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Show HN: I built library management app for those who outgrew spreadsheets

(www.librari.io)
78 points hmkoyan | 3 comments | 18 Jul 25 19:28 UTC | HN request time: 0.719s | source

I've been working on librari.io for the past several months and just launched the beta version.

The Problem: I have 500+ books across multiple rooms in my house and was desperately looking for an app to manage them properly. Most library management apps are either too basic or designed for institutional libraries with rigid workflows that don't fit personal use.

What I Built:

- Multiple libraries: manage collections in different locations

- Location tracking - remember exactly which shelf each book is on

- Loan management - track books you've lent to friends

- Custom fields & tags - store any additional book info the way YOU think about them

- Reading progress tracking - dates, duration, personal ratings

- Modern UI/UX - clean & actually enjoyable to use

Current Status:

- Beta version live

- Working on improving the responsiveness of the app and addressing initial user feedback

Would love feedback! Especially curious about:

- What features would make YOU actually use a library management app?

- UI/UX feedback always welcome

- Any book collectors here who'd be interested in beta testing?

Looking forward to your thoughts! Thank you in advance.

1. pixelmonkey ◴[18 Jul 25 21:08 UTC] No.44609851[source]▶
I use https://libib.com for this use case. I didn't see it mentioned here, so figured I'd share.

I'll also mention a fun coding project that I used ChatGPT on. I created a data enriched spreadsheet out of my physical books. This could then be used to bulk import into libib for a searchable and visual digital bookshelf.

First I took photos of my bookshelves such that the spines were visible. Then I had ChatGPT vision model transcribe visible titles and authors, and guess the books based on that. Then I turned that into a CSV. Finally I had ChatGPT generate a Python script that used the Google Books API to enrich the spreadsheet with ISBNs. Finally I bulk uploaded that CSV with ISBNs to libib, and voila, I had a digitized library.

Just in case this gives you any ideas!

replies(1): >>44610076 #
2. hmkoyan ◴[18 Jul 25 21:33 UTC] No.44610076[source]▶
Thank you for your comment. Libib is indeed a well-established player in this industry. Although it suggests a lot of different functionalities/features, it lacks detailed statistics/analytics regarding users' reading activity, libraries and content. It also doesn't allow you to create your own data fields for storing information about books, authors or publishers. Regarding data extraction from photos, I considered this method initially, but then decided to leave it until there is specific feedback regarding this. Apparently, people would actually use it, as another user also pointed this out in a comment.
replies(1): >>44610139 #
3. pixelmonkey ◴[18 Jul 25 21:42 UTC] No.44610139[source]▶
Glad the comment was helpful. Cool project. From one book lover to another, best of luck!