Dear Members,

Whew! What a month it has been. The new site rolled out on May 14th, as you know, and after a flurry of bugfixes, all has been well. We appreciate your patience with them, and your efforts in reporting any problems you had; with our members' help, we were able to get everything smoothed out quickly. We also appreciate all the suggestions that were made for "tweaks" to the interface, and most of them have been incorporated. The site will continue to evolve, of course--it is a work in progress always--but we are happy with how it looks and works now, and according to the feedback we have received, so are most of you! Thanks so much for all your messages and help. If we haven't gotten to your suggestion yet, don't worry, it's on our list of things to consider!

Now that the new site design is in place, we can get to implementing some of the new features we have had planned. We liked the old site, too, but it was upgraded about as far as we could take it. Now that PBS 2.0 is in place, some great ideas can become reality. We think you will love what's coming!

A word to all our military members and families--we hope that this past Memorial Day found your loved ones safe. To those who have sacrificed so much serving our country, we give our unending gratitude. Military addresses at PBS are listed as (city/state) APO/AE or FPO/AE. We encourage all of our "stateside" members to request books from these addresses--every book sent out will get the military member a credit to get another book. When you're far from home, books in English can seem like a lifeline. You can use the Search to find these members: just click Search in the toolbar at the top of the site, choose "Browse Member Books" and enter APO or FPO in the field for city; choose AE from the dropdown menu for State.

And of course, everyone, don't forget to sign the petition to Stop the Fires and Save the Books! Send the message that there are people who still love reading--and many of them are at PBS.

Thanks as always,

The PaperBackSwap Team

NEWS:

What's New? This month, it's more like what's NOT new. What's NOT new is that membership and the library of available books continue to grow, and posting and sending books (and as always, reading, reading, reading!) continue apace at PBS. New features on the site introduced last month include:

FABIL (Find a Book I'll Like), which offers book recommendations based on books you have rated as having enjoyed, books you have indicated interest in by putting them on your Wish List, and books your Friends have liked. Book Recommendations was one of the most-requested new features on the PBS Survey in March; we are really happy with the way FABIL turned out! You can get to this feature under My Lists, in My Account. Be sure to rate the books you have read (using the 5-star rating scale), to help FABIL make recommendations to you!

Rating Member Reviews. Now there is a thumbs up/thumbs down choice on every Member Review (on the Book Details page, or in the list of Recent Member Reviews accessed under Search in the toolbar at the top of any page on the site). You can also see what other members have thought of YOUR reviews (how many have clicked thumbs-up after reading a review you wrote) by looking at your reviews linked from your PBS Profile. If anyone has rated your review, it will show in a legend on the review itself: "6 of 7 members found this review helpful" means that 6 people clicked thumbs-up, and one clicked thumbs-down on that review. You can review books from your Bookshelf (click Write Review to the right of any book), or by clicking the down-arrow button on the right of any Book Details page, and choosing "Write Review" from the options. As always, Reviews must NOT include any information about a particular copy of a book. We hear over and over again from members that reviews are often the deciding factor when they are considering requesting a book. Let your "voice" be heard!

The Transaction Archive: Now you can see all of your past swaps in one place! You can sort by incoming/outgoing, type of swap (completed successfully, lost, canceled, Problem), title, author, date requested and date received. You can mark Lost or Canceled books received there, and in doing so give credit to the senders of those books (doing this is mandatory for a Lost book that arrives; it is optional for a Canceled book that arrives). Remember, the Transaction Archive contains only PAST swaps. Your ACTIVE transactions are in My Account--click My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site, and scroll down if necessary to see the different tabs: Books I've Requested, Requested From Me, Books to Mail, En Route to Me, Books I've Mailed. Clicking the tabs in My Account will reveal the books in each category of your active swaps. You can read more about how to use the Transaction Archive in the Help Center. You can also read more about how to find things in the new site layout in the Help Center, under the heading "PBS 2.0--What's New".

Browser Search Plugins for Firefox and IE: These allow you to search PaperBackSwap from anywhere on the Internet! That means if you are on another site and see a book you are interested in, you can just type the information into your PBS search field (which should be to the right of your web address field at the top of your browser: choose PBS from the options in the dropdown menu there), and search PBS right there. Please see the link at the bottom of any page on the site or go to the page Browser Search Plug-Ins and click the button there to install this feature.

Book List Import Bookmark: This allows you to import ISBNs from any page on any site where you see ISBNs, into any list on your account. Click the link at the bottom of any page on the site or go to the page Book List Import Bookmark, for instructions on how to use this feature with Firefox or IE. When you use this feature, you just have to be on a page with ISBNs you want to import, click the Book List Import bookmark you have put into your bookmarks (or "favorites") folder, and you will see a screen giving you a list of importable IBSNs. Click to place checkmarks in the ISBNs you want to import. The next screen will ask to which list you would like to import them (Bookshelf, Wish List, Reminder List, Books I've Read List or TBR Pile), and it will be done!

My Account To Do List: If there is a checkmark on the right side of the toolbar at the top of the page when you login, that means you have things on your To Do list. Place your cursor over the checkmark to see a menu of alerts drop down: pending requests, pending Wish List offers, transactions that need to be marked mailed, unread Personal Messages, new Box-O-Books offers, books to mark received when they arrive. You can access this menu from anywhere on the site and click any item in the list to be taken to the corresponding area of the site. The checkmark will NOT appear if you have nothing on your To Do list (no active transactions, unread PMs or new Box-O-Books offers).

Genre Discussion Forum Lineup: After much feedback, many suggestions and much monitoring of how the different Discussion Forums were being used, the lineup was changed on 5/31. Some unused forums were cut, some were renamed, and some were added. Those that were renamed may be in a different place alphabetically than before, but all the previous topics were preserved. Check out the lineup on the Main Discussion Forum page.

Member News:

Jessie opening her surprise-shower gifts. See A PBS Shower of Affection, below.

A PBS Shower of Affection: Jessie M. (checkingmypulse) thought she was just playing another Swap Game in the Games Forum. Little did she know the whole thing was a SHAM! The theme of the game was "Scouting for New Kitchenware", and Lori G (auntielala) was the hostess. The conspirators selected kitchen gadgets related to the title of a book, and pretended to send the items to their "swap friends". Jessie had no idea that this was all fake--that everyone in the game was collecting things to send to HER, as a PBS wedding shower! It was an intricate and flawless conspiracy: the "con artists" posted fake DC #s and described the items they'd "received"; one even wailed about the package she'd sent possibly having been lost in the mail. Jessie, completely unsuspecting, dutifully packed up a kitchen gadget and sent it off. Then the packages started to arrive at Jessie's house! A Kitchen Aid mixer, muffin tins, mixing bowls, serving dishes...the list goes on and on. Even biscuits for Jessie's dog Scout! Read the list of participants and the "booty" Jessie received here. See Mendy V (Mendy)'s slideshow of the shower (with music!) here. Best wishes to Jessie and Greta, whose wedding is in August.

Stop the Fires - Save the Books. Read about the book-burning here. We got thousands of signatures on the petition in just the first few hours. We hope that the bookstore owners will agree to give the books to PBS; if not, we hope that the books will go to another good cause. We trust them to make the appropriate decision. The PBS petition is meant to show how serious PBS is with our offer, and that there are many real readers in America, who are eager to give those "orphaned" books new homes! Thanks to everyone who has pledged a donation to support the PBS rescue project. We'll let you know as soon as we hear the outcome of this.

PBS Store News: Summertime--time to hit the beach! And what accessory could be more useful than a PBS tote? Why, a PBS T-shirt of course! Order it large and wear it as a swimsuit coverup while you lounge in the sun with a book! Check out the Store in the Kiosk. For an excellent demonstration of how roomy the Tote is, we thank Kristina W (webb5), who provided the following photo.

"It's comfy in here!" Katrina W (webb5)'s son has found a new mode of transportation.

DEAR R&R

Dear R&R--I am bothered by your denouncement of the bookstore owner who had to burn his books. He did it to send a message--didn't you get that?!? People in America don't read anymore, and he tried to give his books away, and nobody wanted them! You shouldn't blame him for trying to get the message out. And there are plenty of good causes to which those books could be donated. Why should PBS get them? --Inquiring in Indiana

Dear Inky,

The Stop the Fires - Save the Books petition is not intended to denounce Mr. Wayne! We do understand the message that he was trying to get across: that reading has declined in America to the point where he could not even GIVE books away. We sympathize with his frustration at not being able to find a home for these books. The PBS petition is meant to let him know that there ARE still readers in America--and many of them are at PBS! We are pleased to know that other groups are interested also; we trust the bookstore owners to make the decision about who should get the books. We know that PBS members would put the books to good use, but of course we will be happy also if the books go to another group--as long as they don't get burned!

Dear R&R, I received two books, but can't find them in my Transaction Archive when I went to mark them received! I requested the books, and then they just disappeared from my account. Where did they go? --Perplexed in Petaluma

Dear Lexie,

When you receive a book, the first place you should look to mark it received is on the En Route to Me tab in My Account. The Transaction Archive holds only PAST transactions--not those that are still active. To get to your En Route to Me tab, click My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site, and scroll down if necessary to see the En Route to Me tab. If you have books to mail or books newly requested from you, the Books to Mail tab or Requested from Me tab will show by default; the En Route to Me tab will be to the right. Click that tab and you should see your books, which you can mark received as usual.

Dear R&R--I looked at the new Transaction Archive, and I see that some books I sent (and thought I got credit for!) were canceled! I also see that books I marked received were canceled! Didn't these books get marked received correctly? Did I get credits for the books I sent? Did the senders get credits for those books I received?? I am really confused. How did this happen? --Panicked in Palo Alto

Dear Pan,

The Transaction Archive is very useful, and a huge improvement over the previous site design, but you do need to familiarize yourself with how to use it properly. Remember that ACTIVE transactions will not appear in the Transaction Archive. ACTIVE transactions are on the tabs in My Account: click My Account and scroll down if necessary to see the different tabs (Requested From Me, Books to Mail, Books I've Requested, En Route to Me, Wish List Holds). Clicking each tab will show you the active transactions in that category. (If you do not have any active transactions in that category, no corresponding tab will appear on My Account.)

The Transaction Archive (TA) shows ALL PAST TRANSACTIONS, which include canceled, lost, problem and successfully completed transactions. That means that one title may be appear in more than one transaction. For example, if one sender declined to send you a book, that transaction will appear in your TA as "Canceled" (red X on icon to left of transaction). And then when the request was passed along to a new sender who sent the book, and then you marked it received, that second transaction **for the same title** will also appear in your TA, but as "Completed Successfully" (green checkmark on icon to left of transaction). You can see more information about the status of a book by putting your cursor over the icon to the left of it and seeing the text that pops up.

When you mark a book received, it will give the sender credit. If you are unsure if you have done this for a book you received, simply sort the TA by "Requested by Me" - "All" - "title" - "Descending". Then scroll down to look at all the transactions for that specific title. If one of them has a green checkmark beside it, you marked that copy received. You can see who sent it to you by looking at the name of the sender on the right side of the transaction. If none of them has a green checkmark, you never marked any copy of this title received. Again, you can tell the different senders apart by looking at the names to the right of each transaction.

To see if a book you sent was marked received, do exactly the same thing as above, except choose "Requested From me" at the top of the TA (everything else the same as above), and re-sort before scrolling down to see the transactions for the title(s) you want to check on.

You can also read the Help information on the Transaction Archive in the Help Center, accessible from the toolbar at the top of any page on the site. The Transaction Archive can be understood and used without reading the Help information, but if you need guidance, the Help information is available.

Dear R&R--I can't understand why you think the new Search is better than the one we had before! I can't find any of the books I am looking for. For instance, I wanted to find books in the genre Science, subgenre Education, but putting "Science Education" into the search field in the toolbar got me all kinds of unrelated books! What's up with that?! Also, it seems you are missing a lot of authors in your database--I put Jodi Picoult into the search field and it said there were no books by her at PBS! And when I wanted to find a biography of Truman by David somebody, I put "Truman" into the Search field and I got a bunch of mysteries! Then I wanted to look up books on beekeeping (I am interested in taking up this hobby) but putting "Bees" in the search field gave me novels and Winnie-the-Pooh! This is crazy! How can I find the books I want? --Frustrated in Fort Wayne, IN

Dear Russ,

Yes, the Search is very different, and it may take some getting used to. But really, it is much more powerful than the previous Search. Let me give you some help with these searches:

• Genre/subgenre search: Putting genre/subgenre terms into the Keyword Search will find you all books in those genres, as well as any books with Science or Education in the title or description. That's why you saw other books in your search result.The Genre/Subgenre search is best done using the Browse by Genre tab in the Search area. Click Search in the toolbar at the top of the site, and choose the Browse by Genre tab. Choose your genre/subgenre and click Go. You can refine your search from there if you like by selecting a further subgenre at the top of the page, or Recent Additions only, or WishList books only, or Unposted Books only, or choosing a letter to view only titles that begin with that letter. You can also widen your search by clicking All Books from the top of the page. You can also "jump" to another genre/subgenre right from the top of the page.
  

• The default Search is for Only Posted books. Jodi Picoult is a very popular author--her books are ALL on Wish Lists at this time. Which means that none of them appear as Posted (Posted books are available books that have not yet been requested). So when you put "Jodi Picoult" into the search field, you got no Posted results. Just click to widen the search to All Books (or click the link "Don't see the book you are looking for?" on the upper right of any search results page) and you will see the titles in the database for this author.

• To avoid a "Search Avalanche": The added power of the new Search means that you can get overwhelmed with results! (You don't have to know the exact title of a book though, like you did with the previous Search.) The Search will get you books that have your search terms in the title, genre, author field, or description. To avoid getting "buried" with results (and having the books you want "buried" somewhere in the results too), put MORE terms into the search field. A one-word search is almost always too broad (an exception would be if you are searching for an author with an unusual first or last name). You can put in all the basic information you know about the book you are looking for right into the search field in the toolbar, to narrow your search from the start. You can then further focus your results (if necessary) by clicking the Advanced Search link at the top of the search results page (your previous search terms will auto-fill in the appropriate fields on the Advanced Search) and choosing additional constraints: publication date, booktype, genre, Large Print, etc. You can also choose how the results will be displayed (by relevance to the search terms, alphabetically by title or author, etc) from the bottom of the Advanced Search. In the example you give, Russ, "Truman Biography" would have turned up biographies on President Truman. "Truman Biography David" would turn up just one--that great Truman biography by author David McCullough.

• To Search by subject: again, with this Search, MORE (in the Search field) is usually better! "Bees" is pretty broad, and will get you all books that have that word in the title or description. "Beekeeping", or better "Beekeeping how-to" turns up no Posted books with the intial (default) search, but clicking on the search results page to widen the search to All Books gives some excellent results. You can put any of those Beekeeping books on your Wish List (or even click to Buy it New if you can't wait to get started!).
  

There is more information about how to make the PBS "turbo" Search work for you in the Help item "How to find books to request" (in the Help Center and also in the Need Help? tab at the upper right of the Search page, the Homepage, and My Account). But the best way to tame this search is to try it out; we are confident that those who were able to cope with the limitations and quirks of the old Search will be able to get the hang of the new Search with a little practice.

COMING SOON:

SO many features are in the works. The new site design has opened up so many possibilities. Stay tuned...

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