The library directory
Next to the contacts you pair one by one, BiblioGenius offers a directory: libraries that chose to be visible, which you can discover and follow without ever meeting them.
Making yourself visible
In Settings > Online Sharing, turn on "Make my library visible to other libraries". You then appear in the directory, with your library name and the books you share.
Two safeguards:
- "Require approval for followers": new followers must be approved before they reach your shared books. Their requests wait for you in the requests tab.
- Your city stays a local preference: it is only published if you choose to share it. It then serves to surface the libraries near you.
Nothing is published until you turn that sharing on.
Your contact details
A shared catalog is not enough to arrange a loan: you have to be able to agree on where, when and for how long. That is what your contact card is for, in Settings > Online sharing:
- Phone, in international format (+33...) so a message can go out through WhatsApp
- Notes (optional): address, opening hours, availability
These details are not published in the directory. They are delivered, encrypted, only to the libraries you accepted as followers. Once sent, they cannot be taken back: what was received is received.
If libraries follow you and no way to reach you was ever given, the contacts tab says so and offers to fill the card in.
Discovering and following
In Network > Explore, browse the published libraries, filter by location, then follow the ones you like. Following gives you access to their shared catalogue and lets you ask them for a loan.
If nobody near you has shared their city yet, the screen invites you to be the first: that is what gets local discovery started.
Follow or pair?
Both coexist and do different things.
- Following goes through the online directory. It is immediate, remote, and enough to browse a catalogue and request a loan.
- Pairing creates a direct encrypted link between your two devices, by QR code or invitation link. That link is what enables peer-to-peer exchanges, including over your local Wi-Fi network.
A library paired on another of your devices shows up as "known" but not paired here: pairing is done device by device, see Encrypted account and multiple devices.