Dear Members,

Dog Days are here again! Anyone else feeling that August lassitude? Even that exclamation point back there seemed to take too much energy. :)

The good news is that every change we have made recently on the site is designed to make things easier - so everything will take less effort to accomplish. Swapping should be simple, and we're making it simpler all the time. All of our site tweaks this month will save you a click here and a click there...those clicks add up. Hey, don't call it lazy, call it efficient! (We've been getting away with that one for years.)

And don't say this in front of the children, but school will be starting soon! You can get a jump on those middle-school and high-school must-reads. Get reading lists ahead of time from your child's school if you can, and order them through PBS in plenty of time to get them before the bell rings.

Argh - too hot to type - fingers sticking to keyboard - need ice-cold lemonade NOW.

Stay cool, everyone!

Richard
and the PaperBackSwap Team

NEWS:

We know your innermost thoughts. We can prove it. As you type into the Search box, the system will make suggestions based on what you have typed, so all you have to do is click the suggestion in the dropdown box to choose it instead of finishing typing the terms into the Search. Talk about service! This oughta save a billionth of a joule in exertion. Hey, when it's this hot outside, every billionth matters!

PBS Store News: Ha, we knew that you would love the Car Magnets! (That's because we're psychic - see above.) Get one before they are all gone! And check out the newest addition to the Kiosk - the BookFlips. Hardier than a bookmark, non-destructive to your books (better than that wadded-up tissue you've been using - yeah, we're talking to YOU), they're a great way to keep your place in a book. They're super-easy to use, and with the PBS logo they are uber-cool.

Whatti? No, Wiki. Want to make your mark on PBS? Check out and contribute to the Book Wiki by scrolling down on any Book Details page. The Wiki allows you to provide information about a book (characters, settings, series, and much more) to augment the listing information and to make an easy way to find books (for example) set in Scotland, or books taking place at Christmastime (another example), in ways you can't with the other search options on the site. The Wiki interface means that you can correct any information that's already there, and your submissions will go through right away. Read all about the Book WIki here.

PBS Cookbook News: Dare we say it? The PBS Cookbook is AT THE PRINTER'S! They say 30-45 business days until they ship, but rest assured that as soon as it is in our hot little hands - it will be mailed out to yours! There are some great surprises in the Cookbook, which will thrill many of our avid readers. We're doing as big a print run as we can afford, but we've already got a lot of orders, so anyone who hasn't ordered should put in an order now to be sure to get one. Huge thanks to Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) and her husband Darin, who saw the project through to completion. And to all those of you who put your orders in long ago and who have been so very patient - thanks from the bottom of our hearts. We really think that it will be worth the wait!

TIPS & TRICKS:

If you are going on vacation, as so many do at this time of year, don't forget to use the Vacation Hold feature! It's linked from the top of your Bookshelf and you can read about using it in the Help Center. It's easy to use and it will prevent you from missing requests and Wish List offers while you are away from home.

Keep tabs on things. You can now click the number of Credits and Money at the top of your My Account page to go directly to the Credit Registry or Money Registry, where you can see a detailed log of the activity of credits and money in your account. And keeping track is made even easier with the running balance now shown to the right of every entry in the Registry. Links to each Registry are also in the yellow bar at the top of your My Account main page.

Summer Reads

Speaking of Dog Days...check out these great books, currently available to request...

	Classic stories from the great animal storyteller... James Herriot's Dog Stories. Here are the complete dog stories from the first four volumes of the warm and witty memoirs of the beloved Yorkshire vet. Certain to please any dog lover, these stories can be read over and over again.
	For those who love to be outdoors...Hiking with your Dog. A practical guide to hiking and camping with your canine friend.
	Memoir ...The Angel By My Side: The True Story of a Dog Who Saved a Man...and a Man Who Saved a Dog. Two serious heart attacks and open-heart surgery had taken away most of the good things that Mike Lingenfelter had in his life, when an energetic golden retriever named Dakota, who had been rescued from death himself, came to the rescue...
	Heartwarming tales of an animal's heroic feats.... The Dog Who Rescues Cats: The True Story of Ginny and The Blessing of the Animals : True Stories of Ginny, the Dog Who Rescues Cats. Meet Ginny, who has an amazing sixth-sense ability to find and rescue ailing stray cats. She and her owner Philip have carried out incredible rescues - in one scenario, she burrows frantically through a container filled with broken glass, badly cutting her paws, to expose a tiny injured kitten. Don't miss these two books!
	Contemporary fiction...To Dance With the White Dog. Sam Peek has lost his beloved wife of fifty-seven good years, and his children worry: how can this elderly man live alone? When Sam begins telling his children about a dog as white as the pure driven snow -- a dog that seems invisible to everyone but him -- his children think that grief and old age have finally taken their toll...it's a bittersweet, lovely tale of an old man's final rite of passage, about family ties and the universal experience of grief.

New Local Chapter Leaders:

• Beatrice R. - Bibi922 - Denver, CO
• Connie S. - SouthTexasBooks - San Antonio, TX
• Charlotte O. - misssouthie - South Boston, Massachusetts
• Michele S. - luluinphilly - NE section of Philadelphia, PA
• Cheri S. - cherils - Pittsburgh, PA
• Stephanie L. - chicklitgirl - Berks County, PA

If you want to be a Local Chapter Leader for PBS, you just need to have a PBS NIckname, a viewable public profile, and some organizational skills...check the Local Chapter Leaders Forum List of Official Chapters to see if your area already has a local Chapter. If not, and you want to do this, just contact us. There are no formal guidelines for being a Chapter Leader. All of the information is in the Local Chapter Leader Discussion Forum topic. If you are an official Chapter Leader and want us to include your upcoming meetup in the Newsletter, send in a message to us with the date, at least a week before the end of the preceding month.

MEMBER OF THE MONTH

Melanie H (Melsy626)

Melanie is one of our Games Moderators, and nominations for her have been coming in for a long time! Comments we got with nominations for Melanie:

"She has been really helpful to me in the Games forum and I've really enjoyed chatting with her."

"She is a very positive influence on the boards. I have met her in person and she has a sweet, bubbly personality and a big smile on her face."

"Ever since I joined PBS (specifically in the Games forum!), she has been so helpful and kind. And, I love all of her exclamation points!!!! :) She's a great person and I am glad to call her my PBS friend!"

DEAR LIBRARIAN

Dear Librarian- The other day I got an email reminding me to repost a book I'd received. But I've already reposted that book! Why did I get that email? --Curious in Chillicothe

Dear Cue,

The email was actually encouraging you to rate or even review the book, if you had read it. Assigning star ratings is one of the most helpful things a member can do for the club -- it helps other members get a better idea if they might want to order that book. It also helps any member who has posted the book - a highly-rated book is more likely to be requested. So rate those you have, and those you don't have but have read! And if you're feeling chatty, reviewing a book is really a terrific thing to do also, to let other members know what you thought of a book. It doesn't have to be a "literary" review - but hearing from another member why she or he liked (or didn't like) a book can really mean a lot to someone who is browsing for his or her next read. "Real words" from "real members" carry a lot more power than the publisher's blurb!

Dear Librarian- I am in a military family and we are at an APO address. That means sometimes the books we request take longer to get to us, and many of them are declared "lost" by PBS before we get them. Not to worry - I have read the Help Center information on managing accounts from USPS-served addresses outside the contiguous US, and I know how to mark the books received from my Transaction Archive and give the senders credit. What I am wondering is, why do I sometimes get another offer of the book after I have marked it received? Shouldn't the system know I got the book and take it off my Wish List? -- All Puzzled Over this at APO

Dear Po,

Yes, the system should know you got the book. When it was declared "lost" it went onto your Wish List automatically - it makes sense that when you mark it received it will come off your Wish List automatically. But that is not how things have been happening - up until now, members have had to remember to go take the formerly "lost" books off their Wish Lists after marking them received from the Transaction Archive. Yes, we did say "up until now"! How observant of you, Po! Yes, we have finally fixed this and now when you mark a "lost" (or canceled) book as received, the item will come off your Wish List automatically (unless you mark the book "received, but with a problem"). Just a few more clicks we're saving you in your day! Thanks for nudging us to take care of this - we've had it on our To Do list for a while. :)

COMING SOON:

• The stuff we're working on now...