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Re:Show HN: I built library management app for those who out... by hmkoyan on Friday July 18, 2025 @05:04PM (#44609821)
Thank you for your comment. Currently, there are three methods of adding a book: searching (which uses the Google Books API under the hood), manual addition (which nobody wants to do — I completely understand — but is the only option for old books that cannot be found online; I have a lot of these) and scanning the ISBN (which also uses the Google Books API). I initially thought about adding the method you suggested, where you provide a picture and then extract the information, but I decided it was not the right time to implement that. So, I left it for later, when there is any need or feedback regarding it from users. From your comment, I understand that it's something that users might actually consider using.
Re:Show HN: I built library management app for those who out... by rorylaitila on Friday July 18, 2025 @06:27PM (#44610471)
Yeah if there is an ISBN listed, that will be fastest. But for older books that don't have an ISBN, if there is a title on the cover or spine, OpenAI is really good at extracting that, regardless of the font or image quality. It's like a super OCR. From the title and author you can probably stub in the rest of the data, and the user can correct it if necessary.