does a sender have between printing the address and mailing the book?  I've read the instructions a couple of times

but still don't see the answer.  Thanks

It depens on when the print the address (a sender does not have to print immediately when she accepts a request, so the Help Docs won't address this exact question) 

Edited to fix the buttons which did not copy over from cut and paste.

From the Help Docs:
Responding to a Request

• Log into PBS within 5 days after an email notification of a request is sent to you
• The request will pop up
• Click "I can mail within two days" or "I can mail later"  or  "I CANNOT mail"
  • If you click "I can mail within 2 days"
    • you will have 5 days from the date of acceptance to mark the book mailed on the site
  • If you click "I can mail later"
    • you will have a range of mail-by dates
    • the latest mailby date is 5 days after acceptance
    • your deadline to mark the book mailed will be 2 days after the mailby date you choose

When you accept the request you have the option of "I can mail within two days" OR "I can mail later" and then you select the mail by date. You can print the label at any time -- once you print the label the requestor cannot cancel the transaction but if say you select a mailing date 5 days away and you don't print the label, the requestor can cancel the request so you safeguard yourself by printing the label. You agree to mail by a certain date -- you actually have 2 days longer to mail after the selected date. But if you do not mark the book mailed by that time, the extended 2 day time, the request moves on to the next person in line with the book, and the book if removed from your bookshelf.

At most 7 days if they print the address as soon as they accept the request and chose the Mail Later option. That would give them 5 days to mail and 2 to mark it mailed gving them 7 days total. They system will show a mail by date at the 5 day mark so they'd have 2 days past that to mark it mailed.

If they say they will mail in 2 days, you will not see a maily by date just Accepted or Printed, and they will have 5 days to get marked mailed; two to mail it and 3 to get it marked mailed in the system.

If they print the label any time after they've accepted, then of course the time between printing and mailing will be shortened by the amount of time they waited to print.

Thank you all for your responses.  I had requested the book on Dec. 23rd and they printed on Dec. 28th.  I guess I'm

just getting impatient.  I'll need to wait a few more days.  Thanks again

Take your cursor and wave it over the gray ! (exclamation mark) that is visible in the details of the transaction.  It will say specifically how long the sender has to mail the book.  (date and time).

It will say something like, "Seller has until 11PM on 1/4/11 to mark this book as mailed."

I just got the email showing that it has been mailed.  Like I said, I just need to be patient.