How to run a school library stock audit in the UK
Count the books, find the old ones, and keep a record. TitleEntry does the scanning so the audit takes a day, not a term.
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A stock audit is the job nobody has time for: every book counted, every shelf checked, the old and damaged ones pulled. In England there is no statutory requirement for a school to have a library at all, so the audit usually falls to a teacher, a librarian or a volunteer working around everything else. This page covers how to do it quickly. For the general guide, see school library inventory.
A stock audit in four steps
Scan what is on the shelves
Scan ISBN barcodes with a phone camera or a USB scanner, or photograph a shelf and let the AI shelf scanner read the spines. Older books with no barcode are read from the spine text instead. Every book lands in one list with its title, author, publisher, year and cover.
Tag each book with its shelf
Give each shelf or classroom collection a name before you scan it, so every book is recorded against where it sits. Moving a book to another shelf later is a single edit, not a re-scan.
Check the years and weed
The catalogue holds the publication year for each book, and the Excel export carries it too, so you can sort by year in a spreadsheet and see at a glance what is old. The School Library Association advises against keeping books over ten years old, with exceptions such as history and art titles that are in good condition. Geography, science and technology books deserve a closer look after five years.
Export the record
Download the whole catalogue as an Excel file for governors, a trust, or your own records. Open it in Excel or Google Sheets, or save it as a CSV from either.
Guides for other countries: United States, Canada, Australia and Ireland. Read more about the AI bookshelf scanner and ISBN scanning.
UK books scan like any other
UK publishers get their ISBNs from the UK ISBN Agency, which Nielsen runs for the UK and Ireland. The barcode on the back of a UK book is a standard ISBN, so scanning it works the same as anywhere else. Where a book has no ISBN, the AI shelf scan reads the spine instead.
Primary and secondary
A primary school may have one reading corner per class. A secondary school may have a library, a reading room and subject collections in departments. Name each shelf or collection as its own location and the catalogue keeps them apart, so every book is recorded against where it sits.
Honest about what TitleEntry is and is not
TitleEntry is a cataloguing and export tool. It is not a library management system: no issuing, no pupil accounts, no overdue notices and no public catalogue. See our guide to book cataloguing software for how the options compare.
If your school has no digital record of its books, TitleEntry builds one from the shelves. If you already have a system, use the export as the starting point for a stock check against it.
Frequently asked questions
No. There is no statutory requirement for schools in England to have a library, so whether a school has one, and how it is run, is a decision for the headteacher and governors. That is one reason many school libraries are looked after by a teacher or volunteer with little time, and why a quick stock audit matters.
Scan every book on the shelves, record which shelf it sits on, then check the list against what you expect to have. Barcode scanning handles books that carry an ISBN. For older books without one, photograph the shelf and the AI shelf scanner reads the spines. TitleEntry does both and builds the list for you, so there is nothing to type.
The School Library Association recommends not keeping books over ten years old on your shelves, with exceptions such as some history and art books that are in good condition and still relevant. It suggests examining geography, science and technology books after five years. TitleEntry records the publication year of each book, and the Excel export includes it.
Yes. UK publishers receive ISBNs through the UK ISBN Agency, run by Nielsen, and the barcode on the back of a UK book is read like any other ISBN. TitleEntry looks the book up and fills in the record. Books that no source holds can be added by hand.
No. It catalogues and exports. It does not handle issuing, pupil accounts, overdue notices or a public catalogue. If you already use a library system, the Excel export is a starting point for importing your records. If you have no system, the catalogue and spreadsheet can be your record.
Get in touch and we will talk through your collections and set you up.
Last verified 6 October 2026. Sources: NielsenIQ BookData, UK ISBN Agency; National Literacy Trust, managing book stock (School Library Association weeding guidance).