Understanding your track record

Your track record is a plain record of how you’ve borrowed and lent books — no score and no grade. When you ask to borrow someone’s book, they see one short line about how you’ve returned books, and a heads-up only if something needs their attention.

What owners see when you ask to borrow

When you request a book, the owner — or the library volunteer confirming it — sees:

Your returns from the last 12 months, like “Returned 6 of 6 books on time”, or “No returns yet” if you haven’t returned any.
Whether you’ve borrowed from them before — for example “Borrowed from you twice before” or “First time borrowing from you”.
A heads-up, only if one applies — one short sentence, explained below.

That’s all. Owners never see a number or a grade. They see the same line if they ask for a book back early.

To see exactly what owners see, open Settings → Your track record.

What a heads-up is

A heads-up is a one-sentence note owners see when your recent borrowing needs a little attention. It says what happened, never what the owner should decide — saying yes or no is always up to them.

Heads-up	When it appears	How it goes away
A book that’s overdue	You have a book a week or more past its due date	As soon as the book is returned
Late returns	2 or more of your returns in the last 6 months were more than a week late	After your next 3 on-time returns
Missed pickups	You missed 2 or more pickups in the last 90 days	After your next 3 on-time returns, or 90 days without a missed pickup
A loan dispute	You were found at fault in a loan dispute in the last 6 months	6 months after the dispute

A return a few days late never starts a heads-up, and neither does a single missed pickup. An overdue book keeps counting while a dispute about it is open — a dispute isn’t a return.

When a heads-up starts, we tell you in the app and by email: what owners will see and how it goes away. When it’s gone, you’ll get a note in the app.

Library books you’d normally check out yourself: while you have a heads-up, a request for a library book you could usually take right away waits for a library volunteer instead. Before you send it, the book shows Needs admin approval and the button reads Send request instead of Borrow now. After you send it you’ll see “A library volunteer will confirm this request.”, and the request shows “Waiting for a library volunteer” on the book’s page and in Loans.

Your track record page

Open Settings → Your track record, or the Your track record link on your Loans page (at the bottom on a phone, in the right-hand column on a computer). You’ll find:

What owners see when you ask to borrow — exactly the line owners see, and how your heads-up goes away if you have one.
As a borrower — your on-time returns, late returns, and missed pickups over the last 12 months, and your recent borrowing.
As a lender — how you’ve answered requests (within a day, later, or not at all), your handoffs on time or missed, and your recent lending.
Lending availability — whether lending is paused, with a link to change it in Settings.

If you undo something — say, a return you marked by mistake — it and the undo both drop out of your recent activity.

As a lender

When a book has more than one lender, the list you choose from shows how quickly each one answers: Usually answers within a day or Can take a few days to answer. A lender shows no label until they’ve had at least 3 requests in the last year. Lenders you’ve borrowed from before are listed first, then those who answer fastest.

Your own label works the same way. Answering within a day is what counts — and declining is an answer. You’re never expected to say yes.

Pause your lending when life happens

If you can’t lend right now (vacation, busy season, recovering from something), go to Settings → Lending availability and tap Pause lending — or use Pause lending on your Loans page (a link at the top of the Lending tab on a phone, a button in the right-hand column on a computer). While paused:

You won’t receive new borrow requests.
Your shared books show as unavailable (“Lending paused on every copy” when yours is the only copy), and in the lender picker your copy shows as unavailable so borrowers can pick a different lender.
Members who still want your book can join the waitlist — when you resume, the first person in line is automatically notified that it’s their turn.
Requests you decline while paused don’t count against your lending record.

Resume any time. Active loans you’ve already started continue normally.

Set a start and end date. Leave both empty to pause now and indefinitely, or pick:

An end date to resume automatically (e.g. pause until you’re back). Anyone waitlisted for your books is notified when the pause ends, just like a manual resume.
A start date to schedule a pause in advance — handy when you already know the dates you’ll be away. Until the start date arrives the pause is scheduled and you stay fully available; it activates on its own when the window opens.

When a pause is active or scheduled, the Loans page shows a clear status line with a quick Resume (or Manage for scheduled pauses) so it never slips your mind.

Tips

Return books by the due date, or ask for more time before it passes.
Answer borrow requests within a day, even if the answer is no.
If you can’t lend right now, pause lending instead of letting requests go unanswered.

Still Need Help?

If you have questions about your track record, contact support.