Planning, Relations, Templates, Dashboards

How To Build A Reading Bookshelf In Notion (2022)

Sarah Brennan ·

bookshelf template in notion 2022 template cover image

📚 Reading Management

I shared my 2022 Notion dashboard on YouTube and mentioned a bookshelf database setup with a book cover gallery. I have been thoroughly enjoying this workspace thus far and wanted to share how my 2022 reading bookshelf was built. Included are two databases; one for books and another for genres. I utilize a relation property to connect them and a rating drop down menu to organize finished books. Here’s how it was made.

Learning Hub

A simple learning hub with spaced repetition and revision tracking. Use a hierarchical structure to break down big topics into digestible chunks.

Claim Your Copy

Full template available to copy below article.

1. The Bookshelf Database

This is a Table database with seven different database properties to describe each book. The second database for Genres is connected to this database as well. Here are all the properties you’ll need:

Click to expand

  1. Author: select property for book’s author.

  2. Rating: select property with a 5-star dropdown menu.

  3. Started: date property for date reader started the book.

  4. Ended: date property for date reader finished the book.

  5. Cover: files and media property for book cover.

  6. Genre: relation property to Genres database to pick book’s genre(s).

  7. Active: formula property to classify books reader is actively reading.

    Active formula: not empty(prop("Started")) and empty(prop("Ended"))

 

2. The Genres Database

This database is a collection of genres that organize books into groups. These groups can show unique information for the books in each genre. For example, you can find the number of Active books or Finished books in the contemporary genre. Here are all the properties you’ll need:

  1. Books: relation property from connection to Bookshelf database.

  2. Number of Books: rollup property that communicates with the Bookshelf database to count all books in genre.

    Rollup: relation to Books, property to Name, calculate to Count All.

  3. Active Books: rollup property that communicates with the Bookshelf database to count all active books in genre.

    Rollup: relation to Books, property to Active, calculate to Checked.

  4. Covers: rollup property that communicate with the Bookshelf database to collect all covers from books in genre.

    Rollup: relation to Books, property to Cover, calculate to Show Original.

 

How To Collect books In Genre Pages

Inside each genre page, the Notion user can collect all books in a linked database from the Bookshelf database. This is made possible with the database template. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: create a database template via the arrow next to the blue “New” button at the top right hand corner of the database.

Step 2: create a linked database via the block menu in the body of the template page (trigger: “/”). Search for name of Bookshelf database.

Step 3: change view of database to desired type via the Add a view button. In my setup, it is a List.

Step 4: create a filter that connects the Genre relation property to the name of the template. This will ensure all books collected are connected to the title of the page (ie. fiction). Every time this template is selected, the connection will automatically switch to the new genres’ name.

Step 5: show properties in the linked database that are desired via the database menu > properties.

 

How To Collect Cover Images In Genre Cards

The Genres database is in a boardview view. Every boardview has an option to group data by any property in the database in a kanban style. Here is how I group my boardview:

Step 1: Find the grouping option view the database menu (see arrow below). Group by name > alphabetical > hide empty groups > (optional) color columns.

Step 2: navigate to properties in the database menu and show Covers.

 

Further Reading

Featured
Free Notion Template: One-Click Recurring Checklists

How to create a one-click checklist using Notion. This includes a free template that can be used for personal or professional tasks. The recurring checklist is designed to simplify the process of adding checklists and completing projects, allowing you to focus on what needs to be done rather than spending time recreating repetitive to-do lists.

Free Notion Template: Airline Ticket Organizer for Travel

For those looking for an easy way to manage their travel information, this Notion template for airline tickets can provide a great solution. This template is designed to help users keep track of airline tickets and associated information. It includes sections for collecting and organizing information like flight number, departure and arrival times, airline, layovers, and more.

Populate A Weekly Spread From a Notion Calendar

This is a weekly spread between Monday and Sunday that will auto-populate from a Notion calendar. All days are spread into two rows of four columns. For those who like the presentation of a non-database weekly spread but also like the convenience of a database manager, this is the best of both worlds, and it takes a few minutes to setup. There is also the option to duplicate the Notion template below the tutorial.

How To Use Notion Rollups To Build A Habit Tracker

With the addition of Notion’s new progress bar feature, habit trackers can now include analytical properties with rollups. Notion allows the rollup property to produce progress bars, and this is how I would use the new functionality to create an analytical habit tracker to track both completion rates of individual habits and determine what weekdays produce the best results.