A missing cover does not mean your book is missing
Your book details and reading history are saved separately from its picture. A generic MyBibliotheca cover means the app does not currently have cover art it can show for that book.
Cover searches can continue after an import is finished. You may also see more covers after opening your library, as MyBibliotheca checks its catalogue. The book remains in your library either way.
What is an ISBN?
An ISBN is a book’s edition number. It is usually 10 or 13 digits and is often printed near the barcode on the back of a paper book, or on the copyright page near the title page.
The number identifies a particular edition. A hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook can each have a different ISBN, even when they share the same title and author. Some older or special books do not have an ISBN.
MyBibliotheca uses the ISBN to look for cover art for the right edition. A missing, mistyped, or different-edition ISBN can make a search miss the cover you expect.
Good to know: You do not need to know what an ISBN means to use MyBibliotheca. It is simply the most helpful number to copy when you want to find a specific book cover.
How MyBibliotheca looks for covers
When you import books, MyBibliotheca checks for artwork using the ISBN when one is available. It can also search by the book’s title and author when it needs another way to identify a likely edition.
Some lookups happen in the background, so a cover can appear after the import screen says your books are saved. The import progress number reports covers found by that background search; it is not a count of every cover that is already in your library or found another way.
A book can be correctly saved even when a catalogue has no picture for its edition. In that case, you can choose another edition’s cover or add an image yourself.
Fix one or a few missing covers
- Open My library, then open the book that has a generic cover.
- Choose Change cover beneath the book’s picture.
- Enter the ISBN for your copy and choose Search covers. If you know it, try the ISBN printed on your edition rather than a number from a different format.
- Look at the results and choose Use this cover for the picture that matches your book.
Good to know: If the book has the wrong ISBN saved, open its detail page, choose the Details section, correct the ISBN, and save before searching again.
Upload a cover image you found
- Save the cover picture as a file on your phone or computer.
- Open the book, choose Change cover, then find the Upload a cover area.
- Choose the picture file and select Use my cover. JPG, PNG, and WebP pictures up to 5 MB are accepted.
Keep in mind: An uploaded picture is kept with your library entry. MyBibliotheca processes the image before saving it.
Recover several missing covers
- Open Settings and scroll to Experimental features.
- Choose Recover missing book covers. MyBibliotheca checks up to 50 books at a time and leaves covers you already selected alone.
- You can leave the page while the search runs. Return to Settings to see its progress or review books that need your help.