This sounds like a good idea. Have you submitted your suggestion to PBS?

The site administrators don't think knowing your position in the FIFO line is a useful feature, that's why I believe they purposely haven't added this feature.   They -are- working on something called a popularity index that will help determine an estimated time, however, to help determine when your book may get requested.  (You can read the Help Center link about this here:  http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/help_item.php?id=381)

However, they are constantly revising the site and reviewing what might work best for all members and perhaps they'd change their thinking on this matter if they received enough Feedback about it.  Please feel free to submit suggestions to the team any time you think of something that may improve the site!

I would like that feature!  I would like to know if my book will be selected anytime in the near future or it will be 5 years......

Having the FIFO listing on your BL wouldn't be much use to you for the most part.  With people doing deals and people requesting books from the forums (whether through a book ordered and then looking at the person's shelf, or reading a forum message and then deciding to order from that person or possibly more reasons), you could be #1 on a list for a long time, but your book not get selected.  I have one book that I've been tracking and I've been #1 on it 100 books ago, and still have the book (it's been on my BL since February 2008 and is quite popular apparently), but hasn't been ordered from me.  LOL.  Pat

I agree with Pat--I often have books selected from my shelf by people using the "order more from member" button when they've had one book that they order from FIFO. Or people browsing the forums might take a look at your own bookshelf and order a book directly from you. I've had books get chosen that I just posted recently that had a bunch of books in system already when I posted it, so I know that order didn't come through FIFO.

I personally don't really worry about it. I often will put a book on my reminder list before posting it just to see how many there are, but most of the time even if there's a bunch I post it anyway. I do go a couple times a year to haul books to my local UBS (often ones that are borderline postable here) or donate to the FOL sale, but I have a double Rubbermaid 3-drawer chest here next to the computer for my PBS bookshelf, and as long as that's not full, I just add whatever I'm done reading and wait. I've learned to be patient over the years. :)

Cheryl

I like the way SwapaDVD does it.  You can click on a dvd on your tower and it goes directly to the dvd description, and it will tell you how many of the dvd are in the system.  I wish PBS would do this on our bookshelf.  Click on the book and it would tell you how many of that book is in the system.  It gets really complicated putting the books on the reminder list, then remembering to take them off, just to see how many copies there are.

I would like to see a sortable RL that has the option of genre.  sometimes it's so much easier to see only the genre that I'm looking for at that moment - or have the link of "on my Reminder List" go directly to that book on the RL instead of having to hunt for it.  I'm sure that I could think up lots of features that would be hard to program for so I'm not expecting this to happen.

Ruth

Judith,

I also would like to see this feature. Just like the WL, some books would sit on #1 forever and some would go from 100 copies to 1 copy rather quickly, depending on the popularity. It would be a valuable feature to some and not to others. Why not have it????

Blessings,

Christina

Perhaps the problem lies with the fact that there can be so many editions of a particular title with many different ISBN's.  Even a certain binding, such as just the paperback version, can have multiple releases at different times with different ISBN's.  Maybe it isn't that way with DVD's?  Just a guess.

This was in the June Newsletter

Dear Librarian-  Why don't you have the "posting position" of each book on the site, like you do with the Wish List, so we can see where our posted books are in line to get requests?  It would help us decide to donate some books instead of keep them listed - a book that has 60 available copies for example, I would donate instead of post here.  - Curious in Cooperstown

Dear Coop,

Good question!  We do plan to make this information available at some point - but not just as the position in line.   The raw information would not really help members make decisions about when their books might be requested.  Some books move very fast here!  So that book that has 60 copies in the system?  Those 60 copies could be swapped in a month, if it is a popular book.   Not only that, but FIFO does not govern every swap here - if you are a Boxer (= if you are subscribed to Box-O-Books) or if you offer "deals" in the Book Bazaar (2 books for 1 credit, 3 books for 2 credits, etc), your #60 book may be included as part of a Box-O-Books swap, or added in to a deal you are offering, and thus get requested "early".  

We are working on a way to show members the dynamics of a book in the system, to give the raw number some meaning so it is useful and not prone to being misinterpreted.  This programming is pretty tricky; in the meantime, you can't know where your book is in line to get requests - so that leaves a nice opening for a surprise here and there!

I would love to have this feature added to the site.  It would be nice to know at least the approximate length of time for a certain book to be requested from you. I've wondered why it wasn't done when they revised the wishlist, but I suppose that it is a lot of programming, and the site is nearly perfect anyway!

I wish they'd add the number first (as it would be simple) then later go in and add the rest of their dynamics.   On the WL, the dynamics haven't proven very useful to me--I'm glad they didn't wait to put position information before putting the rest.   I don't mind the other info, it'd be nice to see--but I wish it wasn't holding up the simple numbers.

On the other hand, I'm thrilled they are planning on putting it in.  Hopefully soon!