Track which shelf a book is on¶

Most book apps tell you whether you own a book. Almost none tell you where it physically is. If you've ever stood in front of full bookcases unable to find the one title you want — or re-bought a book you already owned — this is the missing piece.

The idea: give every book a physical address¶

Instead of a flat catalog, model your home the way it's actually laid out:

Room  →  Bookcase  →  Section  →  Shelf  →  the book

Every book gets a precise location. Searching a title returns its room and shelf, not just "yes, you own it". Lend a book out, and you can mark it as away instead of hunting for an empty gap.

How it works in practice¶

Scan a book's ISBN with your phone — metadata and cover fill in automatically.
Pin it to its shelf on a visual map of your bookcases.
Search any title later and jump straight to its spot.
Share the library with your family so everyone sees the same map.

Why a map beats a spreadsheet¶

A spreadsheet can hold a "location" column, but it won't reflect your real furniture, won't show you a shelf at a glance, and won't survive being maintained by hand. A purpose-built shelf map keeps the physical layout and the catalog in sync.

Do this with Jinbocho¶

Jinbocho is a free, open-source, self-hosted home library manager built specifically to track which shelf each book is on — visual map, ISBN scanning, multi-user family accounts, and full CSV/JSON export.

git clone https://github.com/jinbocho/jinbocho-infrastructure-v1.git
cd jinbocho-infrastructure-v1
docker compose -f docker-compose.ghcr.yml up -d

Or try the live demo first.