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Book Details

Every book in Jinbocho has two layers of information: the bibliographic record (what the book is) and the owned copy (your physical copy and its history).

Bibliographic Record vs Owned Book

graph LR
    BR["📖 Bibliographic Record<br/>ISBN · Title · Author<br/>Publisher · Year · Cover"]
    OB1["📗 Your copy<br/>Shelf 3 · Pos 2<br/>Finished reading"]
    OB2["📗 Another member's copy<br/>Shelf 1 · Pos 5<br/>Want to read"]
    BR --> OB1
    BR --> OB2

    style BR fill:#BC002D,color:#fff
    style OB1 fill:#2D6A4F,color:#fff
    style OB2 fill:#2D6A4F,color:#fff
Bibliographic Record Owned Book (your copy)
Title, author, ISBN Which shelf it's on
Publisher, year, pages Position on that shelf
Cover image, language Reading status
Description Date added, last moved
Genre tags Audit history

Why two separate things?

Multiple library members can own the same book. Each has their own copy record (with their own reading status and location), but they all share one bibliographic record. This avoids duplicate metadata.

Opening a Book's Detail Page

From any book list or search result, click the book card. The detail page shows:

Left panel — Metadata

  • Cover (thumbnail, from Open Library or Google Books)
  • Title and Author
  • ISBN (13-digit)
  • Publisher and Year
  • Pages
  • Language
  • Description/synopsis
  • Presentation — a short, spoiler-free blurb to help you decide what to read. See Book Presentation.

Right panel — Your copy

  • Location breadcrumb — Room › Bookcase › Section › Shelf · Position X
  • Reading status (badge with colour)
  • Date added
  • Audit log (move history and status changes)

Your Copy's Own Attributes

Beyond location and reading status, each owned copy carries its own details — separate from the bibliographic record, so they don't affect other library members' copies of the same book:

Field What it's for
Tags Free-form labels you choose (e.g. "signed", "to lend", "favourite") — shown as badges on the detail page
Condition New, Good, Fair, or Poor
Source Purchased, Gift, Borrowed, or Other
Purchase date and price Optional, for your own records
Owner Which library member this physical copy belongs to
Notes Free-text notes about this specific copy

To edit them: open the book detail page → Edit → see the "This copy" section of the edit form (the fields above the shared book details).

Who's Reading It Right Now

If a copy's status is Reading, the detail page shows a 📖 badge — with the member's avatar, if they've set one — next to the status with the name of the library member currently reading it. This is separate from the per-member read history — see Reading Progress → Who Read This Book.

If the copy is lent out, a 📤 badge shows who has it on loan — see Loans.

Reading Status

Each copy has one of three reading statuses:

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR
    [*] --> WantToRead : book added
    WantToRead --> Reading : start reading
    Reading --> Finished : finish
    Finished --> Reading : re-read
    WantToRead --> Finished : already read it
    Reading --> WantToRead : abandoned
Status Colour Meaning
Want to read 🔵 Blue In your to-read pile
Reading 🟡 Yellow Currently reading
Finished 🟢 Green Completed

Changing Reading Status

  1. Open the book detail page
  2. Click the status badge
  3. Select a new status from the dropdown
  4. The change is saved immediately and recorded in the audit log

Ratings

Every owned copy can carry your personal star rating, separate from its reading status — you can rate a book you've finished, or one you're still reading.

  1. Open the book detail page
  2. Click the star rating widget
  3. Pick a rating — it's saved immediately

The book detail page also shows the library's average rating for that title, aggregated across every member who rated a copy of it. Your own rating only affects your own copy's record; it doesn't change what other members see for theirs.

Changing a Book's Location

  1. Open the book detail page
  2. Click Change Location (or the pencil icon next to the location breadcrumb)
  3. Use the location picker to select:
  4. Room
  5. Bookcase
  6. Section (if applicable)
  7. Shelf
  8. Position (slot number on the shelf)
  9. Click Confirm Move

The move is recorded in the audit log with a timestamp.

Editing Metadata

  1. Open the book detail page
  2. Click Edit (pencil icon at the top)
  3. Modify any field:
  4. Title, author, publisher, year, pages, language, description
  5. Cover image URL (paste a direct image link)
  6. Click Save Changes

ISBN is read-only after creation

To avoid breaking the link between records and external lookups, the ISBN field cannot be changed after a book is created. Delete and re-add the book if the ISBN was entered incorrectly.

Audit Log

Every change to a book is recorded:

Event What gets logged
Book added User, timestamp, initial location
Location changed Old location → new location, user, timestamp
Reading status changed Old status → new status, user, timestamp
Metadata edited Which fields changed, user, timestamp

The audit log is visible at the bottom of the book detail page. It cannot be deleted.

Useful for shared libraries

In a shared library, the audit log tells you who moved a book and when — handy when a book is missing from its expected shelf.

Cover Images

Covers are fetched automatically during ISBN lookup. If a cover is missing:

  1. Open the book detail page → Edit
  2. Paste a direct image URL in the Cover URL field
  3. Click Save Changes

Accepted formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP. The image is not uploaded to Jinbocho — it is fetched from the URL every time the book is displayed.

Deleting a Book

See Managing Your Library → Deleting a Book.