Spring in Ohio means warmer weather, blooming flowers…and my annual dread of spring cleaning. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not the best person to go to for housekeeping tips. Unfortunately, I did not inherit my mother’s ability to keep a meticulous house. But when it comes to keeping an organized TBR and a tidy Libby app, I’m an expert. So, grab your virtual duster—this spring-cleaning checklist and guide will help whip your Libby into shape!

Spring Cleaning Checklist

✅ Organize your TBR tags
✅ Organize your "read" and "goals" tags
✅ Clean up your loans
✅ Tidy up your holds
✅ Save your notes and highlights
✅ Customize your app
✨ Bonus: read while you do your actual spring cleaning

Keep reading for an in-depth breakdown of this checklist to gain your Libby app expert status!

1️⃣TASK ONE: TBR TLC

There are many ways to track your TBR list. You can use apps like StoryGraph or Fable or keep a physical TBR pile next to your bookshelf, but I prefer to track in the Libby app using tags. Using customizable tags, you can create lists of books that you want to read.

Creating a new tag is easy: Tap Tags → Actions → New Tag, name it, → Create and you’re ready to rock and roll.

Now that you’ve made your tag(s), as you scroll through Libby you can select the tag icon on any title and add it to as many lists as you want. While a general TBR or “want to read” tag might suffice, I like to keep my options in smaller lists so that I can easily find what I’m looking for when I’m ready for it. Here are a few ways I split up my lists:

Genre
I can normally tell what genre of book I want to read next based on my mood and my recent reads, so I love genre-based tabs. I personally keep tags for “fantasy,” “romance,” “romantasy,” “historical fiction,” and “contemporary fiction” since those are the genres I lean toward most.

Wild Card
Just because I have favorite genres doesn't mean all the books I want to read fall into those genres. Rather than keeping a tag for every genre and subgenre, I keep a “wild card” tag for books that sound interesting but fall outside of my usual fare. It’s nice to have a list like this when I feel a reading slump coming on. When I finished Onyx Storm, I knew reading anything romantasy-adjacent wouldn’t hold my attention. So, I turned to my wild card tag and chose All in Her Head, a nonfiction book about the history of women’s health.

Vibes
Maybe you don’t like to choose your next read based on genre, but rather the vibes of a book. Sometimes you just know you need something happy or lighthearted, and if you’re a reader like me, sometimes you want to feel like someone ripped your heart out. Sorting books based on vibes can be great for mood readers. One great thing about tags—you can add more than one to each title. So, you can add a book like One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig to a “fantasy” tag and also add it to a “vibes” tag.

Book Club
Another way I like to utilize my tags is for my book club! Every month we have a different theme and as I compile titles for our club to vote on, I save them in my “book club” tag. Then, I export them as a table so my members can easily view the books in Libby! To export a tag, simply go into the tag you want to export, select Actions in the top right corner, tap export tag, choose the option for table, and voila! Now you have a link you can share that shows the books’ cover, title, author, and publisher. You also have the option to export as a spreadsheet (CSV file) or as data (JSON file), but I think the table is the easiest to share and the most visually appealing option.

TBR vs. TBL
If you’re someone who likes to sort what book you’re borrowing next by ebooks and audiobooks, it can be helpful to keep a “to be listened” tag also known as a TBL. A lot of my TBR and TBL tags may overlap, but sometimes there’s a narrator I really love, and I want to make sure I remember to listen to that selection.

2️⃣TASK TWO: Organize "read" and "goals" tags

Been there, read that
You can track your finished books with a “read” tag. As an avid reader, I’m very guilty of forgetting which books I’ve read, especially if the book has been out for a while. I also like to keep track of what books I did not finish (DNF) or would like to return to later.

Goals
If you’re someone who likes to set a yearly or monthly reading goal, you can use tags for that too! Consider setting up a “2025 reading goals” tag to track how many books you read this year. Or if you know there are certain titles you want to tackle this year, create a “2025 hopefuls” tag to help you stay on track.

Each book you’ve borrowed from Libby will show your reading journey such as circulation activity, bookmarks, notes, and highlights. If you’re questioning whether you read the title in the last week of December or the first week of January, simply click on the title and scroll down to the reading journey section. Your “Title Timeline” will be just above the book’s summary.

⭐ Pro tip: Libby has a smart tag for books you’ve borrowed! Every book you’ve ever borrowed on Libby is automatically tracked in that tag. If you want to start developing your own “read,” “DNF,” and “reading goals” tags, that’s a great place to start.

3️⃣TASK THREE: Clean up your loans (and get a bouquet of flowers)

While it’s easy to just let that loan you finished return automatically on its due date, did you know there’s a fun surprise in store if you return your loans before their due date? When you return a loan early, you’ll see a bouquet in the middle of your screen. Tap the bouquet and enjoy a flower explosion! You get a lovely bouquet of flowers, and the next person in line gets to read the book faster.

⭐Pro tip: The number of flowers increases as you return more books. You can see your flowers anytime by going to the Menu, scrolling to the bottom of the page, then tapping the flower bouquet emoji.

4️⃣TASK FOUR: Tidy up your holds

Another great thing to check on when you’re doing spring cleaning is your holds list. Placing a hold on a book that has a waitlist secures your place in line for that book. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we might be holding onto a hold we don’t need anymore. Normally this happens when you have multiple library cards and have placed holds on the same title across different library systems.

Luckily, the most recent Libby update now gives you the option to cancel other holds during the borrowing process when your title becomes available. If you happen to skip this step or still have holds that you no longer need, cancel them to ensure you’re being courteous to your fellow library patrons waiting for that title.

⭐Pro tip: You can suspend all your holds at once! If you find yourself with too much to read or too little time, get your holds under control by suspending them all at one time. On your Shelf, tap Actions, then tap Suspend All Holds. To resume your holds, tap Suspend All Holds again and move the slider all the way to the left.

5️⃣TASK FIVE: Save your notes and highlights

Did you find a great quote that you want to remember forever? Are you worried your loan will expire before book club and you’ll lose all your talking points? When you’re finished reading or listening, you can export all your annotations out of the app! You can get step by step instructions and also watch a video explaining the process.

⭐Pro tip: If you’re more of a listener than a visual reader, you can add bookmarks, notes, and highlights to audiobooks too!

6️⃣TASK SIX: Customize your app

Did you know you can change the Libby icon color and your library card colors?

You can choose from five different skin tones by tapping the Libby icon at the top of the main menu. Your selection will be saved the next time you open the app.

Customizing the colors of your library cards in Libby can help differentiate your cards if some look similar. Go to the menu, tap Manage Cards, tap Personalize, then select your color options.

You can also manage your push notifications in Libby to choose what you want to be notified about, like loans expiring, when your hold is ready, and more. To manage your notifications, go to Menu, then tap Notifications under “Settings.”

RELATED READ: A 10-step checklist to personalize your Libby app

⭐Pro tip: You can also rename your library cards! Your library card name may default to its consortium name like “Ohio Digital Library,” but you may want to change it to reflect the library branch you use like “Lakewood Public Library.”

You can change it to literally any name you want. Go ahead, name your library cards after your book boyfriends, we won’t stop you. But you’re on your own when someone looks at your phone and asks why your hold is ready to borrow from “Xaden.”

🎉CONGRATULATIONS!

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations—you’ve earned your Libby spring-cleaning merit badge! Now it’s time to tackle that bonus task—reading while you do your actual spring cleaning. Listening to an audiobook while you clean can be a great way to make mundane chores more enjoyable and productive.

Need some recommendations? Head on over to the Libby Instagram and check out audiobook suggestions based on the size of your space! And if you’re not a housekeeping expert like me, make sure you check out these spring cleaning guides to help you glow up your space.

Ready to level up your Libby expertise even more? Visit Libby Tips and Tricks for more helpful advice!