Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

Dewey Lookup is built to be simple and low-tracking. This page explains, plainly, what happens with data when you use it.

No accounts, no profiles

There is no sign-up and no login. We do not ask for your name or email to use the tool, and we do not build a profile of you.

What your searches do

When you look up a book, the ISBN, title, author, or subject you type is sent to the services that hold the catalog records — Open Library, Google Books, and the Library of Congress — so they can return the record. Those queries are necessary for the tool to work. We do not store your searches to identify you; the backend keeps a short-lived technical cache of results (keyed by ISBN, not by person) to be a good guest of those free services.

Cookies and local storage

The site stores one small value in your browser to remember your choice on the notice at the bottom of the page. That’s it for first-party storage.

Advertising

To keep the site free, we may show ads through Google AdSense. When advertising is enabled, Google and its partners may use cookies or similar technologies to serve and measure ads. You can review and control ad personalization at Google My Ad Center, and learn more at Google’s advertising policies. If you are in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you will be shown a consent choice for personalized ads before they load.

Affiliate links

Some guides may contain affiliate links (for example to library suppliers or booksellers). If you buy through one, the site may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate links never change the Dewey numbers or records the tool returns.

Your choices and rights

Because we don’t hold accounts or personal profiles, there’s little of “yours” for us to export or delete. You can clear the site’s stored choice anytime by clearing your browser data, and you can control advertising cookies through the links above. Depending on where you live (e.g. the EEA under GDPR, or California under the CCPA), you may have rights regarding personal data; contact us and we’ll help.

Children

This is a professional cataloging tool, not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Third-party services

Open Library, Google Books, the Library of Congress, Google AdSense, and any linked suppliers have their own privacy policies governing their handling of data. We don’t control those services.

Changes

We’ll update this page if the site’s data practices change, and revise the date above.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Get in touch.