Building A Book Library In Obsidian

A practical Obsidian setup turns a folder of Markdown book notes into a searchable, filterable “book database” using two plugins: Book Search and Dataview. The core payoff is that book metadata lives in YAML front matter (title, author, rating, status, finished date), while Dataview generates live tables—so lists like “Favorite Books” and “To Read” update automatically as statuses change.

The workflow starts by installing the Book Search plugin from Community Plugins and configuring it to write new entries into a dedicated folder named “books.” Book Search is treated as a combined tool: it both runs a script and applies a template when creating a new book file. When adding a book (example: “Ego is the Enemy” by Ryan Holiday), the plugin auto-creates a Markdown note inside the “books” folder and fills in default fields. The setup then gets refined by customizing which YAML headers matter. Instead of keeping unwanted default values, the configuration is adjusted so the template includes user-defined fields: rating, status, and date finished (the transcript references YAML headers like rating, date read, and status, with status values such as “to read” or “complete”).

With the book notes standardized, the next step is building Dataview tables that act like dashboards. A Dataview query is copied from an existing vault and adapted into a new page called “favorite books.” The table is configured to display author as a capitalized column header, include a cover image with a specified size (set via a numeric value like 100), and map fields such as pages and category/genre for display. Most importantly, the query pulls rows from the “books” folder and filters by status—initially showing only books marked “complete.” In preview mode the table appears empty until at least one book matches the filter; after changing a book’s status to “complete” and refreshing, the entry appears.

To support a reading workflow, a second Dataview page called “to read list” is created by duplicating the favorite-books query and changing the status filter from “complete” to “to read.” When a book is read, the status flips to “complete,” the finished date is filled in, and a rating is added using a shortcut for star ratings (Command-5). Because the tables are driven by YAML fields, both dashboards update immediately.

The setup also leverages Book Search templates beyond front matter. Prompts can be inserted into either front matter or the note content—examples include “summarize book in three sentences”—so review notes can be generated consistently. Finally, an “author page” template is created using Obsidian’s Templates plugin. The template adds tags (like an author tag) and a genre field, then a simple Dataview table placeholder is used to list books for a given author. Creating an author page for Ryan Holiday automatically lists his books from the database, and adding a new Ryan Holiday book later (e.g., “The Daily Stoic”) makes it appear on the author page without manual table edits.