Browsing Without an Account

You don’t need an account to look around Agathos Books. Anyone can discover nearby libraries, browse what’s on their shelves, and read book details. You only need to sign up when you’re ready to do something — borrow a book, save a favorite, or join a library.

What You Can Do as a Guest

Without signing in, you can:

Discover libraries near you — Find public libraries in your area using your location or a ZIP code
Browse a library’s collection — See every book a public library has shared
Open book details — Read titles, authors, descriptions, and see which library has the book
Follow share links — Open invitation and library links friends send you in messages

What Requires an Account

A few things are gated behind sign-up — mostly anything that involves your own data or interacting with a library:

Joining a library or requesting to join
Borrowing a book or joining a waitlist
Saving a book to your reading list or favorites
Adding books to your personal collection
Reacting to community activity
Creating your own library

When you tap one of these actions as a guest, the app prompts you to create a free account and continues where you left off after sign-up.

Finding Libraries Near You

Open agathosbooks.com and tap Browse Books First (or Explore First on the welcome screen)
Allow location access when prompted, or tap Enter ZIP code to search by postal code
Browse the nearby libraries that appear

Private libraries don’t appear in nearby results — only public libraries are discoverable.

Viewing a Library’s Books

Tap any library card to open its page. You’ll see the library’s name, description, member count, book count, and the full list of books they’ve shared.

From there you can tap any book to read its details, or tap Create Account to Join when you’re ready to become a member.

See Creating your account for the sign-up flow.

Creating your account

Still Need Help?

If you have questions about browsing as a guest, contact support.