Can't find a book among readers? Now you can ask the bookstores near you.
- Ask stores for a book. Pick a title, add a note or a budget if you like, and send it to as many local stores as you want in one go. Stores in your city are ticked for you.
- Compare offers. Each store that has it replies with its copy, condition and price. Offers are listed cheapest first, and you get an email as they come in.
- Reserve for 12 hours. Reserve the offer you like and the store holds it for 12 hours. You get a pickup code to show at the counter, the store's address and phone, and a live countdown. Pay at the store when you collect. Nothing is charged through SwapBooks.
- Reserve straight off the shelf. Stores can also list the books they have in stock. Reserve one from the store's page, or see which stores have a title on its book page.
- Run a bookstore. Open your store from the new Stores page, add staff, and switch to store mode to work from your request inbox, the holds waiting for pickup, and your stock. You can take requests, list stock, or do both. Find a hold by its pickup code, mark it collected once paid, or give the reader 12 more hours.
- Stores in search. Bookstores now show up in search next to libraries and people.
- Smoother all round. Pages fade in when you move around the app, menus and notifications animate in and out, and buttons show a spinner while they work. Book lists cascade in, books without a cover get a placeholder, and empty pages now suggest what to do next.
- Clearer and easier to use. Conditions and listing types read as words ("Like new", "For sale") instead of codes. Error messages stay up longer and can be dismissed. Menus close with Escape, and keyboard users get a clear focus outline. On phones the menu opens over the page instead of pushing it down.
You can now gift a book to a library, not only to another reader.
- Donate from your books. Choose Gift on a book, switch to "To a library", and search for the library by name or city.
- The library decides. A librarian sees the offer in the library's Donations tab and accepts or declines it. Until then the book is held, and you can cancel from Transfer requests.
- It joins the shelf. When a library accepts, the book is added to the library's books and can be lent out. It leaves your own books, and its history records the gift.
Books you donate to a library no longer disappear from your records.
- Donated tab. My books has a new Donated tab listing every book a library has accepted from you, with the library and the date.
- Read-only history. Open a donated book to see its photos, details and full ownership history. You can look but not change it.
SwapBooks now supports lending libraries alongside swapping and selling between readers.
- Create a library. Give it a name and a place, and add other librarians to help run it. You can run more than one library.
- Add books in bulk. Paste or upload a list of ISBNs, or scan barcodes with your camera, and the title and author fill in automatically. Print a sheet of QR stickers for the shelf.
- Check books out and in by scanning. Scan a sticker, pick the member, and the loan is logged with a due date. Set the library's default loan period in its settings.
- Reminders and overdue. Borrowers get a reminder by email or WhatsApp before a book is due and again when it is late. Librarians see who has what, and for how many days it is overdue.
- Join a library. Enter a library's join code, or request to join from its page. Librarians can require approval first.
- Browse a library. Libraries show up in search. Members can see which books are available and when borrowed ones are due back.
- Library mode. Switch to library mode from your profile menu to work on a library's books, loans and members.
- Address and map. Add a full address and a Google Maps link to your library, so members can find it from its page.
- Add members by hand. Librarians can add a member who has no SwapBooks account by entering their name and an email, a phone, or both. Each contact is verified with a one-time code the member reads out, and only verified contacts get loan reminders. People who already have an account need to request to join themselves.
- Keep track of books from people not on SwapBooks. Librarians can edit a manually added member's details and record a book they are holding for them. It shows under your borrowed books and in your ledger until you return it, with no approval needed.