Guide
Browse public books, authors, and narrators, then bring the right book into your workflow.
Published 2026-08-29 · Reviewed 2026-09-09
Open Catalogue from Discover to browse public Books, Authors, and Narrators. Use the tabs below the page title to move between the three public directories. Open ARCs & Teams is the neighbouring Discover destination for ARC, PR, and team applications.
Book Catalog
Use the catalogue to look up a title, compare the available information, and start adding the right book to your own Library.
Each catalogue card has a keyboard-ready View details action. Press Tab until the book is announced, then press Enter or Space. Add to TBR remains a separate action, so opening details never adds the book by accident. Global Search the stacks results open the same complete public book page for signed-in and signed-out readers.
The standalone public page opens as a Book Jacket. The complete title, author, cover, publication facts, description, book record, shops, and reader voices remain together, while their arrangement changes to fit the screen. On a phone, use About, Details, and Reviews below the jacket. Track this book and Find stay at the safe bottom edge, and Share remains in the compact header. Find opens Kobo, Amazon, Goodreads, and any available listening link in a sheet you can dismiss without leaving the book.
If you are signed in, Add to my library opens the normal Add Book flow with this catalogue record selected, including its authors, publisher, series, genres, tropes, and warnings. ARC Library still applies your plan limit and duplicate checks. A title already in your current account changes to Open in my library. If you are signed out, Track this book lets you choose the book type, reading status, and format before account creation. An unfinished setup for another book is never replaced without asking you first.
When you use Add Book on the website or desktop app, the first search combines ARC Library's shared catalogue, its synchronised Kobo catalogue, and Amazon. Search more sources checks Google Books and, when the first results are still thin, ISBNdb. The iOS and Android apps keep Amazon results out of in-app search because Amazon requires separate written approval for native apps. Kobo matches are labelled clearly, include only records with a valid ISBN, title, and author, and never show retailer prices. Choosing any result still uses ARC Library's normal duplicate and quality checks, so retailer data does not silently replace an existing shared record.
Open a public book page or a book's catalogue detail and use Find This Book for Kobo, Amazon, and Goodreads. Both views open the exact regional Kobo product when the synchronized catalogue has one, then use a tracked regional search only when no exact offer is available. Affiliate links are disclosed and do not change the price you pay. Goodreads is identified separately as a non-affiliate link.
When a submitted book is waiting to join the shared catalogue, a moderator checks its title and author independently across Goodreads, Amazon, StoryGraph, Kobo, and Google. Each shortcut carries the current title and author into that site's search. Opening one does not alter the submission, and the moderator still chooses what belongs in the public record.
If your account also has moderator access, open Admin > Public ARCs when a book needs to join the shared database directly. Every Catalogue Atlas tab keeps Add to public database in its workspace header, including Authors, Narrators, taxonomy, Worklists, and Ledger. The direct wizard applies the catalogue's duplicate and edition checks, creates only the shared book record, and does not add the title to your personal Library.
In the ARC Library desktop app, the first shortcut opens a verification window on the largest screen away from the Approval Desk. Every later shortcut opens as another tab in that same window, including links that a catalogue tries to open separately. Use the tab close control or Command/Ctrl + W to close one check, and close the verification window when the session is finished. On the website, the browser controls external tabs and windows, so a catalogue's security settings can still require a separate window.
Author names written as First Last or Last, First count as the same person, so formatting alone does not create a false conflict. Obvious lowercase author words are capitalized automatically, and an exact book-database match can supply trusted casing such as Michael Bettendorf without changing the author identity. Approval Desk shows the correction with Undo before it is saved. Descriptions returned by a book database are cleaned into readable paragraphs before they fill the catalogue editor, so raw HTML break tags are never left in the blurb. When a missing description is supplied during review, matching genre and trope suggestions fill immediately and remain reversible with Keep or Undo. Trigger warnings are optional and appear at the end of the Approval Desk after book links, so a missing warning does not hold up an otherwise complete catalogue record.
When you finish editing an ISBN or ASIN, Approval Desk checks that identifier automatically. If you need to repeat the lookup on a pending book, open the three-dot menu in the header and choose Recheck this edition. For a tester-completed catalogue book, use Recheck ISBN / ASIN in the record sidebar. The editor is the single place for the book title and authors, while the header and cover rail stay focused on actions and submission context. On a wide screen, Book and edition and Publishing and discovery form two compact ledgers; each row reads check, field title, editable value, then information. Checks stay in one vertical line before the titles, while the single information button follows its field. Every editable value, including the full Description, uses the same compact text scale. Field titles are red when missing, orange when they need review, green when verified or settled by a moderator, and the normal text colour when optional. One aligned check control can settle a field manually and fills automatically for a source-verified value or a value the moderator edits. The full status remains available to assistive technology without a visible pill. Author and Narrator fields share the same compact chips and inline search. Genres and Tropes show every selected value in the ledger; open either selector to find the current choices at the top for quick removal before searching the full list. Tablet and phone layouts switch between the ledgers so controls remain comfortable to use. Each field has at most one information control. For ISBN and ASIN, its pop-up combines identifier rules, automatic-fill provenance and Undo, and every alternative source value with its selection and dismissal actions. When Amazon, Kobo, ISBNdb, or another source offers a different value, that same control changes from a quiet information icon into a compact warning naming the source. Choosing or dismissing the alternative returns it to the quiet information state. The live checking message remains visible beneath the active field. Amazon is the source of truth for empty draft fields, with ISBNdb filling only details Amazon did not return. Different source values stay inside the same pop-up, where you can compare them without keeping a large reminder in the ledger. When a book database returns the exact title and complete author list, or confirms the identifier, matching values turn Verified automatically. If Amazon includes a cover and the submission has none, the cover fills into the draft without another moderator click; exact-book covers from other sources can do the same. The selected cover appears only in the summary rail; click it to open cover editing. An existing submitted cover is never replaced automatically.
The moderator book queue opens directly with its compact controls and ledger, without a separate triage summary taking space above it. Larger screens use separate Book, Signals, Assignment, and Wait columns. Search, sorting, page size, submission count, page selection, and the three-dot filter control share one compact row above the books. Open the three-dot menu for Ready, Enriched, No match, Not enriched, Failed, Mine, and Unassigned filters. A badge shows how many search and filter narrowings are active, and Clear search and filters restores the complete queue. The full page of books and its pagination scroll together with the browser page, without a second scrollbar inside the ledger. Authors, publishers, providers, series, aliases, narrators, new editions, and suggested edits use one full-width row per submission. Automated checks are labelled Auto. When an Author, Publisher, Provider, or Series name has a public catalogue match of 75% or more, open Similar beside the row to compare names and percentages, then choose Merge and confirm the right public record. Opening a record uses the full review window, and closing returns to the same place in the queue.
When you approve a pending book, its pending authors, publisher, series, and narrators are handled in the same catalogue decision. An existing public voice is reused when the narrator name already matches; otherwise the narrator joins the public catalogue, and the approved book keeps the structured narrator connection on its work and edition. If the book approval cannot finish, narrator promotion is rolled back too, so the narrator remains safely waiting instead of becoming detached from a failed book decision.
On a phone, Approval Desk uses Direct Queue: the current pending queue appears immediately, without the queue strip or visible filter bars above it. Tap the three-dot button beside the queue name to switch queues or change status, search, sort, assignment, and advanced controls. Tap a compact row to open its Complete record. Book review becomes one full-height scroll surface with a safe bottom action dock for Reject, Merge, Save, and Approve, while narrator and author-claim records keep their decisions in the same safe phone position. Narrator catalogue statistics, legacy imports, and published voices stay tucked under Catalogue maintenance so new submissions remain first.
Author Claims has its own compact moderation inbox. Tap a claim to open its complete dossier with the applicant, verification method, code validity, proof checklist, supplied evidence, public-author match, and moderator notes. On a phone the dossier fills the screen and keeps Reject and Approve and next in a safe bottom dock; on tablets and larger screens the inbox stays beside the dossier. A successful decision opens the next matching claim, while a failed decision leaves the current claim open. When a claim names a new author who already exists, choose Use this profile before approval so ARC Library does not create a duplicate. Rejections always need an applicant-friendly reason, and closing the dossier returns focus to the queue.
The Approval Desk keeps every book field in one of two stable ledgers on a wide screen, so a long description or a source disagreement does not move another field. Genres and Tropes show their complete selection below Publisher, or below Publishing Type when no publisher applies. Open either row to search and change the selection in a focused modal, where selected values stay at the top, then keep the result. Retail links retain separate Amazon, Goodreads, Kobo, Bookshop.org, and Other URL values. Saving retains the Kobo URL on the pending record; approving fills the public book only when it does not already have a Kobo link. A cover or link edit keeps the submission's existing authors and other catalogue connections instead of resolving them again. If Save finds another pending record with the same Title, Authors, Format, and linked catalogue book, the message names those fields and explains that ISBN and Edition label do not clear this check. Use the existing record for the same edition; only correct a matching field when the editions genuinely differ. If Approve finds a catalogue work with the same Title, complete Authors set, and ISBN when present, the submission stays open and the message points to Merge into existing book… or Reject. Other approval failures also restore the submission and keep technical details in the private diagnostic rather than exposing a database message.
Rejecting a submission now asks why. Choose Reject and pick one reason from a short fixed list: duplicate of a book already in the catalogue, no data available online, old book, not a real book, not a single book, author cannot be identified, or spam. There is no free-text box, so the answers stay comparable across the whole queue. Choosing the reason is the decision, with no second confirmation. On a phone the reasons open as a bottom sheet clear of the gesture bar. Rejecting a whole selection asks for one reason for the group, and the confirm button stays unavailable until you pick it.
When a submission simply needs more research than you have time for, use Skip instead of rejecting it. Skip parks the book for later: nothing is decided, the submitter keeps their place, and the book leaves your pending queue so the count reflects work you can actually do. Skipping moves to the next record the same way Approve and Reject do, and the pending count no longer includes parked books.
Moderators have a Filled by testers queue in the Approvals rail, where books that testers filled in are waiting. Each row shows the cover, title, author, where the book came from, who filled it and when, and one small chip for each of the six identity fields: green for a value they verified, gold for a change to a book already in the catalogue, rose for something they could not find, and grey for a detail that is not out yet. Testers now check the full record, so the six answers that follow are folded into one counted chip reading, for example, detail 3/4 · taxonomy 2/2 verified; it takes the colour of the worst answer it hides, and hovering it lists them one by one. On a phone that counted chip is the only one. A row where nothing came back missing carries Approve on the line itself, so an easy book takes one click. Anything else opens the same complete record workspace used for ordinary book approval, including catalogue reviews where the tester had nothing new to apply. The record sidebar groups Tester details, Recheck ISBN / ASIN, Smart Match, Goodreads, Amazon, and Google as labelled review tools. Choose Tester details there when you need the tester's name, timing, summary, and all twelve answers grouped under Identity, Detail, and Taxonomy. A newly supplied description can fill missing genres, tropes, series details, publishing type, and explicitly stated trigger warnings into the unsaved draft. The ISBN and ASIN in the tester popup link to the retailer page, and each shop link opens in its own tab. The compact answer badges remain beside their matching record fields. From the record you can approve, merge when available, reject with a reason, or choose Return to tester… to send the book back with a note. A returned book stays with its tester for another 48 hours and comes back once they have fixed it. Turn on Show auto-published (30 days) to see the books that trusted testers published on their own. Elsewhere in the Approvals rail, a book a tester is still working on wears a small With tester chip.
Queues with work waiting follow this order: Author Claims, Filled by testers, Pending ARCs, then Authors, Providers, Publishers and the other approval categories. Empty queues remain available below them. The tester badge shows submitted reviews as soon as you open the panel, without visiting the tester queue first. The phone queue picker uses the same order.
Owner accounts have two extra queues at the bottom of the Approvals rail under Set aside. Skipped ARCs lists every parked book, oldest first, showing who skipped it and when; each record keeps the full toolset, so you can fill in the missing details and approve, merge, reject with a reason, or send it back to the moderators' queue. Rejected ARCs lists recent rejections, newest first, with a reason chip and Rejected by on every row; books rejected before this feature show Not recorded. Filter by reason, by the moderator who decided, and by time window (30, 90, or 365 days, or all time, starting at 90 days). From a rejected record you can change the reason, send the book back to the queue, or fix its details and approve or merge it after all. Both queues are visible to the owner only; another moderator who opens their address lands on Pending ARCs instead.
Open ARCs & Teams
Choose Open ARCs & Teams in Discover for current ARC, PR, and team opportunities. Tap the cover, team artwork, or title for full details; Open application goes to an external form, while Apply in ARC Library keeps a hosted application inside ARC Library.
Form details use three chapters: About, Commitment, and Application. About keeps the story, taste reasons, content notes, public author context, and any private applicant letter in one reading flow. Commitment shows the actual requirements and dates. Application preserves unsent hosted answers while you check another chapter, then shows submitted answers and the real pending, accepted, rejected, withdrawn, or on-hold state.
The main action stays above the phone or tablet safe area. Wider screens keep the reading column and decision summary independently scrollable. Accepted ARC, PR, and ARC/Beta/Alpha team applications can open the actual linked Library book, while accepted team applications can open their real team workspace. Street and influencer team applications remain membership-only.
After you apply, follow the application from My Applications or its Open ARCs & Teams card. A submitted application is not the same as receiving a book; approval and delivery remain separate steps. Saving an opportunity does not submit it or add it to your Library.
When catalogue information appears incomplete or duplicated, use the available correction or support path instead of creating multiple private copies just to work around it.