ISBN Search

I know of at least two people here who track their reading on their websites. One thing that’s held me back from doing the same is finding book information without having to deal with sites like Goodreads. But if you’ve got a ISBN you can find the book (and, it seems, its cover).

10 Likes

Yes! I use the “search by ISBN” function in our library management software when I catalog books, because it turns up the exact copy we have with the exact cover (if a cover image exists in our cataloging databases). Searching by title or author is never that exact unless the book is a single-design new release.

2 Likes

This and https://isbndb.com/ look great. I’ve raised a request with Library Pals to add support for ISBNDB in place of Google Books for physical and ebook support!

3 Likes

Ooh! That’s super interesting to me, as someone who wants to work in a library some day. It makes sense that you can look things up this way but also makes me happy that it’s a site people have made :]

3 Likes

See also https://search.worldcat.org

If it’s cataloged in (nearly) any library worldwide, OCLC recognizes it. (And if its copyright was registered in the US, it’s cataloged in the LoC.)

3 Likes

Oooh this will be useful for me. I’ve been trying to track my reading in a markdown table in obsidian, but getting covers for the table had me just going to google. Being able to use a non-google service for that would be nice.