Design note
A library that keeps your place
What a return link owes a reader, and why a book’s identity must survive a catalogue update.
A reader searches, narrows a shelf, opens a record and wanders into the Reading Room. Returning should mean returning to the same book in the same context. A link that names the book but leaves it hidden on another page has preserved the address and lost the encounter.
Identity and position are different.
The catalogue has 1,194 entries. Each entry has a stable local identifier, such as b0829, The Hobbit. Search results and their ordering can change without changing that identity. The page number says where the entry appears in a particular view; the identifier says which entry it is.
The URL can carry the context.
The library’s search, subject, language, ordering and page travel in its address. A selected-book link also names the entry. A return can therefore restore a view even in a new tab, without depending on a previous browser session.
A small boundary matters.
What is published is a bibliographic catalogue. Private notes, reading status and catalogue tags are outside it. Finding a title here does not establish that it has been read or endorsed.
Try the journey with Tolkien ↗
Reviewed 9 October 2026
Sources and scope: Live catalogue · Example book record · Implementation case study