For books with an ISBN, you rarely need to type the bibliographic details yourself. The Add / Edit Item form can look the number up and fill in the record for you. This is a new-platform feature; the classic admin does not have it.
How it works
- On the Add Item form, enter or scan the ISBN into the ISBN field (10 or 13 digits, with or without dashes).
- Click the lookup button (the globe icon) next to the field. BookRouter fetches the book's data and shows a confirmation window.
- Review what came back: title, author, publisher, date published, binding, pages, notes, and edition each have a checkbox. Checked fields will be written into the form; uncheck anything you would rather keep as-is.
- Click Import Data. The checked fields fill in, and you finish the record with your price, condition, and description.
Tip: which fields start checked is up to you. On My Preferences (the … menu on Manage Inventory) you can set your default checkbox choices, so a field you never want imported starts unchecked every time.
A barcode scanner makes this fly
Any USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner that types what it scans (most do) works: click into the ISBN field, scan the barcode, and run the lookup. Scan, confirm, price, save. Modern paperbacks and hardcovers can be catalogued in seconds.