User Guide

Book Shelves is your personal book catalogue and a live map of free street bookcases, little free libraries and book swaps near you. Everything works offline, and it's free. This guide walks through what you can do.

Your library — scan and catalogue your books

• Tap Add Book to add a book. Use Scan to read a barcode/ISBN with your camera, or snap the cover and we'll read the title and author for you.
• Many Israeli books have no ISBN — scanning the barcode still identifies them.
• Search your library by title, author, ISBN, notes or location, and filter by ownership, reading status or genre.
• Mark each book's status: considering, owned, borrowed, or let go.

The community map — bookcases near you

• Open Bookcases to see a live map of street bookcases, little free libraries, bookshops, temporary "wild" book drops, and books people are offering nearby.
• Toggle each layer on and off — your choice is remembered.
• Tap a bookcase pin for its details: photos, a freshness score, recent check-ins, directions and a Street View link.
• Don't see a bookcase that exists? Tap Add a cabinet to put it on the map (a photo helps).

Check in at a bookcase

• Standing at a bookcase? Tell the community whether it's full or empty, and add a photo. This keeps the map fresh for everyone.
• Scan a bookcase's QR sticker to jump straight to its check-in.
• You can also report "I looked — it's not here." Check-ins need your location only to confirm you're actually there — it's never stored or shared.

Report a temporary book pile

• Found free books someone left out — on a wall, a bench, or a "take one" box that isn't a permanent bookcase? Drop a temporary marker on the map with a photo, so people nearby can grab them before they're gone.
• These markers are short-lived — they fade from the map after a few hours.

Ask for a bookcase where there isn't one

• Wish there were a street library on your corner? On Bookcases, tap 🙏 Ask for a cabinet, then tap the map where one is needed — a corner, a park, a bus stop. Pick a public spot, not your own doorstep (the pin is visible to everyone).
• Neighbours can see your request and add their vote. The more people who want one there, the better the chance it actually gets set up.
• When you vote we ask one quick, anonymous question: would you bring books, mostly take, or help look after it? It shows whether a spot would really thrive — a cabinet with book-bringers and someone to tend it lasts; one with only takers just sits empty.
• Share a spot to gather votes — paste the link in your neighbourhood group. Tap notify me and we'll tell you if a bookcase appears there.

Share, swap and give away books

• Offer any book in your library to the community: give it away, swap it, or sell it.
• Choose how: leave it in a bookcase (a drop spot), or keep it and let people message you.
• List it publicly or anonymously — public listings show only a rough area (~2 km), never your address.
• Browse Available nearby to find books others are offering close to you.

Wishlist — books you're hunting for

• Add books you want to your Wishlist. When someone nearby offers a match, you're matched automatically.

Messages

• Contact a book's holder from within the app — your email stays private. The 🔔 bell shows new replies.

Track your reading & insights

• Open a book's reading tracker to log status, dates, progress, a rating and a review.
• The Insights dashboard turns that into your personal reading stats.

Speed reader — and open your own books

• The Speed reader helps you read at your own pace — one word at a time, or with a moving highlight.
• Paste text, or open a file: EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, PDF, TXT and Markdown. Books open as a chapter list and remember where you stopped.

Works offline · install as an app

• Book Shelves is a Progressive Web App: it works offline and can be installed to your home screen like a native app (look for Install in Settings).
• Your library is stored on your device; signing in (optional) syncs it and unlocks the community features.

Languages, theme & accessibility

• Switch between English, Russian and Hebrew (Hebrew is right-to-left) any time in Settings.
• Choose a light or dark theme and adjust the text size.
• We aim for WCAG 2.1 AA — see the Accessibility statement.

Your account & privacy

• Use the app anonymously, or sign in with Google to sync your library and build reputation for community actions.
• We ask for location only when you use a location feature, and only to confirm you're at a spot — it's never stored or shared. You can delete your account and data at any time.

Coming soon

• Subscribe to book events near you — swaps, giveaways and pop-up libraries — and get a heads-up when something's happening nearby. (In the works.)

Get help

• Questions or feedback? Email us at book.repository.vg@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you.