Sharing Books with a Library

Share your personal books with a library to make them available for other members to borrow.

How Sharing Works

When you share a book with a library:

1. The book appears in the library’s collection
2. Other members can see it and request to borrow it
3. You still own the book — You approve each loan request
4. The book stays in your personal collection too

Sharing is different from giving away. You’re making your book available to lend, not transferring ownership.

Sharing a Book

1. Go to Collection and open the book you want to share
2. Tap the Your copy bar near the top of the book page (it shows how many copies you own and where the book is shared), then tap Manage
3. In the Sharing section of the dialog, toggle on the library you want to share with
4. If required, wait for admin approval

Note: Your book may need admin approval before it appears in the library. Admins review submissions to ensure books fit the library’s collection.

Approval Status

When you share a book, it may be:

• Auto-approved — If you’re a library admin/owner or a trusted member
• Waiting for admin — Waiting for a library admin to review
• Approved — Visible in the library
• Rejected — Not accepted (you’ll see the reason if provided)

You’ll receive a notification when your book is approved or rejected.

Per-Library Sharing

You can share a book with one library but not another:

• Share at your church library but not your book club
• Temporarily stop lending in one library while keeping it active elsewhere
• Control where each book is available

Each library has its own toggle in the book’s Your copy manage dialog.

Managing All Your Sharing for a Library

To share or unshare many books at once, use the Sharing page instead of toggling each book individually:

1. Go to My Books and tap Sharing, below the search bar (if you belong to more than one library, pick which library first)
2. The Sharing page shows every book in your collection with its sharing status for that library
3. Toggle books on or off individually, or use Share All / Unshare All
4. Search and filter by status (Shared, Not Shared, Pending, Declined) to focus the list

The library you’re managing is shown at the top of the page. If you belong to more than one library, use the library selector there to switch without leaving the page.

You can also reach this page from a library: open the library and tap Share your books.

If you already have books when you join a library, Agathos may prompt you to Share All after the welcome orientation — that opens Manage Sharing with the Share All confirmation ready. You can also open the library and tap Share your books.

Note: The Pending filter here tracks library submission approval (whether the library admin has accepted your book). It’s separate from the catalog review link on My Books, which tracks Agathos Books’ platform catalog review.

When Someone Requests Your Book

When a library member wants to borrow your shared book:

1. You receive a notification
2. Review the borrower’s request and reliability score
3. Tap Approve to start the loan, or Decline if you can’t lend right now

See How lending works for the full loan process.

Reading a Shared Book

If you mark a book you’re sharing as Currently Reading, Agathos may ask whether to take it off the shared shelf while you read:

1. Choose Take it off the shelf to keep the copy for yourself — libraries can’t request it until you finish
2. Or choose Leave it shared if you’re fine with loan requests while reading

The book stays shared with your libraries (this is different from turning sharing off). When you mark it finished or paused, you may be asked to Make available again.

You can also restore availability anytime from the book’s Your copy → Manage panel while it’s kept for your reading.

Reading a household copy (home libraries)

In a home library, if you mark Currently Reading on a copy another household member shared into that home library, Agathos may ask the same question — take that household listing off the shelf while you read. The owner keeps the sharing connection and gets a short alert that you held the copy. Only you (the reader) or the owner can put it back on the shelf when you’re done.

Stopping Sharing

To remove a book from a library:

1. Open the book
2. Tap the Your copy bar, then Manage
3. Toggle off the library in the Sharing section

Note: You can’t stop sharing if the book currently has an active loan in that library. Wait for the loan to complete first.

Tips

• Check your notification settings — You’ll want to know when someone requests your book
• Keep your availability updated — If you’re traveling, pause lending in Settings instead of unsharing books (unsharing may need admin approval again)
• Reading your own shared book — Use the take-off-the-shelf prompt so members don’t request the copy you’re using

Related Articles

• Understanding book approval
• Adding books to your collection

Still Need Help?

If you have questions about sharing books, contact support.