How to run a stock check from shelf photos
An inventory used to mean taking every book off the shelf to scan it. Now you can photograph the shelf and leave the books where they are.
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A stock check, also called an inventory or stocktake, compares what is on the shelves with what the catalogue says you have. TitleEntry runs one from shelf photos, a phone camera or a barcode scanner, and reports the books that were not seen, the ones counted short and the ones that are not catalogued at all. This guide walks through it screen by screen; for the overview, see AI stocktaking for libraries and bookstores.
Last updated: 26 October 2026
Four ways to count a shelf
A photo of the shelf
Photograph a shelf and the AI reads every spine, then finds each book in your catalogue. Books with no barcode, or a barcode facing the wall, are counted the same as the rest.
The phone camera
Point the phone at each barcode as you walk the shelves. A barcode held in view counts once, so another copy of the same book means moving the camera away and back.
A barcode scanner
A USB or Bluetooth scanner, or an ISBN typed into the box. Every scan is saved the moment it is made, one after another in order.
Copy barcodes
Libraries that label each copy with its own barcode can scan those labels, so books with no ISBN are counted too.
How a shelf photo stock check works
Start a check
Give it a name or keep the date. A check is saved as you go, so it survives a closed tab and can run over several days, one shelf or one classroom at a time.
Photograph a shelf
Take the photo straight on, one bookcase at a time. TitleEntry finds the shelf rows in the picture and reads each one at full size, as the AI bookshelf scanner does.
Check the matches
Each book read from the photo is shown as found, with its title and shelf, or as not in the catalogue. Clear reads start ticked; a blurred or uncertain spine waits for a person to tick it. Nothing is counted yet.
Count and move on
One click counts the ticked books. Each one gets its own line with an Undo, and the whole photo can be undone at once if it was the wrong shelf.
Read the report
When the shelves are done, the report lists the differences. Choose the shelves to report on, page through the results and export each list to Excel.
What the stock check report shows
Only the differences. The books that are where they should be need no attention.
Not seen
Books the catalogue says are on these shelves that the check never found. Missing, misplaced or out on loan.
Counted short
Books seen, but fewer copies than the catalogue records. Three copies on record, two on the shelf.
Not in catalogue
Books found on the shelves that match nothing you have catalogued, from a barcode or a photo. Each can be added by hand from the report.
By default the report covers the shelves the check has found books on, so a half-finished check is not full of books you have not reached yet. Switch to the whole catalogue, books with no shelf, or any single shelf.
Barcodes or photos?
Both count into the same check. Use whichever suits the shelf in front of you.
A barcode stock check
Exact, one book at a time. Best where every book has a readable barcode and someone can take each one off the shelf. A large collection takes days.
A shelf photo stock check
A whole shelf per photo, with books left where they are. Best for old stock, books without barcodes, classroom libraries and shelves where pulling each book out is the slow part. Every match is shown before it counts.
Nothing changes until you decide
A stock check only records what it saw. It never deletes a book that was not found and never changes a quantity, so a shelf missed today cannot damage the catalogue. Deleting a check leaves every book as it was.
For libraries and bookstores
A school can check the library and each classroom library in turn. A shop can count the floor before a sale or after a move, as bookshop stocktaking explains. Books need to be catalogued first: see the AI bookshelf scanner for building the catalogue from photos.
More on taking stock: library inventory, school library inventory and bookstore inventory. Checking the shelves against a list of titles instead? See how to check books against a list.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. In a TitleEntry stock check you photograph each shelf, the AI reads the spines and matches every book to your catalogue, and you confirm the matches before they are counted. The report then lists the books that were not seen.
No. A check records which books were seen and how many copies were counted. It never adds or removes books and never changes a quantity. What to do about the differences is up to you.
Every read is shown with the book it matched before anything is counted. Uncertain reads start unticked, and a counted book can be undone. Matching follows the same rules as book lists: ISBN first, then title and author, and two different subtitles are two different books.
Yes. Shelf photos, the phone camera, a barcode scanner and copy barcode labels all count into the same check and the same report.
Yes. Every scan and every counted photo is saved straight away, so you can stop, close the tab and continue the same check another day.
Libraries and bookstores. Get in touch and we will set up an account for your collection.
Ready to check your shelves?
Get in touch and we will walk you through a stock check on your own collection.
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