Ten checks, one score, and an honest assessment of how well you've cataloged your library. No judgement. Well, a little judgement.
What the Audit Does
The Collection Audit at /audit runs ten checks across your entire library and produces a health score from 0 to 100%. It tells you what's missing, what's incomplete, and where your cataloging discipline has... relaxed.
Think of it as a physical for your library. Nobody enjoys a physical, but everyone agrees it's a good idea. Especially when you discover that 40% of your books don't have a condition grade and you've been telling yourself you'd "get to it."
The Ten Checks
1. Identifiers
Does the book have at least one identifier — ISBN-13, ISBN-10, OCLC, or LCCN? Books without identifiers are bibliographic orphans. They can't be matched, can't be enriched, and can't be deduplicated.
2. Contributors
Does the book have at least one contributor (author, editor, translator, etc.)? A book without an attributed creator is a book that's hard to find, sort, or sell.
3. Cover Image
Does the book have a cover image URL? Cover images make browsing your library vastly more pleasant. They also help with identification — it's easier to spot a duplicate when you can see the covers side by side.
4. Condition
Has the book been graded? Condition is the single most important factor in a book's value (after what the book is). An ungraded collection is an unvalued collection.
5. Publisher
Is the publisher recorded? For antiquarian books, the printer/publisher is often more important than the author for identification purposes.
6. Year
Is the publication year recorded? A book without a date is a book without context. It can't be sorted chronologically, can't be placed in a period, and can't be properly valued.
7. Provenance
Does the book have at least one provenance entry? For collectors of rare and antiquarian books, provenance isn't optional — it's the story. Even recording "Purchased at [fair/shop] on [date]" adds value.
8. Valuation
Does the book have at least one valuation entry? If you don't know what your books are worth, you can't insure them, you can't assess your collection's performance, and you can't make informed decisions about buying or selling.
9. Language
Is the language recorded? Essential for multilingual collections and for accurate cataloging.
10. Storage Location
Do you know where the book physically is? This check matters more than you think. A book you can't find is a book you don't have.
The Score
Each check contributes equally. If 8 out of 10 checks pass for a book, that book scores 80%. Your overall library score is the average across all books.
The score is displayed as a percentage with a color:
- 90-100% — Excellent. You catalog like a librarian.
- 70-89% — Good. Room for improvement, but solid.
- 50-69% — Fair. You've been meaning to get to it.
- Below 50% — Your books deserve better.
Fixing Issues
Each check expands to show the specific books that fail it. Click any book to go directly to its edit page. The checks are ordered by impact — identifiers and contributors first, storage location last — so you can prioritize.
A practical approach: pick one check per session. This week, add ISBNs to books that are missing them. Next week, grade conditions. The score will climb steadily, and each session is satisfying in the way that only incremental data improvement can be.
Availability
The Collection Audit is a Collector Pro feature. If you're on the free Collector tier, you'll see the audit page with an upgrade prompt. Because knowing what's wrong with your cataloging should cost something — if only to motivate you to fix it.
See also: Statistics · Condition Grading · Identifiers