Setting up your library

A freshly created library works out of the box, but a few minutes of setup makes it feel polished and ready for members. This guide walks through the four items on the setup checklist — the card at the top of your admin dashboard (open your library and tap Manage). Items tick off automatically as you go, so there’s nothing to mark by hand.

If you haven’t created your library yet, start with Creating a library and come back here when you’re done. Right after creation you’ll also see a celebration on your library page with a preview of these same four items; the full interactive checklist is on the dashboard.

The checklist tracks:

Add a cover image and logo
Add your first book (or Share books you already own, if you already have books in My Books)
Invite your first member
Review your library settings — submission, lending, and location

The checklist counts only those four items (for example, 2 of 4 complete — your Home page reminder shows the same number). Three more tasks appear only while they’re needed: Add your library’s location (opens Settings → Location), Add a pickup spot, and Add a photo of the pickup spot (both open Settings → Pickup spots). They show under Needs attention on your admin dashboard, and your Home page reminder names them too. New libraries collect a location and a first spot during creation, so the first two usually stay hidden. The photo is optional on that first spot, so Add a photo of the pickup spot stays open until you save one. Editing a spot or adding another one requires a photo to save. These tasks can’t be dismissed, and the checklist can’t finish while one is open — they disappear on their own once the missing piece is in place.

Polish Your Library Profile

The identity settings give your library a face. Open your library, tap Manage, then go to Settings → Library identity. Under Cover & logo, tap:

Add cover — a wide banner shown at the top of your library page and in share-link previews
Add logo — a small square icon shown in the sidebar, search results, and member lists

Below that, edit your Description — a short paragraph telling members what your library is about.

The checklist item ticks off automatically once you’ve added a cover image and a logo. (Description is bonus — strongly recommended, but not required for this step.) You don’t need professional graphics or photos — a clear photo of your bookshelf or a simple text-on-color logo works perfectly. You can always swap them later.

Add Your First Book

A library with nothing to borrow yet is hard to get excited about, so add a handful of books before you invite anyone.

If you already have books in My Books, the checklist item reads Share books you already own and opens Manage sharing so you can share them into this library (Share all is one tap). Right after you create the library we also ask this on the library page. Not now asks again the next time you open the library. Skip on the checklist row stops that question. See Sharing books with a library.

If My Books is empty, tap Add books from your library page and either:

Scan a barcode with your phone camera — fastest for physical books
Search by title or author — useful for older books without barcodes
Enter an ISBN — handy when you have the number but not the book in hand

You don’t need a complete catalog — even 10 to 20 books gives new members something to browse and a sense of what your library is about. The checklist item ticks off as soon as your first book is in the library (added or shared). See Adding books for the full walkthrough.

Invite Your First Member

Once the library has a face and a few books, it’s time to share it. Open Manage → Promote for everything you need:

Invite by email — send personal invites that arrive as a branded email
Share your library — pick between your page link (people see your library’s preview and request to join, you approve) and your instant-join link (anyone who taps it joins instantly)
Print flyer & QR code — a one-page printable to post on a bulletin board

The checklist item completes as soon as you send your first invite or create your instant-join link — no need to wait for someone to accept. Start small: invite one or two people you trust, see how the experience feels, then expand. Promoting your library covers each tool in detail.

Review Your Settings

The final checklist item walks you through the three settings panels every library has — submission workflow, lending rules, and location. Tapping the item opens the next panel you haven’t visited yet. The item ticks off automatically once you’ve opened all three.

Submission workflow

Go to Manage → Settings → Submission workflow to choose:

Manual approval (the default) — you review each new book before it goes live
Auto-approve — books from members appear instantly

If you trust your members and want zero friction, auto-approve is great. If you want a curated collection, keep manual approval and assign an admin to review the queue. See Understanding book approval for the reviewer’s view.

Lending rules

Set how borrowing works in your library at Manage → Settings → Lending rules:

Loan length — how long members can keep a borrowed book before it’s due back (default is 21 days; range 7–90)
Where library books are kept — the default for library-owned books: on the open shelf (borrowers pick it up themselves) or in storage / behind the desk (a volunteer sets it out first). You can override this per book from Inventory (book row → Pickup method).
Renewals — whether borrowers can ask for more time before a loan is due. Days per renewal sets how far each renewal pushes the due date out (default is 14 days; range 0–30). Renewals per loan (default is 1; range 0–5) caps how many renewals a borrower gets once someone joins the waitlist — with nobody waiting, renewals auto-approve and aren’t capped. Set it to 0 to turn renewals off entirely. See How lending works for the borrower’s side.
Pickup days — the days of the week your pickup spots are open (for a church library, often just Sunday). Those days are marked with a dot on both the lender Give more time calendar and the borrower Renew calendar, so a new due date can land on a day the book can actually change hands. Confirm-pickup nudges and pickup-window reminders follow these same days. Leave every day off if your pickup times vary — reminders then follow the clock instead of waiting for a particular weekday.
Timezone — loan due dates, pickup windows, and early return dates end at 11:59 PM in this timezone. It’s detected automatically from your library’s address (or, if your library has no address yet, from the device that created the library) — if the panel asks you to confirm it, take a second to check it’s right.

Lending rules don’t save as you go: change what you need, then confirm from the save bar that appears at the bottom. Saved changes apply to loans picked up afterwards — active loans keep the due date they already have.

For most libraries the defaults are fine. Tighten the loan length if your collection is small and you want books to circulate quickly; loosen it if your members read slowly or live far away.

Location

Your library’s address lives at Manage → Settings → Location. It gives members useful context — like how far away the library is, shown in their local units — and helps everyone coordinate pickups. It’s never used to make your library findable: every library is invite-only, and only people you share a link with can join. See Library types and visibility for the full breakdown.

You can update it here anytime. If your library doesn’t have an address yet, the setup checklist’s Add your library’s address row brings you here.

Tips

Polish before you promote. A library with a description, cover image, and a few books is far more inviting than a blank one. Spend ten minutes here before sharing your invite link widely.
Promote a co-admin early. If anyone is helping you run the library, give them the Admin role from the Members tab so they can approve books, handle invites, and adjust settings. See Understanding member roles.
You can change anything later. None of these settings are permanent — adjust them as your library grows and you learn what works.

What’s Next?

Add more books — Add more books to the library
Promote your library — Get the word out
Manage members — Handle join requests and roles
Understand member roles — Decide who can do what

Still Need Help?

If something in your library settings isn’t behaving the way you expect, contact support.