Privacy settings control determine whether or not your interactions with catalog items—things you rate or comment on, add to your shelves or lists—are shared with other library users.
To view your privacy settings
- Log in to your account.
- On the menu, click My Settings.
- On the My Settings page, look for the Privacy section.
Shelf Privacy
Your shelves will be set to private by default, unless you choose to change this in the settings.
You have three “shelves” to keep track of items you borrow:
- Completed: you can store everything you’ve read, watched or listened to.
- In Progress: for what you are reading, watching or listening to right now.
- For Later: like a wish list, a place to keep track of things you’d like to borrow in the future.
Shelf privacy settings allow you to control whether or not items you add to these shelves are visible to other library users by default. If these settings are off, anything you add is shared—visible to others. If you plan to add ratings or comments to things you’ve borrowed, you should make them shared. Otherwise, no one else will be able to see what you’ve contributed.
If you prefer, you can keep some or all of your shelves private.
To change your shelf privacy settings
- In the Privacy section, next to My Shelves, click Change.
- On the My Shelves page, click the checkbox next to each shelf you want to change.
- Click Save Changes.
Regardless of your default shelf setting, you can make individual items private or shared. See Excluding a Title from Shared View. That enables you to share the bulk of your items with others, while keeping a few titles private if you wish to.
You can also make a list private. For details, see Creating Lists.
Activity Feed Privacy
Your activity feed records your interactions with items in the catalog, and with content created by other library users. It shows:
- items you add to your shelves,
- lists you create,
- comments and ratings you add to specific titles,
- lists or comments by others that you like.
Your recent activity appears on your profile page. By default, it is shared and visible to anyone who views your profile page. Other library users who follow you will see your ratings, comments, lists and likes on their Newsfeed page.
If you prefer, you can keep your recent activity private. If you do so, other patrons who follow you won’t see your comments, ratings or other activity in their newsfeeds.
To change your feeds privacy setting
- In the Privacy section, next to My Feeds, click Change.
- On the My Feeds page, click the checkbox to make your feeds private.
- Click Save Changes.
If you want to keep your feed shared, you can make individual items in your feed private. That will make them visible to you, but not to others. You can also remove items from your feed entirely.
Effective privacy controls are a cornerstone of open and engaged communities. To learn more about our privacy standards, please consult our Privacy Policy (linked at the bottom of each page of the catalog).