Check every book against a list as you scan
Someone has handed you a list. You need to know which books on your shelves are on it, and which are not.
Try TitleEntryTitleEntry checks books against your lists while you catalogue them. Upload an approved list or a list of titles to find, then scan barcodes or photograph shelves. Every book that is on the list, or missing from it, is flagged before it is saved, and a report compares the list with everything you hold.
Last updated: 26 October 2026
Two kinds of list
Every list is one of two kinds, chosen when you create it. A library can keep as many lists as it needs, and a book is checked against all of them at once.
An approved list
Books that are not on the list are flagged. Use it for a list of titles your board or district has approved, or for the holdings list a library already keeps, so anything new or unexpected stands out as you scan.
A list to flag
Books that are on the list are flagged. Use it for titles your district has asked you to review or remove, a recall, or any set of books you need to find on the shelves.
How checking against a list works
Add the list
Paste it or upload a CSV file, one book per line: an ISBN, a title, an author, in any order. ISBN-10s are converted to 13 digits so they match the barcode, a header row is skipped, and the preview counts the books before you save. A list can hold up to 20,000 titles.
Scan the way you always do
Barcode scans, AI shelf photos and books added by hand are all checked against your lists the moment they come in. Nothing extra to open and no second pass.
Flagged books are held back
A flagged book shows "On" or "Not on" the list under its title, starts unticked and is listed last, so it is only saved if someone ticks it on purpose. On a barcode scan an amber notice appears and a short tone plays, for staff using a scanner without watching the screen.
Compare the whole catalogue
Open the list against everything already catalogued, not just today’s scans. The report sorts every book and every list entry into groups, and each group exports to Excel for the person who asked.
How a book is matched to a list entry
Lists are rarely tidy. Some have ISBNs, some only titles, some a title with a subtitle the book does not print. The rules below decide when a book and an entry are the same.
- An ISBN on the list matches that ISBN only. Another edition has another ISBN, so it is not taken as approved
- A title with no ISBN matches with or without its subtitle: "Educated" and "Educated: A Memoir"
- Two different subtitles are two different books, so one volume of a series does not flag the next
- When the list and the book both name an author, they must share a name, so a short title cannot catch another author’s book
- Accents, "&" and "and", punctuation and Turkish letters are folded before comparing
- A shelf photo is matched by title as well as ISBN, since the ISBN it finds may be another edition’s
What the list report shows
Three groups for an approved list, counted in full, each one ready to export.
On the list
Books in your catalogue that the list holds, with the shelf each one is on.
Not in catalogue
List entries that match no book you have catalogued: not bought, missing, or not scanned yet.
Not on the list
Books in your catalogue that an approved list does not hold. The ones to look at first.
A list to flag shows the books of it that you hold, with the shelf to find each one on, and how many of its titles you do not have.
Where lists come from
Some states set rules on how school library books are approved or listed. Our guides to Texas and Florida explain what each state asks for, with the sources. A list can also be a reading list, a donation list or last year’s catalogue.
Your school makes the decisions
Which books belong on a list is your school’s decision, and so is meeting any law. TitleEntry shows you where your shelves and your lists differ, and every book stays in the catalogue until you choose to remove it.
Lists work with every way of adding books: the ISBN scanner, the AI bookshelf scanner and books added by hand. To count what is on the shelves rather than compare it with a list, run an AI shelf stock check. For the wider picture, see school library inventory.
Frequently asked questions
Upload the list as a CSV or paste it, choose whether it is an approved list or a list to flag, then scan as usual. Every scanned book is checked as it comes in, and the list report compares the list with the whole catalogue.
Yes. An entry can be an ISBN, a title, or a title and author. Title entries match with or without a subtitle, and an author on both sides must agree.
For an entry with an ISBN, no: only that ISBN matches, because another edition is a different item to approve. For an entry with only a title, any edition with that title matches.
No. A flag is information. A flagged book is held back from saving until someone ticks it, and books already catalogued are only marked. Which books stay on the shelves is your decision.
Yes. The list report compares a list with the whole catalogue at any time, and All Books has a filter that shows only the books your lists flag.
Get in touch and we will set up an account for your library and load your first list with you.