CoverCat

Book covers → MARC 21 records

Batch-catalog books from their covers.

Add one cover pair per book, then generate complete, RDA-compliant MARC 21 records for the whole batch in one run — each fully editable and downloadable as a .mrc file for your ILS.

1 book in batch • 0 ready • 0 generated
1Not generated
Front cover
Back cover (optional)

How CoverCat works

  1. 1. Upload cover images. Add the front cover (required) and back cover (optional) for each book. The front is the primary source for title, author, series, and design; the back helps with ISBN, publisher, price, and a summary blurb. Images are read locally in your browser and sent to the server as data URLs.
  2. 2. AI vision cataloger reads the covers. An AI model trained on bibliographic cataloging inspects the images, extracts visible metadata, and maps it to MARC 21 fields — title, author, publisher, publication date, physical description, ISBN, subject headings, and notes.
  3. 3. Build a full MARC 21 record. The app assembles a standards-aware record with a 24-character Leader, control fields like 008, and RDA/AACR2-style data fields (245, 100, 264, 300, 336/337/338, 650, etc.). Subfields and ISBD punctuation are applied automatically where they can be justified from the images.
  4. 4. Review and edit. The generated record appears as an editable MARC table. You can change any tag, indicator, or subfield, and the live preview and downloaded file update immediately.
  5. 5. Export as a .mrc file. Download one record at a time, or batch-download every completed record as a single concatenated .mrc file ready to import into your ILS (Koha, Sierra, Polaris, etc.).

No account is needed and nothing is saved — each session is a one-off cataloging run. AI-generated records are a starting point, so always verify the output against the physical book before adding it to your catalog.

How batch processing works

  1. 1. Build your batch. Each numbered card is one book. Upload its front cover (required) and back cover (optional). Use Add book to queue as many titles as you like, and Remove to drop any card you don't need.
  2. 2. Generate all at once. Generate all sends every book that has a front cover to the AI cataloger. Records are processed one at a time in order — this keeps each request accurate and stays within AI rate limits. Each card shows its own live status (Cataloging → Done or Failed), so you can watch progress as the run proceeds.
  3. 3. Review and edit per book. A completed card expands into its full MARC editor and a live preview. Edits are independent per record, so you can fine-tune one title without affecting the others.
  4. 4. Export. Download any single record with Download .mrc, or grab the entire batch as one concatenated .mrc file with Download all — standard MARC files hold many records back-to-back, so a single import loads the whole batch into your ILS.

If a book fails (blurry image, rate limit, or exhausted credits), only that card is marked as failed — the rest still complete. Fix the image or wait a moment, then run Generate all again to reprocess.