Which reading tracker works best if you borrow most of your books from the library?

What is different about reading library books?

Three things. You do not choose when the book leaves: the loan ends on a date, finished or not. You often switch formats, because the ebook has a waiting list and the audiobook does not. And the book may come back to you weeks later, when the hold comes round again, long after you forgot the story.

What does Libby record for you?

Libby keeps a Timeline on its Shelf screen, which records your borrowing activity. Its help pages describe filtering the Timeline and exporting it, either as a table on a web page that you can bookmark or share, or as a spreadsheet saved to your device. That is a ready-made list of every book you borrowed, which is most of the work of a reading log.

What the Timeline does not know is whether you finished, liked or abandoned a book. That part is yours to record.

How do you log borrowed books in a tracker?

• Add the book when you start it, not when you borrow it. Holds and loans you never open should not clutter your shelf.
• Choose the edition that matches the format you borrowed. On Goodreads, editions carry a format field, such as Kindle Edition or Audible Audio.
• Mark books you did not finish before the loan ended. The StoryGraph has did-not-finish markers and Goodreads has a Did Not Finish shelf; or use a "paused" shelf of your own for loans you mean to borrow again.
• Once a month, compare your tracker with Libby's Timeline and fill any gaps.

BookBuddy is a catalogue of books you own, so library readers usually do not need it.

What do you do when a loan expires mid-book?

Before it goes, write down three things: the exact page, chapter or time stamp; one line on what is happening; and the names of the two or three characters you were following. Put the note in your tracker or on your phone. Then place a new hold if you want to finish it.

How do you get back in when the book comes back?

Sometimes weeks or months later. Read your note, then re-read the last few pages. For a longer gap, a recap that stops at your place helps. Magic Bookmark says it works with library loans in any format: photograph your page or type the page number, or for an audiobook enter the last phrase you heard, and it recaps the story up to there, for supported titles, on iPhone. Kindle's Story So Far covers Kindle ebooks you borrowed through Amazon in the US.

If the book comes back in a different format, for example as an audiobook instead of an ebook, use the mixing formats lesson to find the same place in the new format.

How do you plan around holds and due dates?

A practical rhythm for heavy library readers:

1. Keep no more than one long book and one short book checked out at a time.
2. When a hold arrives, check its length against your days left before you start it.
3. Set one calendar reminder per loan, three days before it is due, with the page you need to reach.
4. If you will not finish, note your page and two names, return it, and place a new hold the same day.

The pace calculator tells you how many pages a day a loan needs.

Which reading apps help most with borrowed books?

Libby is the centre for many US library readers: it keeps your place inside its own reader, keeps a Timeline of what you borrowed, and its help pages describe exporting that Timeline. Our recap features study summary records that Libby publishes no recap of the story. For a paper library book, the published place-finding tool among the apps we profile is Magic Bookmark, which lists library loans among the copies it works with, for supported titles on iPhone.

Which setup suits a library reader?

Libby's Timeline as the raw list, any tracker you like for what you finished (the tracker finder narrows it), and a note habit for loans that expire mid-book. Our library borrowers note covers the apps from the library side, and the keeping track guide compares logs, spreadsheets and library history.