Features · Cataloging
Cataloging that a trained librarian can respect.
This is the part most small-library software gets wrong. It offers a title field, an author field, and calls it a catalog. Bookleaf models the record the way the profession does.
MARC
Real MARC21, in both directions
Bookleaf imports and exports MARCXML, the XML serialization of MARC21. That means the records you build here are not trapped: you can hand them to a consortium, load them into Koha, or move them into whatever the school buys in ten years.
On import, the record's leader determines the material type, and the fields map into
Bookleaf's own structure. On export, you get a single <collection> file containing whatever your current catalog view shows — search first, then export, if you
only want part of it.
The field-to-tag mapping is shared by the cataloging form and the MARC codec, so what the form labels as 773$g is genuinely what gets written.
Authority control
One heading, spelled one way, everywhere
A catalog decays when the same author arrives as "Rizal, José", "Jose Rizal" and "J. Rizal" in three separate records. Bookleaf keeps authority records for names, publishers and subjects, and links catalog records to them instead of storing loose text.
Imports use the same path: when a MARC or spreadsheet record names an author, Bookleaf finds the existing authority or creates one, then links it. So a bulk import of 3,000 records does not undo the tidying you did by hand last month.
The practical payoff is search. "Show me everything by this author" returns everything, because there is one author, not four spellings.
Material types
Nine types, each with the fields it actually needs
A thesis has an adviser and a degree. A serial has a volume and an issue. An article has a host publication and page range. Forcing all of them through a book-shaped form is how catalogs end up with real information stuffed into the notes field.
- Book
- Serial
- Article
- Audiovisual
- Map
- Manuscript
- Digital
- Thesis
- Other
Getting your collection in
Three ways to start
Excel or CSV
Upload the spreadsheet your library already keeps. You map your column headings to Bookleaf fields once, review what will be created, and import. Rows that fail are reported individually rather than silently dropped.
MARCXML
Import MARC21 records exported by a supplier, a consortium, or a system you are leaving. Bookleaf reads the leader to detect the material type and falls back to Book when a record is ambiguous.
One at a time, by barcode
Scan an ISBN to start a record, then fill in the rest. For a library adding a shelf at a time, this is the fastest honest path — and it is how most collections actually get catalogued.
Copies & holdings
The catalog knows about copies, not just titles
Every physical item gets its own record under the title: an accession number, a barcode, a shelf location, and a condition. That is what lets the system tell you copy 2 of three is missing, and copy 3 is damaged, while copy 1 is out with a student until Friday.
Condition is tracked separately from availability, which matters more than it sounds: a copy marked lost stops appearing as borrowable without pretending the title itself is gone.
Stocktake
Inventory by barcode scan
Start an inventory session and walk the shelves scanning. Bookleaf records each scan against the session, then reports what it never saw — the missing list you have probably been assembling by hand once a year, produced in an afternoon instead.
Try it on your own catalog this week.
Download Bookleaf and run the full system free for 7 days — every feature, no card, no account needed. If it fits, the software license is ₱1,499, one time.