TOPIC HUB
Cataloging
The practical mechanics of recording books: choosing intake workflows, determining minimum useful metadata fields, and handling collections that are already on shelves.
FLAGSHIP GUIDE11 MIN READ
How to catalog a home library: The Complete Field Guide
Choosing a cataloging system is easy compared with getting 800 existing books into it. A step-by-step breakdown of what metadata to keep, how to compare spreadsheets vs barcode scanners vs shelf photography, and how to deal with older books without ISBNs.
Read the Guide →Core Problems in Cataloging
The Minimum Viable Record
Most projects fail because of over-engineered schemas. You usually only need Title, Author, Year, Edition/ISBN, and Shelf Location.
Covered in Field GuidePre-1970 Editions & SBNs
Before the 1970 ISBN rollout, publishers used 9-digit Standard Book Numbers (SBN) or Library of Congress Card Numbers (LCCN).
Covered in Field Guide