Q: What are shelves for?
A: Your My Shelves pages gather in one place all the titles that you have read, watched or listened to (Completed), are currently enjoying (In Progress) or would like to borrow in the future (For Later). Items are added to your Completed shelf automatically whenever you add a rating, comment or other type of content. You can also add titles manually by clicking the Add to My Shelves link from search results, or a title’s details page.
Q: Why are things automatically saved to my Completed shelf?
A: Titles are saved to your Completed shelf when you rate, tag or add comments to them. It’s designed to provide a snapshot of you and your interests, a gathering together of titles on which you’ve offered an opinion. Although you can add titles manually, adding them automatically saves you time.
Q: How do I add things to my shelves?
A: On any of your My Shelves pages, click the Add New Title link, and then search for the title you want to add. In search results, and from a title’s details page, look for the Add to My Shelves link.
Q: Can I add books I own and have at home?
A: Of course. If the title is in your library’s catalogue, you can add it. If you wish, you can use the Edit Details sidebar to mark items you own.
Q: If I already have a list of books in other places (for example, Amazon Wishlist, LibraryThing), can I import them here?
A: Not at the moment. We hope to add that feature in an upcoming release.
Q: Can other people see what’s on my shelves?
A: Yes. However, if you would prefer that others not see a specific title on your shelves, you can mark the item as private. When another member views your shelf, the title will not be visible. The entries that are left in public view will be available to other users in your library, in other libraries, and on the World Wide Web. You can also specify a default privacy setting for each of your Completed, In Progress and For Later shelves. See My Account > Privacy.
Q: What is the relationship between my privacy settings and the content I contribute, like comments and tags?
A: By default, your shelves are shared and any content you add (for example, a comment) is shared with the community. If you mark an item as private, or if you have changed your shelf settings to private, then the content you contribute is not shared. If you want to change the share settings for all content you add, you can do so by clicking the My Settings link at the top of the page, and then clicking the Privacy tab. If you want to mark one item as private, go to the shelf, click the Add Details link next to the item, and then click Keep this item private. For more details, see Excluding a Title from Public View.
Q: What happens if the library discards an item I have on my shelf?
A: Any item you add to one of your shelves remains there until you remove it, even if the library no longer owns it.