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Installing Bookleaf

Install the librarian app on a Windows PC, create your institution, and make your first admin account.

Bookleaf installs on one Windows computer — the one that stays in the library. That machine holds your catalog and serves everyone else, so choose it deliberately: it should be the computer that is switched on during library hours.

Before you start

You need:

  • A PC running Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
  • About 200 MB of free disk space, plus room for the catalog to grow
  • The PC connected to your institution’s Wi-Fi or wired network

You do not need an internet connection, a server, a database, or an account with us.

Install the application

  1. Download the installer from the download page.
  2. Run it. If Windows SmartScreen shows a warning about an unrecognized publisher, choose More info → Run anyway — this appears for installers Microsoft has not yet seen many downloads of.
  3. Open Bookleaf when the installer finishes.

Create your institution

The first launch asks for two things.

Your institution’s name. This appears on the dashboard, in the patron app, and on printed reports. Use the full official name — it is easier to shorten later than to explain an abbreviation to an accreditor.

An admin account. Enter your name, an ID number, and a PIN. This account can do everything: manage the catalog, register members, change loan policy, reset other people’s PINs, and take backups.

Write the admin PIN down and keep it somewhere secure and physical. There is no “forgot PIN” email — that would require a server we deliberately do not have. If the only admin PIN is lost, you will need a backup to recover from.

Add your other staff

Once you are signed in, add the people who will work the desk. Bookleaf has three roles:

RoleCan do
AdminEverything, including loan policy, PIN resets, and deactivating accounts
LibrarianManage the catalog, process checkouts and returns, view members
MemberSearch the catalog, see their own borrows and fines

Give desk staff the librarian role rather than admin. Not out of distrust — it just means an accidental click cannot change your fines policy in the middle of a busy morning.

Where your data is kept

Bookleaf stores everything in a single database file in your Windows application data folder. That one file is your entire library: catalog, copies, members, loans, fines and gate logs.

Two consequences worth internalising now:

  • Back it up. See Backups and restore. Do this in week one, not after the first scare.
  • Nothing is uploaded. The file never leaves that computer unless you copy it yourself.

Next steps

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