The Master Bookkeeper Help

Set your library

Before you can run a search, you must set your library. Set your library on your account page.

Managing searches

You can see, edit, and delete your defined searches and create new searches on your search index page.

Clicking on the search name runs the search, and clicking on the edit or delete buttons will edit or delete that search. Deletion requires confirmation. You can create a new search by clicking on the Create New button on the bottom of the page.

All searches have the following behaviors:

• They will not return results you have marked as read, partially read, checked out, or skip.
• If a book is part of a series, it will only be returned if it is the first, or includes the first, or is not numbered as part of the series.
• They will only return results that are available to check out.

As well, you can specify genres to search, genres to exclude and content types. Each search must have at least one content type and one genre to include.

To add multiple genres or content types, click the 'Add another ...' button. This will add one more field, but not save any changes. Clicking update on the bottom of the page will also ensure there is at least one blank genre/content type field, and will save changes.

Authors to exclude will be visible (and can be deleted) from the search edit page, but can only be added to a search from the search result page.

Run the search

Clicking on the search name runs the search. It will only return the first 25 to 50 results. Results are randomized so that running the search twice will produce different results. Each book in a result has several actions that can be taken:

• Not interested: signifies you don't want to read this book ever. It will not appear in future search results. The search is then rerun.
• Couldn't finish: you started this book, but couldn't finish. It will not appear in future search results. The search is then rerun.
• Read and finished: you read the whole book. It will not appear in future search results. The search is then rerun.
• Exclude this author: you don't want to see books by this author in the future. The search is then rerun.
• Check out: opens a new browser window to the library page for this book, so you can check it out. The book is marked as checked out in The Master Bookkeeper, so it will not appear in future search results. The search is not rerun in this case.

Marking books as not interested, didn't finish, read and finished, or checked out will prevent those books from being returned in any search. Excluding an author only applies to this particular search.

Manage your bookshelf

Your account includes a bookshelf with four shelves:

• Checked Out: Books that you have checked out, but not done anything to note that you are finished with them.
• Not Interested: Books that you have marked that you are not interested in, so they do not appear in search results.
• Couldn't finish: Books that you have marked as being unable to finish.
• Finished: Books that you have finished.

When you check out a book, it is automatically placed on your Checked Out shelf. Periodically, you should visit this shelf and move the books to one of your other shelves, or unmark them (in case you didn'get get a chance to read it and want it to show in future results).