Guide
Find your book, choose what you are tracking, add the useful details, and confirm.
Published 2026-08-13 · Reviewed 2026-09-08
Use Add New → Add Book from a desk home page, or choose Log New Book in Library, when you want to start tracking a book.
1. Find your book
Search for the book and choose the matching result when one is available. The same field accepts a title or an author name. ARC Library checks the text as a title first, then looks for books by that author when the title search is empty. Once the result is selected, Continue uses that title and author immediately; you do not need to wait for the remaining details to finish loading. If you cannot find the right title, continue with your own book details.
No books found now means the catalogues answered successfully but had no match. If one or more catalogues could not be reached and no trustworthy result is available, Add Book says so and offers Try again instead of treating the failure as an empty search.
Search results show each book’s cover, title, and author. An In library marker helps you spot books you already track. On a tablet or computer, select a book to open its Book details on the right while your search results stay visible on the left. Choose another result to update that panel, or Close book details to give the list the full space again. You can reopen it with Details, or choose Continue with this book to move on. All four steps keep the same dialog and left-hand step navigation. On a phone, Scan, Photo, and Filters stay close to the search field, with Details and Continue below the results.
In Details, a book already in ARC Library’s catalogue can show its community star average and spice average with the number of ratings behind each one. These are community figures, not your personal ratings. If readers have published reviews for that book, choose Check reviews to read them without leaving or advancing the Add Book flow. External search results do not show ARC Library ratings until they match a catalogue book.
In the iPhone or Android app, choose Scan book barcode and point the live camera at the ISBN barcode on the back cover. The scanner closes when it reads the number and starts the same book search for you. If camera access was denied, allow it in your phone settings and try again. The scan control is not shown on the website or desktop app.
Choose Photo when a screenshot, social post, email, or book cover clearly shows the book details. The local-reading privacy note and camera or photo-library choices appear after you choose it, rather than taking space from every search. ARC Library reads the picture on your device and never uploads it. On Android and iPhone, Choose from library opens the system photo library. For decorative covers, ARC Library makes extra high-contrast reading passes on your device, including one that separates pale lettering from busy artwork. When a social photo contains a small cover away from the center, it scans likely cover regions and combines matching letter fragments from local reading passes. Surrounding challenge text, captions, likes, quotes, trope labels, and promotional copy stay out of the book details. Evidence from separate parts of a social graphic cannot be combined to invent a different title and author. It uses the catalogue to correct small lettering mistakes only when both the title and author agree within the same compact cover region. It recognizes both common cover layouts, a larger title above the author or a smaller author above a larger title. Screenshot extraction favors the visible heading and ignores nearby promotional copy. In BookFunnel delivery emails, it can combine the title from the email header with the author named in the delivery message. It can also read dates labelled First published. Reliable title and author text first runs through the normal catalogue search. If that search has no exact match, Add Book opens manual entry with the reliable details. Otherwise it leaves manual entry blank rather than filling uncertain text.
For a manual entry, add the title and open Author to choose an existing name or add a new one. On a phone, the chooser keeps a short list on screen so the complete catalogue stays responsive; type in Search to find any author. Expand Add more details to add a publication date, ISBN or ASIN, and cover. Paste an image link into Cover URL, or use Upload cover to choose an image from your device.
2. Choose the book type
Select ARC, Personal Book, Beta, or Alpha. This choice changes the setup questions so you only see information relevant to that kind of reading.
3. Set up tracking
For an ARC, Beta, or Alpha read, Quick Setup starts with Ebook requested, Self-Requested as the ARC Source, and today in Date Requested. These are starting choices only: select another format or source, change the date, or tap a selected choice to clear it. A format you chose while checking the book’s details stays selected instead of being replaced by Ebook. Saved drafts also reopen with the exact setup you left, including fields you cleared.
For a personal book, choose your format and ownership details. Personal books do not receive the ARC Source or Date Requested defaults. Selecting an existing provider keeps the status, format, dates, and priority you already chose.
4. Review and confirm
Check the summary and expand Book Details when you want to add more. Choose Standalone or Series there; choosing Series reveals its name and book number beside the rest of the advanced book information. Open Authors, Publisher, or Series with an empty search to choose from the names you use most often. You can add a new genre or trope here, and it stays selected when the book saves. On a phone, selected genres and tropes appear first, popular choices are marked Most used, and an exact search match rises above broader matches. Duplicate labels appear only once. In Audiobook Details, selected narrator cards keep the full performer name visible. Country and Edition use the same themed selectors as the rest of the form; Country also keeps your recent choices close.
Add the book, then open it or return to your Library. On web, ARC Library waits for the permanent saved record before showing success; if that save fails, the flow stays open and keeps your meaningful entries as a draft. If only a custom cover cannot upload after the book is created, the book and its other details remain saved; open its book workspace to retry or replace the cover later.