Documentation
How to run your library on Bookleaf.
Written for a librarian, not a systems administrator. Free and public — you do not need a licence to read any of it.
Getting started
- Installing Bookleaf
Install the librarian app on a Windows PC, create your institution, and make your first admin account.
- Your first week
A realistic order of operations for getting a library running on Bookleaf without stopping circulation.
Cataloging
- Importing from a spreadsheet
Bring an existing Excel or CSV catalog into Bookleaf, including how to prepare the file and what to do about the rows that fail.
- MARC import and export
Import MARCXML records into Bookleaf and export your catalog as MARC21, including what version 1 does and does not preserve.
Circulation
- Loan policies
Set loan periods, limits, renewals and fines per patron category and material type, and understand how a rule is chosen at checkout.
Patrons
- Connecting patron devices
Get the Bookleaf app onto student phones, and fix the network problems that stop a phone finding the library.
Operations
- Backups and restore
How Bookleaf backups work, how to choose a passphrase you will not lose, and how to verify a backup is actually restorable.
- Running an inventory
Use a barcode scanner to do a full stocktake, find missing copies, and reconcile what the catalog says against what is on the shelf.
- Troubleshooting
The problems libraries actually hit — phones that cannot find the server, imports that go wrong, forgotten PINs — and what to do about each.
Not covered here?
Email support@bookleaf.site. If the answer turns out to be something several libraries need, it becomes a page here.