Adding books by scanning

The Catalog tab opens on Browse, your whole collection. Click Add books to switch to the scanning screen, titled “Add to your shelves.” That’s where a pile of books becomes a catalog. Most books take about two seconds each.

Scan or type an ISBN

In the box that says “Scan, type an ISBN, or search a title or author,” do exactly that: scan the barcode on the back of the book, or type the ISBN, and press Enter (or click Find). The box also takes a title or an author: anything that isn’t an ISBN becomes a search, and you pick the right edition from the results.

A USB barcode scanner is the fastest way. It just types the number and presses Enter for you, so you can point, beep, and move to the next book without touching the keyboard. You can also use your phone’s camera with the Scan barcode button.

In a second or two, BeeShelf finds the book and shows the cover, title, author, publisher, and a summary.

No barcode? Photograph the cover

Some books have no barcode and no ISBN. If your library has cover scanning turned on, a Photograph cover button sits next to Scan barcode: photograph the front cover and BeeShelf reads the title and author off it, then runs that as a search. You still pick the right edition, so the record itself comes from the catalogs exactly as it would from a scan.

Cover scanning is off by default and is switched on per library by BeeShelf. If you don’t see the button, your library doesn’t have it turned on, and a barcode-less book goes in by hand instead.

Confirmed, or Needs review

Every match carries a small badge:

• Confirmed means the record came back complete, with a summary. You can add it without a second look.
• Needs review means the record is sparse: a catalog had the book, but no summary came with it. Nothing is wrong with the match, there’s just thin detail for readers to find it by. Add it anyway, or press Edit details first to write a summary and add topics.

The first time anyone on BeeShelf looks up a given book, the record is saved and shared, so the next library that scans the same ISBN gets it instantly. You’ll often see “instant (cached)” on common titles.

Add one copy, or several

If you have more than one copy of the same book, use the − and + buttons to set the count, then press Add to catalog (the button reads Add 3 copies when you’ve set three). Each copy becomes its own item with its own barcode.

To skip a result without adding it, press Skip.

Keep an eye on the sidebar

The right-hand sidebar tracks your session:

• Added this session counts what you’ve added since you opened the Add books screen. It resets if you switch to Browse or reload the page.
• A small cache and AI percentage shows how much came straight from catalogs versus needed filling in.
• An Edit a copy box finds any copy already on your shelves by barcode, title, or author, so you can pull one up to edit without the book in hand.
• Below it, the list shows the last books you added. Click any one to edit it (see Adding books by hand and editing copies).

When a book isn’t found

Older, regional, and self-published books sometimes aren’t in any catalog. When that happens you’ll see “We couldn’t find that one.” You can:

• Press Add it by hand to type the details yourself. What you enter is saved for everyone.
• Press Try another to move on.

Both paths are covered in Adding books by hand and editing copies.

Importing a list

If you already have your collection somewhere else, use Import catalogue, at the top of this screen, to bring it in all at once instead of scanning each book. It takes a CSV (a Libib or spreadsheet export) or a MARC file (.mrc or MARCXML, including Koha item records). See Import your library for the full walkthrough.