Community¶
Community turns Jinbocho from "your library" into a small network of libraries: follow readers in other households, see part of what they own, ask to borrow a book from someone you've never met in person, and find local reading events.
Optional module
Community is not part of every installation. If you don't see a Community entry in the main menu, it isn't enabled here — ask your library's administrator.
Opt-in, and nothing is shared by default
Joining the community is a separate step from just using Jinbocho. Until you join, nothing about you or your books is visible outside your own library — no profile, no shared shelf, nothing. Every book you own starts Private even after you join (see Sharing Your Books).
Joining the Community¶
- Open Community from the main menu.
- Fill in your profile:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Avatar | Suggested from your library profile picture; you can change or remove it |
| Handle | 3–30 characters: lowercase letters, digits, - or _. This is how other readers find and mention you, and it must be unique across all of Jinbocho |
| Display name | Shown to other readers — doesn't have to be your real name |
| About you | A short free-text bio |
| Let people find me in search | On by default. When off, your profile is still reachable by anyone who already knows your exact handle, but never shows up in search results |
- Click Join the community.
- You'll be offered one more, optional step: sharing your location (see Discovering Readers & Books). You can skip it and set it later.
Your handle must be free — if it's taken, pick another one.
Your Profile¶
Edit profile lets you change your avatar, display name, bio, and discoverability at any time.
Leaving the Community¶
From your profile, Leave the community:
- Deletes your profile and every follow relationship, in both directions
- Everything you shared stops being visible immediately
- Books you currently have on loan (borrowed or lent through Community) stay recorded in your loan history — leaving doesn't erase an in-progress loan
You can join again later, but your old handle may have been taken by someone else.
Finding & Following Readers¶
Open Connections to search for people and manage who you follow.
- Search by handle or display name (at least 3 characters)
- Click Follow to send a follow request
Following is approval-based, not automatic: the other reader has to accept your request before you can see anything they share with followers. Four tabs keep track of where things stand:
| Tab | Shows |
|---|---|
| Following | Readers whose request you sent and who accepted |
| Followers | Readers who follow you |
| Requests received | Incoming requests, waiting for Accept or Decline |
| Requests sent | Your outgoing requests, waiting on the other person — Cancel request withdraws one |
You can Unfollow anyone you follow, or Remove a follower — both are one-click actions with a confirmation, and either one can be undone later by following/being followed again.
Discovering Readers & Books¶
Open Discover to meet readers you don't already know:
- Readers near you — based on your location (see below)
- New in the community — people who joined recently
- Search a book among readers near you — find who nearby shares a specific title, with optional Genre and Author filters
Each result shows how many books that reader shares and how many are free to borrow, with a link to See what they share (their shared shelf).
Location¶
Location is entirely optional and always coarse by default:
- Set Country → Region → City from a picker — this is a text match, not GPS. It's used only to suggest nearby readers and books.
- Leave it blank to opt out of "nearby" entirely; you can still use Discover's "new in the community" and search sections, and Connections search.
You can additionally turn on precise location (your device's real GPS position) for an actual distance to other readers instead of just "same city." It's off by default, asks for confirmation before it's used, is never shown to anyone directly — others only ever see an approximate distance — and you can remove it at any time from the same screen.
Sharing Your Books¶
Open Sharing to control what readers outside your library can see, and whether they can ask to borrow.
Default Visibility¶
| Level | Who sees it |
|---|---|
| Private (default) | Nobody outside your library. Nothing changes until you pick something else |
| Followers only | Readers whose follow request you've accepted |
| Everyone on Jinbocho | Any reader with a community profile — never visible to someone with no account |
This default applies to every book that doesn't have its own override.
Per-Book and Bulk Sharing¶
- Override visibility for one book from that book's own detail page.
- Override visibility for a whole shelf, bookcase, or room at once from the map or rooms pages — this updates every book you own there in one step. Books that belong to someone else in your library are listed but left unchanged.
Allowing Borrow Requests¶
Allow borrow requests is a separate switch from visibility: it only applies to books you already share, and even then you approve or decline every request yourself, one at a time — turning it on never lends a book automatically.
Someone Else's Shared Shelf¶
Following a reader (or being allowed to see their Everyone on Jinbocho books without following) unlocks their shared shelf, reached from Discover, Connections, or a shared link. If a shelf isn't available to you — private, or followers-only and you're not accepted yet — you'll see a note instead of the books.
From there you can search within what they share, filter to only books I can ask to borrow, and open Ask to borrow on any lendable copy.
Borrowing & Lending Across Libraries¶
Asking to borrow starts a request that both sides confirm at every step — Jinbocho never marks a book as handed over on its own.
- Ask to borrow: propose a return date and, optionally, a short message. You're shown a one-time reminder that this is a personal agreement between the two of you — Jinbocho only tracks the dates, it doesn't hold any money or guarantee anything.
- The owner Approves (optionally adjusting the return date and adding a handover note — where/when to meet, picked on a map or typed as a place name) or Declines.
- Once approved, either side can Propose a change to the date or meeting point if plans shift, or Call it off if the handover never happens.
- When you actually meet up, the borrower confirms I've got the book — this is what creates the active loan.
- To return it: the borrower declares I've given it back, then the owner confirms Confirm the return. Both confirmations are needed to close the loan.
Each request also has a Meeting point: search for a place or click directly on a map to drop a pin, adjustable by dragging.
Your profile shows a lending track record — how many loans you've completed, how many you're currently holding, and how many came back late — visible to anyone deciding whether to ask you for a book.
Requesting Party's Own Actions¶
The person who asked can cancel a still-pending request at any time before the owner responds.
Loan Requests¶
The Loan requests page is your inbox for every cross-library loan, split into Received and Sent, and organized into:
| Section | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Needs you | Something is waiting on your action — approve/decline, confirm handover, confirm return |
| Waiting | Waiting on the other person |
| History | Closed requests: returned, declined, cancelled, or called off |
Open any request to see its full timeline — who asked, who responded, every handover/return confirmation, and any proposed changes — in order.
Events¶
Open Community (or the calendar icon in its sub-navigation) to browse local reading events: book presentations, reading-group meetups, author talks, book swaps, workshops, and more.
- Filter by scope — Everyone, readers you Follow, or Nearby — and by category, title/description search, or date range
- Results near you are sorted by distance when your location is set
- Click I'm interested on any event to show you're going; the organizer and other interested readers can see the count
Publishing an Event¶
Anyone with a community profile can Publish an event:
- Title, description, category (or Other, with your own label), date/time
- Location — a free-text place name, or pick a spot on the map
- Up to 6 images (paste a link, or upload from your device)
- Choose visibility: Everyone or Followers only
- Click Publish
You can Edit your own event afterward, or Cancel it — a cancelled event stays visible with a "Cancelled" badge instead of disappearing, so people who already showed interest aren't left wondering what happened.
See also: Locations for the rooms/bookcases/map used by bulk sharing · Loans for lending within your own library, which is a separate, simpler feature from cross-library borrowing above · Language & Appearance for the theme picker