Catalogue books and papers from their title pages
No barcode to scan does not mean nothing to read. The title page says what the book is, and the AI writes it down.
Try TitleEntryThe title page scanner catalogues anything with a printed title page. Photograph the page, and its back if the publisher and date are there, and TitleEntry turns what is printed into a catalogue record. You check each one before it is saved.
Last updated: 27 October 2026
What the AI reads from a title page
It copies only what is printed, and nothing is invented. A field the page does not show is left empty for you:
- The title, with its subtitle
- Every author or editor named
- The publisher, or the institute or society that issued it
- The year printed on the page
- Edition, place, series or report number
- An ISBN, when one is printed and its check digit is valid
It reads other languages and older typefaces too. Each record carries a confidence score, so a faded imprint is easy to spot in the review.
Cataloguing by title page, step by step
One box per book
Open the Title pages tab on the Scan page. Each book gets its own box, and every photo in a box belongs to that book: the title page, its back, the cover, the contents page. Five photos at most, twenty books in a batch.
Let it read
The books are read two at a time. Each box shows what was read, or a Retry button when a photo could not be read.
Check every record
Read books join the review list with their publisher, year and details. A doubtful read starts unticked, and the photo viewer steps through every page you took.
Pick a shelf and save
The first photo becomes the book’s picture in your catalogue, and the edition, place or report number goes into its Notes.
Made for collections without barcodes
Reports and papers
Technical reports, theses, conference papers and unbound typescripts rarely carry a barcode. Their cover sheet names the issuing body and the report number, and both are kept.
Books older than the ISBN
A book printed before the 1970s has no ISBN to look up. Its title page still names the author, the publisher and the year of that printing.
Small presses and local printing
Parish histories, society journals, exhibition catalogues and self-published memoirs often appear in no database. The title page is the only record there is.
Copied, not guessed
A search by title would find the newest edition and attach its details to your 1911 copy. So a title page record is never matched by title, and when you correct one, it saves exactly what you typed.
When there is an ISBN
Books from the 1970s on often have an ISBN printed inside but no barcode outside. The scanner reads it, checks it is a valid number and looks that edition up to fill the gaps, adding its cover when one exists.
For a shelf where the spines are still readable, the AI bookshelf scanner is quicker. Collectors can read the guide to cataloguing old books without an ISBN, and all three ways of adding books are compared in add books with AI.
Frequently asked questions
A way to catalogue a book from a photo of its title page instead of its barcode. In TitleEntry it is the Title pages tab on the Scan page, next to barcode scanning and the shelf photo.
Yes. Anything with a printed title page or cover sheet works. The organisation that issued it is recorded as the publisher, and a report or series number goes into the details.
It records what is printed on the page in front of you, so an old title keeps its own publisher and year instead of a modern reprint’s details. When an ISBN is printed, that edition is looked up and fills in only the fields still empty.
Nothing is saved and no credit is used. Take the photo again, or retry, and the book is read once more.
Libraries, bookstores and private collectors. Each book read uses one credit from the account.
Send us a message through the contact form. We create the account, with title pages already switched on.
Boxes of papers with no barcodes?
Send us a few title pages and we will show you the records they make.
Get in touch