About Booklister

Booklister makes printable booklists for library displays. You pick books, arrange them on a two-page bifold, generate a cover collage from the book covers, add your library's branding, and export a print-ready PDF. It runs in the browser, saves your work locally, and doesn't require an account.

A printed list pairs well with a book display, outreach events, or school visits. Even when the display itself is picked clean and every book on the shelf has been checked out, a patron can still take the list with them and place holds on the titles they want.

Why I built it

I'm Javier M., a librarian in the Bay Area, and for years I cobbled booklists together in LibraryAware, Publisher, Canva, whatever was on hand. Each one was either too fussy for the job or didn't do something I needed. The dedicated tools that handle this well are expensive, and the booklist features built into other library software tend to feel like an afterthought. I wanted one piece of software that handled the whole workflow: a clean bifold layout, auto-pulled book info so I wasn't typing everything twice, a way to make a nice cover without opening Canva, and a print-ready PDF at the end. Booklister is what I made for myself, and other librarians started asking if they could use it too.

How it works

Search for a book by title, author, or keyword. Booklister queries the Open Library catalog and returns covers and metadata. Click to add books to your list, drag to reorder, and star the ones you want on the front cover. Pick a collage layout, add a title, drop in your library's logo, and hit Generate PDF. The output is an 11"×8.5" landscape bifold at 600 DPI. Print it double-sided, fold it in half, and you have a finished booklist. You can also save your list to a file and load it back later to keep editing or to spin off a new version.

Booklister does one thing: two-page bifold booklists for library displays. It isn't a replacement for Canva, Publisher, or LibraryAware's full feature set. If you need flyers, social media graphics, newsletters, or event promotion, you'll still need other tools. Booklister is the specialist, not the swiss army knife.

About Folio

Folio is the little cat who lives in the corner of the screen and reacts to what you're doing. His name comes from bookbinding: a folio is a single sheet of paper folded once down the middle, producing four pages. Booklister makes folios, so naming the mascot after the format felt right.

Using it

Booklister is free. No feature gates, no upgrade nags, no trial periods. Open it, make your list, print it, use it however you like.

Libraries interested in a branded version with their own subdomain, logo, and staff accounts can read more on the For Libraries page.