a copy of the title.

► To add a webpage to your list

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to your My Lists page.
3. Click the Edit button next to the list you want to edit.
4. On the list page, click the Add to List button.
5. Click Web URL.
6. Type or paste in the webpage address. A webpage must start with http:// or https://.
7. Optionally, add a title for the page. The title is the text you’ll see on your list that identifies the webpage. If you don’t add a title, the webpage’s own title will be used.
8. You can also add an annotation, to provide more information about the website.
9. Click Add to add the webpage to the list.

Adding a Title to a List from a Title’s Details Page

You can also add a title to a list from any title’s details page.

► To add a title from a title’s details page

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the details page of the title you want to add to a list.
3. On the right side of the page, under the Listed heading, click Add+, and then click Existing Lists.
4. In the Add to List popup, find the list you want, and then click Create Draft & Add or Add To Draft.
5. Click the X to close the popup.

Ordering Items on Your List

By default, each new item you add to a list appears at the bottom.

There are two ways to order the items on your list:

• Dragging and dropping. You’ll see a ghost image of the item as it moves. When the item is where you want it, release the mouse button.
• Click the up or down arrow next to the item to move it up or down one position.

Note: To have new items appear at the top by default, click the gear icon while editing any list, and then click Add new items to the top. 

Your profile is the page users will visit when they want to find out more about you. Any time you create content in the catalog (by creating a list or adding a comment or quote to a title), users will be able to click your username to view your profile.

Your profile gives users links to your shelves, your lists, and your recent activity feed. You can customize your profile by adding a brief About Me, a link to your website or Twitter profile, and areas of interest to you. You can also present your own personalized rating scale, which will help other users understand what different star ratings mean to you.

► To view your profile

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Profile.
3. To the right of your username, click Add/Edit Profile Details.
4. Click the + icons to add information about yourself. All information is optional, but will be visible to other users who view your profile.

You will see other users’ names on many pages of the site, including the Recent Activity page, and the bibliographic records where other users have contributed comments.

To help you find the users and content that will be of most interest to you, librarians are indicated by their library’s logo.

When you click another user’s name, you’ll see their profile page. From the profile page, you can:

• view that person’s shelves and lists,
• follow a person, so that their activity—ratings and comments they add, for example—appears in your Newsfeed,
• ignore the person so you don’t see their comments.

When you follow someone, it means you’re interested in what they’re reading, watching or listening to. Following someone with similar tastes is one way to discover new items in the catalog you may want to borrow. If you’re familiar with Twitter or Instagram, you already understand the idea of following someone.

When people you follow contribute to the catalog, you’ll get a notification in your newsfeed. Your newsfeed will show:

• items they added to their shelves,
• lists they created,
• comments and ratings they added to specific titles,
• lists or comments by others that they liked.

► To follow someone

When you see a comment or list that you agree with or enjoy, do this:

1. Log in to your account.
2. Hover over the contributor’s username.
3. In the popup that appears, click Follow.

Note: The number of people you follow, and the number who are following you, are shown on your profile page. To manage the people you follow, click the Following link on your profile page to see all of the people you currently follow.

When you ignore another user, you do not see their comments on bibliographic records. Ignoring a user causes all of their comments to be screened so that they do not appear when you browse the library’s catalog.

Why Ignore Other Users?

This site provides all library members and staff with a forum to express opinions about books, DVDs and CDs they like or dislike. People’s tastes differ; there may be some opinions you would rather not read.

When you ignore another user, that user isn’t notified, nor is their ignored status viewable by anyone else. Adding someone to your Ignored Users list doesn’t affect their standing with other users at your library.

Ignoring doesn’t have to be forever. Any users you have chosen to block from your view are listed on your Ignored Users page, and can be easily removed from the list.

► To ignore a user

1. Log in to your account.
2. When you see a comment whose author you would like to ignore, point to their name (tap if you’re using a tablet or smartphone) and then click Ignore.
3. A message appears that the user has been added to your Ignored Users list.

► To stop ignoring a user

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. Find the user’s name on your Ignored Users page.
4. Click Unignore User.
5. A message appears confirming the user has been removed from your Ignored Users list.

Note: The content on your Ignored Users page is visible only to you. Your library will not share this information with anyone, under any circumstances. Please consult our Privacy Policy to learn more about how your library protects your private information.

The My Settings page displays personal information, including your name, barcode, month and year of birth, and library card expiry date. It also provides links to other configurable settings and preferences.

To protect your privacy when viewing this page in a public place, your barcode, name and birth information are hidden. Click display to see the information.

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.

Note: If your name or other personal information displayed is incorrect, contact the library to have it corrected.

You can change other settings and preferences from the My Settings page. Find the setting you want to change and click the Change link next to it.

For more information, see:

1. Account Information
2. Account Preferences
3. Privacy Settings
4. Profile 

The Account Information pages enable you to:

• change the email address associated with your account,
• change your username,
• specify whether the catalog shows your username or real name when you log in, and when you contribute content to the catalog, and
• change your PIN or password.

► To change your account information

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, find the Account Information section.
4. Click Change next to the setting you want to change.

Changing Your Email Address

Your email address is required if you ever need to reset your PIN/password. Your library may also use it to send you notifications of items that are overdue or for holds that are ready for pickup.

► To change your email address

1. Go to the Email Address page.
2. In the Email field, delete the current email address and enter the new one you want to use.
3. Click Save Changes.
4. Once you have entered a new address, a confirmation email will be sent to you. Your change will take effect only after you have responded to the confirmation message.

Notes:

• An email address is not required when you register. However, you cannot erase an existing address and leave the field blank.
• Your Digital Notification email is used to contact you when an eBook or downloadable audiobook is available. It can be different from the email address the library uses to contact you.

Setting Your Display Name

Your username is the name that will be displayed publicly next to any comments or summaries that you contribute to the site. You may also choose to use your real name. You created a username the first time you signed in and registered.

► To change your display name

1. Go to the Username page.
2. If you’d like to change your username, type the new name in the Username field.
3. By default, your username will appear in the catalog. If you’d like to use your real name, select Full Name from the Display in Public dropdown.
4. Click the Save Changes button.

Note: Regardless of whether you use your real name or your username as your public screen name, you must choose a username. You cannot leave the Username field blank.

Changing Your PIN/Password

Along with your barcode, you enter your PIN/password to log in to your account. It was provided to you when you got your library card. Depending on the system your library uses, your PIN may be a four-digit number, or it may be up to 25 digits that combine letters and numbers. To maintain security, it’s a good idea to change your PIN from the default that was issued to you.

► To change your PIN/password

1. Go to the PIN/Password page.
2. In the Old PIN field, enter your existing PIN.
3. In the New PIN field, enter the new PIN you want to use.
4. In the Confirm New PIN field, enter the new PIN again.
5. Click Save Password.

The Account Preferences pages enable you to:

• manage your saved searches,
• specify your default pickup location, and enable one-click holds,
• specify your default language (if your library catalog is provided in more than one language)
• specify whether not you want to see spoiler alerts and other flagged content, and
• enable or disable borrowing history.

► To change your account preferences

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, find the Account Preferences section.
4. Click Change next to the setting you want to change.

Saved Searches

If you frequently search for the same things in the library catalog, you can save your searches, so you can quickly rerun them when you want to. You can also edit and delete saved searches.

► To run or manage your saved searches

1. From the My Settings page, go to the Saved Searches page.
2. Click a search name to run it, or click its checkbox to delete it.

For more information, see Saving Searches and Managing and Running Saved Searches.

Holds and Pickup Location

If your library has more than one branch or location, and you use some more than others, you can define up to three locations as ones you use the most. The first location you specify is your default pickup location. If you are logged in and you place a hold, this location will be shown, so you don’t have to select it every time.

All locations affect search results. An item appearing in search results will show Available at preferred location, Available in some locations, or No copies available. You may find this useful if you live near one branch and work near another, and you want to determine which one has an available copy of an item you want. If your library has only one location, you won’t see a Holds and Pickup Location page in your Account Preferences.

► To change or add a pickup location

1. From the My Settings page, go to the Holds and Pickup Location page.
2. Your current default pickup location is shown. To change it, select a different one from the dropdown list.
3. To add another branch, click Add Another Location, and then select the branch from the dropdown list.
4. Click Save Changes.

Note: Enabling Single-Click Holds lets you bypass confirming your default pickup location. As the name suggests, your hold will be placed as soon as you click the Place Hold button. For details, see Enabling Single-Click Holds.

Community Content Defaults

The catalog enables large numbers of users to contribute content. The reporting system allows other users to identify inappropriate comments and other community-created content that contains spoilers or offensive content, while preserving everyone’s ability to express themselves.

By default, such content is visible but marked Tagged as Offensive or Contains Spoilers. If you would prefer not to see this content, turn these settings on.

You can always see individual comments by clicking the Show link.

► To hide flagged content

1. From the My Settings page, go to the Community Content Defaults page.
2. Click the appropriate setting to turn it on.

For more information on flagging inappropriate content and spoilers, see Reporting Inappropriate Content.

Borrowing History

Your library does not keep records of your borrowing without your permission. However, when you enable the Borrowing History feature, the system will start building a list of all the titles you borrow.

► To enable borrowing history

1. From the My Settings page, go to the Borrowing History page.
2. Click the setting to turn it on.

For more details about this feature, see Borrowing History.

Notes:

• If you don’t see a Borrowing History option under Account Preferences, this feature is not enabled at your library.
• Borrowing History is different from your Completed shelf. Your Completed shelf stores every item you rate or comment on. You can also add titles directly to this shelf, such as books you have at home. Borrowing History tracks items you borrow from your library. You can’t add items to this page.

Privacy settings control determine whether or not your interactions with catalog items—things you rate or comment on, add to your shelves or lists—are shared with other library users.

► To view your privacy settings

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, look for the Privacy section.

You have three “shelves” to keep track of items you borrow. The Completed shelf is where you can store everything you’ve read, watched or listened to. In Progress is the place for what you are reading, watching or listening to right now. For Later is like a wish list, a place to keep track of things you’d like to borrow in the future.

Shelf privacy settings allow you to control whether or not items you add to these shelves are visible to other library users by default. If these settings are off, anything you add is shared—visible to others. If you plan to add ratings or comments to things you’ve borrowed, you should make them shared. Otherwise, no one else will be able to see what you’ve contributed.

If you prefer, you can keep some or all of your shelves private.

► To change your shelf privacy settings

1. In the Privacy section, next to My Shelves, click Change.
2. On the My Shelves page, click the checkbox next to each shelf you want to change.
3. Click Save Changes.

Regardless of your default shelf setting, you can make individual items private or shared. See Excluding a Title from Shared View. That enables you to share the bulk of your items with others, while keeping a few titles private if you wish to.

Note: You can also make a list private. For details, see Creating Lists.

Your activity feed records your interactions with items in the catalog, and with content created by other library users. It shows:

• items you add to your shelves,
• lists you create,
• comments and ratings you add to specific titles,
• lists or comments by others that you like.

Your recent activity appears on your profile page. By default, it is shared and visible to anyone who views your profile page. Other library users who follow you will see your ratings, comments, lists and likes on their Newsfeed page.

If you prefer, you can keep your recent activity private. If you do so, other patrons who follow you won’t see your comments, ratings or other activity in their newsfeeds.

► To change your feeds privacy setting

1. In the Privacy section, next to My Feeds, click Change.
2. On the My Feeds page, click the checkbox to make your feeds private.
3. Click Save Changes.

Note: If you want to keep your feed shared, you can make individual items in your feed private. That will make them visible to you, but not to others. You can also remove items from your feed entirely.

Effective privacy controls are a cornerstone of open and engaged communities. To learn more about our privacy standards, please consult our Privacy Policy. There’s a link to the Privacy Policy at the bottom of every page.

Ignored Users
This site provides all library members and staff with a forum to express opinions about books, DVDs and CDs they like or dislike. People’s tastes differ; there may be some opinions you would rather not read.

When you ignore another user, you do not see their comments on bibliographic records. Ignoring a user causes all of their comments to be screened so that they do not appear when you browse the library’s catalog.

Ignoring doesn’t have to be forever. Any users you have chosen to block from your view are listed on your Ignored Users page, and can be easily removed from the list.

► To stop ignoring a user

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. Find the user’s name on your Ignored Users page.
4. Click Unignore User.
5. A message appears confirming the user has been removed from your Ignored Users list.

Community Credits

Each time you contribute information such as ratings, tags, comments or summaries, you receive community credits. Community credits are a way you can keep track of your contributions to the library’s catalog, and to the wider community of library users.

For details, see Community Credits.

Note: Not every library uses community credits. If you don’t see Community Credits on your My Settings page, your library has not enabled this feature.

!f you always pick up the items you borrow at the same location, you can configure your account to place holds with a single click. A single-click hold skips the choice of a pickup location and defaults to the same pickup location every time.

► To enable single-click holds

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, find the Account Preferences section.
4. Next to Holds and Pickup Locations, click Change.
5. Click the Single-Click Holds setting.
6. Click Save Changes.

Note: You can also enable Single-click holds from your On Hold page, and when you place a hold.

Changing Your Pickup Location

After you enable single-click holds, you can still change your default pickup location.

► To change your default pickup location

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, find the Account Preferences section.
4. Your current default pickup location is shown under Holds and Pickup Locations. Click Change to choose a new one.
5. Choose a new pickup location from the dropdown list.
6. Click Save Changes.

f you always pick up the items you borrow at the same location, you can configure your account to place holds with a single click. A single-click hold skips the choice of a pickup location and defaults to the same pickup location every time.

► To enable single-click holds

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, find the Account Preferences section.
4. Next to Holds and Pickup Locations, click Change.
5. Click the Single-Click Holds setting.
6. Click Save Changes.

Note: You can also enable Single-click holds from your On Hold page, and when you place a hold.

Changing Your Pickup Location

After you enable single-click holds, you can still change your default pickup location.

► To change your default pickup location

1. Log in to your account.
2. On the menu, click My Settings.
3. On the My Settings page, find the Account Preferences section.
4. Your current default pickup location is shown under Holds and Pickup Locations. Click Change to choose a new one.
5. Choose a new pickup location from the dropdown list.
6. Click Save Changes.