Hi Nan, when you take a book from the step 1 list, no one else can take it. It disappears from the step 1 list, but will appear on the Books in Progress (or is it Books in Process?) list as being validated. If you need more than the 7 days to validate it, just log into Bookshare, and click on Step 2 and the choices are release (as in you no longer want to validate the book and you want it to go back to step 1), upload (where you can upload the finished product or reject it because of a variety of reasons) or renew (if you're close to the end of your 7 days). It is not necessary to let anyone know that you've chosen a particular book, but probably you are welcome to do so. And if you need help along the way someone here will definitely answer your questions. Validating that first book can be a daunting task but hopefully the new volunteer manual takes a lot of the scare out of it. I know I was terrified to try. Once you get the hang of it, though, being a volunteer is a lot of fun. Jamie in Michigan Currently Reading - Just Desserts (a Savannah Reid mystery) by G A McKevett $10 Free Groceries