1. What is bookshelf?
Bookshelf is an initiative started by a few students of IIT Roorkee to help people read more.
2. How does it work?
Really short answer (RSA): A renting system for books.
We have a collection of books for you to choose from. We follow a renting system. You select a book and pay a deposit when taking it. When you are finished reading the book, we deduct the rent from the deposit and return you the balance.
3. How much does it cost?
RSA: Rs. 20 for 10 days.
The deposit on a book is NOT equal to the actual price of the book. It's a meagre Rs 100 for each book. This deposit will be returned to you once you are finished with the book. The rent is Rs. 20 for a time period of 10 DAYS.
RSA: 10 days (can be extended).
The basic time period is of 10 days. We will remind you a few days prior to your date of return. You can extend the borrowed book for one more time period (often the case with long books) if you haven’t finished. The rent for this period will be the same as that for the previous one.
5. Are all the book yours?
RSA: No. Some ours, some from contributors.
The majority of the books are of bookshelf though contributions from others have started to form a large part of the collection. As the system of contributions is more scalable and ensures a better collection, we are shifting towards it. We partner with our contributors, the students. Any contributions from your side will be appreciated. Here is more on that.
6. Where can I browse through your collection?
RSA: a. Goodreads.com
b. Text bookshelf followed by your name and room no. on 904-583-9889
a. You can browse through our collection on Goodreads.com here.
b. You can get a hardcopy of the collection delivered to your room by texting Harsh at 904-583-9889.
The hardcopy list might miss a few recent titles as they are constantly updated on the online list but they contain 95% of the titles, specially the major ones.
7. Where do I order for a book?
RSA: 1. Order online by clicking here.
2. Call 904-583-9889.
- You can order online directly from the goodreads list. The following tweak (simplified hence looks lengthy) could be very useful:
b. Find the controls: shelf setting option on the top mid-right just below the navigation menu (nav menu: Home, My books, Groups, Recommendations...)
c. Click on the shelf settings option where you will see which columns you want to see for the bookshelf.Check mark review there.
d. This will enable you to see Bookshelf’s review, which shows you the availability of the book, the rent and deposit for it and an option to order it right there.
2. Call Harsh, 904-583-9889.
8. How does the book reach me and how much time does it take?
RSA: In your room. 1 day.
We deliver books right to your room. It has led to many serendipitous chit chat and new friends and suggestions and we plan on keeping to do that. The limitations in this regard may arise somewhat in case of the first year Hostels, specifically RJB where entry for seniors might not be allowed. In such cases, bhawan gate is the answer. (This won’t be a problem in some time)
Once we get your request, we get in touch to confirm it (within 24 hours usually, {working hard to eliminate that “usually”}) after which we bring it to your room. So you should get the book within 1-2 days.
The transaction of money will take place when we hand you over the book.
9. I need a book that is shown to be circulating.
RSA: Order anyways. We'll tell you the status.
We update on the goodreads list if a book is circulating or not. The updates are mostly recent but a few books' status might not have been updated when you see it. So we encourage you to order the one you want and we will tell you when it gets available.
You can simply drop in a question here (or message the page) and we'd be happy to answer your queries.
