Guide
Tracking books you have lent
Updated 1 October 2026
A simple loan record that survives goodwill and bad memory, so you can ask for a book back without a hunt.
Lent books disappear in a predictable way. You remember the person, or you remember the book, and you rarely remember both after a season. The borrower is not always at fault. You said to keep it as long as they liked, and then you wanted it on a Sunday. A written loan is a favor to both of you. It turns a vague favor into a thing you can ask about.
Write three facts, and stop
- Who has it. Use the name you would actually text. A household nickname is better than a formal name you will not search for.
- Which copy. Title and author, and the edition if you own two. Lending the readable paperback and keeping the fragile one is a choice you will forget.
- When it left. A month and a year is enough. The exact day matters less than whether it has been gone since spring.
Book Ledger stores that on the book itself, in the lent-to field, with room in the notes for the date. The home screen counts how many books are out. Ask Book Ledger can answer who has what from the data on the phone, without sending your shelf anywhere. That only works if you fill in the field when the book leaves, not when you miss it.
Decide the terms out loud
Say whether you need it back. Some loans are secret gifts, and pretending otherwise makes everyone stiff. If you need it back, say when you will ask. A month is a kindness for a novel. A year is a vanished book unless it is written down. Reference books and anything with a map should have a shorter leash, because they are the copies you cannot casually replace.
Do not lend a book you would be angry to lose, including the one-volume edition you annotated, unless you have said that risk out loud. Do not lend the only copy of a series book you are in the middle of. Buy or borrow a second copy if you want to be generous and also finish the story. The loan record is not a reason to hand over a book you still need this week.
Asking for it back
A list makes the message specific. You can name the book and the month. People return specific books. They do not return a general sense of obligation. If the book is gone, mark your copy as gone in the note and decide whether to replace it. Leaving a ghost loan on the record forever will make the lent count useless. Closing the loan, even as lost, keeps the list true.
When a book comes home, clear the lent-to field the same day. Check that it is the same edition you lent. Then put it back in the location the record names. A returned book left on the stairs will be lent again by someone else in the house who thinks it is surplus. The record and the shelf should agree by the end of the day.
If you lend often, back up the library file. The loan list is exactly the data you cannot reconstruct from the shelves, because the books are not on the shelves. A JSON backup in Settings is one file with every field, including who has the book. Email it to yourself or drop it in a drive folder. A phone that dies should not take the loans with it.
A shared household needs one list, or two lists that each name the other person's loans. Two phones with two half-memories will each buy a replacement for a book that is on the other nightstand. Agree who updates the record when a book walks out the door.