How to Catalog Books

The other day I was wondering if there was a way to keep a record of my books. See, I go thrifting all the time and I don’t want to buy duplicate books. Plus, I really love my collection of DIY and home decor books so it felt right to have a way to document all of them. So I did it! I thought I’d show you how to catalog books in case you have a home library you’d like to catalog too.

how to catalog books

Let’s start with the video tutorial so you get an overview on what I did. Then, I’ll dive in with more details below:

If the video doesn’t work here, you can watch it on YouTube here. I’d be over the moon happy if you subscribed to my YouTube channel! Videos are actually released on YouTube first (usually the night before they’re published on the blog). Thank you!

why catalog books?

To avoid buying duplicate books. This is the main reason I’m going to catalog my books. So I can don’t buy duplicate books while I’m out shopping.
To keep track of a books details. There are a million things you can track- a book to read next, favorite books, or when you bought a book. It’s very customizable which is nice.
To check books out and in. If a book is loaned out, you can note the contact in your phone who borrowed it. When it’s returned, it’s easy to check it back in. No more lost books!
To create a book wishlist. Whenever I see a book that’s interesting, I like to make a note of it. But those get lost. With an a book catalog app, they can be organized and easy to reference.
To make book gifting easier. I love books as a gift! With a list of books that are in the library and on a wishlist, it’s easy to give family/friends a list of books
To have a list of books in case of an emergency. If there’s a flood or fire that ruin the books, then there’s an electronic list of the library. This could help with insurance reasons too.
To note the location. If there are multiple bookshelves in a house, you can list where the book is located. This also works well with books organized by color- looking for a book and not sure the color of the spine? It’s easy to look the book up by title and seeing what shelf it’s on.

apps to use to catalog books

There are lots of apps for cataloging books! I tried out three and I’ll share what I learned below and my favorite one.

iPhone options

Book Buddy*
Delicious Library 3
Book Crawler
LibraryThing* (works on iPhone and Android)
ICollect (works on iPhone and Android)
Libib* (works on iPhone and Android)

Android options

Book Catalog
MyLibrary
LibraryThing* (works on iPhone and Android)
ICollect (works on iPhone and Android)
Libib* (works on iPhone and Android)

*=also has a desktop version

how to catalog books

To catalog books do the following–

Choose an app to catalog the books.
Use the built in scanner in the app to scan the barcode on the back of the book.
If there isn’t a barcode, use the search function and type in the title of the book.
Go through the library bookshelf by bookshelf and catalog all the books before moving to the next shelf.
Continue until the whole book collection is cataloged.

Book Buddy

The app I choose to catalog my books is Book Buddy. Here’s my thoughts on it-

It’s very easy to add books to the catalog. Just scan the barcode on the back of the book through the app and it automatically pulls up all the book information! If there isn’t a barcode on the book, choose the “search online” option and type in the title of the book. Then it’s just as easy as selecting the correct book to be added to the virtual catalog.

My favorite feature of this app is that you can note the physical location of a book. This is great if you have books through the house. For me, I used it to mark which shelf each book is on by color- so I can see all the pink books in one list!

This app is beautiful. I love how it looks scrolling through my books. That is a good benefit for me.

It’s easy to change the image of the book. Usually, the cover is automatically pulled up when a book is scanned, but if it isn’t (which sometimes happens with old books), it’s quick to search online for a book cover. You can also take a picture of the cover and upload it manually. Or find a picture online, save it, and upload it. Lots of options- which I appreciate!

I can add books to a wishlist. To do this, go to the main page, click the bottom left button, then click on “wish list.” From there it’s easy to add books by searching online for them. I love that I can keep track of books I want to buy easily.

Note, the app costs $4.99 for the pro edition. After uploading 50 books, it’ll ask you to upgrade the account before adding anymore books. After upgrading, you can add an unlimited number of books. I felt like that was a fair price.

I haven’t tried it, but the Book Buddy app can be accessed through a Mac or iPad as well as an iPhone. For me, the priority was to have the information on my phone, but this is a nice benefit.

LibraryThing

I read a few blogs about how to catalog books before I started this project and everyone suggests LibraryThing as the favorite.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a fan. To me, it feels clunky and not as user friendly as other apps.

Plus the whole thing is brown which is my least favorite color. That seems picky, but to me the app isn’t very pretty.

The reviews on the app say that there is a limited number of books you can add, but there isn’t a warning so old books just disappear.

I also found there was less information about the book and less customization than the other apps I tested. It features tags other users have imported which I didn’t find important. I preferred how Book Buddy shows a summery of the book and better organizes the information about the book

When I first opened the app, I needed to sign up for an account. For me, that was a little annoying. But you can sign-in on a desktop computer and access the catalog from multiple areas, so I can see that as being a benefit.

I’ve read that the desktop version is more robust so if having access on a computer is important, this might be a good option.

It’s easy to add books through the built in scanner in the app or through a search. I’d definitely recommend trying this app. Just because it wasn’t for me, doesn’t mean it’s not for you.

iCollect

The third app I tested is iCollect. This is a fun one because it can track lots of collections– Lego, stamps, movies, books, games, and way more. Also, if you collect something it doesn’t have a category for, you can set it up and customize the app to work for the collection.

A cool feature is that you can note the approximate value of the items. This felt perfect for high priced items and serious collectors. I probably wouldn’t use this, but I can see the appeal.

Personally, I did feel that since it could track so many collectibles, it was trying to do too much and overwhelming. I worried that since it was covering so many items- could it do cataloging books well?

One issue I had is when I added books, it didn’t automatically add the author and the app needed me to manually add that information before I could proceed.

There’s other items the app didn’t automatically pull like genre and publication date that I’d like to reference.

iCollect does have the option to add storage location– so that’s a nice feature.

I might keep using this app to track my souvenir plate collection. If you want to track something besides books, I’d recommend this app.

the process of cataloging books

The process of actually scanning the books is pretty boring. I choose to work in 15 minute increments and see how much I could get done in that time period.

It took me 15-30 seconds to add each book. My library has 177 books which took two days to scan into the app.

But the payoff is good! I can now see which books I have from anywhere! And it’s fun to see how many books I have of each color. I’ve been working on my wishlist and now I can reference it before I purchase a book.

It’s also great to see more information on the books. The genres, author, page count, and way more information is handy. I can add tags with more details that I want to reference. Sometimes I want to pull out all my books on rose gardening on traditional decorating. I can tag those books so it’s easy to quickly gather them.

This is also a really affordable project. It cost me $4.99 and in the process I donated a bunch of books and dusted all my shelves. It feels like only my most favorite books are on the shelves. I love that!

If you’re a book lover like I am, I’d 100% suggest this project. It’s a joy to touch each book and remember why I love it. And now I have a system to organize my books and another way to enjoy them.

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