Tags vs topics vs genres

Tags and topics seem similar — both are labels you can add to a book. Here's when to use each.

Topics

• Longer phrases describing what the book is about
• Visible to patrons on the book detail page
• Patrons can click a topic to find related books
• Examples: "Marriage and family", "Sustainable living", "American Civil War"

Tags

• Short labels for filtering and grouping
• Used by librarians, not displayed prominently to patrons
• Useful for collections, age groups, or workflow flags
• Examples: for-teens, summer-reading, needs-rebinding, staff-pick

Quick test

If you'd say "this book is about ____", that's a topic.

If you'd say "this book is for ____" or "this book needs ____", that's a tag.

Genre vs topic vs tag

• Genre: Where the book lives (Fiction, Biography, History)
• Topic: What the book teaches (Leadership, Parenting, World War II)
• Tag: Who or how the book is used (for-teens, summer-reading, book-club)

Why both?

Tags let you organize your catalogue without cluttering the patron's view. A book tagged "for-teens" appears in your "Teen reading list" collection but doesn't show "for-teens" as a clickable category to every patron.

Topics, by contrast, are content discovery — patrons interested in marriage can click a "Marriage" topic and see every book on the topic.