Booklister for Libraries

Booklister is free for individual librarians to use, but libraries as institutions sometimes want something more formal: their own branded version, predictable support, and a clear point of contact for their staff. This page describes the institutional offer.

What you get

A custom-branded instance of Booklister. Your library's name, colors, logo, and default settings (fonts, layouts, which toggles are on) become the starting point. When your staff open the tool, it's already set up the way you want, so every booklist they make starts on-brand.

A dedicated subdomain. Something like libraryname.booklister.org. It's yours, it's stable, and it points at a version of the tool set up for your library specifically.

Ongoing support and maintenance. Throughout the contract period I'll keep the tool running, fix bugs, push improvements as they come up, and respond to questions or issues your staff runs into.

Your feedback shapes the tool. If your library needs something Booklister doesn't do yet, let me know. Anything I build goes into the main tool and rolls out to every instance. I don't build one-off features for individual libraries because I'd rather keep one Booklister than maintain a dozen slightly different versions.

API costs covered on your behalf. Booklister uses external services for web search and AI-drafted descriptions, and those carry per-use costs. For institutional clients I cover those costs directly, so your library doesn't have to set up or manage API accounts with third-party vendors.

What it costs

Pricing is quoted per library. The underlying costs (API usage and support time) scale with how many staff use the tool and how heavily they use it, so a small branch library and a large county system shouldn't land at the same number. Send me a note with your library's size and expected usage, and I'll put together a quote.

Catalog integrations

If your library wants Booklister to connect directly to its catalog system, that's possible but handled as a separate scoped project. The complexity varies a lot depending on the system and what you need, so pricing is scoped to each project individually. If this is something you're interested in, get in touch and we can walk through what it would involve.

How to get started

The best first step is a conversation. If you're curious whether Booklister makes sense for your library, head over to the contact page and send me a note. I'd rather talk through your library's actual workflow and needs than ask you to commit to anything sight unseen.