Your Personal Research Library
Every Paper Digest plan includes My Library, a personal collection of up to 2,000 documents at www.paperdigest.org/library. Save anything hosted on Paper Digest — papers, patents, grants, and clinical trials — or add your own PDF and text files through the Reader, and keep everything you read in one place.
Your library is private by default. Nothing in it is visible to anyone else until you choose to make individual documents public.
Add Documents in One Click
The library is built into Paper Digest's document detail pages, search and digest services, and the Reader — so it fills up naturally as you work, never as a separate chore.
Save from any page
Most Paper Digest pages have a Save button — paper, patent, search, iSearch, and digest pages included. One click stores the document in your library.
Save while you read
Open any PDF or text file in the Reader and click Save to Lib. That's also how documents that aren't hosted on Paper Digest — like your own PDFs — get into your library.
Organize with Types, Tags, and Notes
Every document in your library carries its own metadata, so a collection of 2,000 items stays easy to navigate:
- Type — distinguish papers from patents, grants, clinical trials, and uploads.
- Status — mark each document as to read, reading, or read.
- Tags — add as many as you like per document, and use them to slice your library by topic, project, author, or anything else.
- Comments — keep private notes on why a document matters and what you took from it.
- Public URL — attach a link where others can legitimately access the document.
Edit or delete documents any time from the Library page, or update the same fields right inside the Reader while you read.
Track Your Reading from Start to Finish
Your library isn't just storage — it's where your reading actually happens.
Reading status
Every document has a status — to read, reading, or read. Filter your library by status to see what's done and what's still waiting.
Notes as you read
Take notes right in the Reader as you work through a document, and they're saved with it in your library.
Saved AI conversations
Chat with any document in the Reader to question and understand it, then save the dialog to your library and reload it later to pick up exactly where you left off.
Share a Public Reading List
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Tag any document as public. It appears on your personal public library page at www.paperdigest.org/public-library/?id=YOUR_LIBRARY_ID — everything else stays private.
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Share your link anywhere. Anyone in the world can follow your reading list — no Paper Digest account needed.
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Add a tag filter to share just one slice of your library. For example, www.paperdigest.org/public-library/?id=YOUR_LIBRARY_ID&tag=ai shows only your documents tagged ai.
See it live: an example public library, and the same library filtered to a single tag: machine learning.
Private things stay private
Your comments never appear on your public page — they're your notes, not your visitors'. For documents you upload, the internal PDF link is also hidden to respect copyright; use the public URL field to show visitors where they can access the file. Papers indexed on Paper Digest usually come with public full-text links already.
What Researchers and Labs Build with Public Libraries
Everything above stays private by default. The moment you tag documents as public, your library doubles as a page worth sharing:
A reading list others follow
Tag the papers you find worth reading as public, and colleagues, students, or followers can keep up with what you're reading from a single link that's always current.
Reading lists by topic
Give documents multiple tags — say ai and public — and share tag-filtered links so different audiences follow only the topics they care about.
Your personal research profile
Add your own publications and tag them public, with tags for each research area. Find everything Paper Digest has indexed under your name via iSearch — for example, www.paperdigest.org/isearch/?name=JOHN_SMITH — and save your works to the library in a few clicks. Use Edit Public Profile to set the display name, affiliation, and homepage shown at the top of your page — it becomes a research profile visitors can browse by area. A flexible Google Scholar profile alternative: you choose the categories, patents, grants, and clinical trials count too, and the page is reachable worldwide, including where Google services are blocked.
A lab publications page
Lab administrators can collect every publication from the group in one library, tagging each document with the author's name and a category. Set the lab's name and website via Edit Public Profile, and the result is a lab publications page — titled after the lab, linking back to its site — that visitors browse by person or research area, and that stays up to date without touching the lab website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many documents can I store?
Each library holds up to 2,000 documents.
What can I save?
Anything hosted on Paper Digest — papers, patents, grants, and clinical trials — plus your own PDF and text files, added through the Reader.
Can I track my reading progress?
Yes. Every document has a status — to read, reading, or read — and you can filter your library by status to see what's done and what isn't.
Can I save my AI conversations with a document?
Yes. Chat with any document in the Reader, save the dialog to your library, and reload it later to continue where you left off.
Is my library public?
No. Your library is private by default. Only documents you tag as public appear on your public library page.
Can I put my name, affiliation, and homepage on my public page?
Yes. Use Edit Public Profile on your Library page. The display name titles your public library, with your affiliation and homepage shown under it.
Is this an alternative to a Google Scholar profile?
For a curated research profile, yes. Your public library lists the work you choose, organized by tags you define, and can include patents, grants, and clinical trials alongside papers — and it's reachable worldwide, including regions where Google services are blocked. Each indexed document also carries Paper Digest's impact metric, which serves a similar role to Scholar's citation counts.
Can visitors see my notes or download my PDFs?
No. Comments stay private, and for documents you upload, the internal PDF link is hidden from the public page for copyright reasons — use the public URL field to point visitors to an accessible copy. Many papers indexed on Paper Digest already include public full-text links.
Is the library included in my plan?
Yes — My Library is included with every Paper Digest plan at no extra cost.
More questions? Email team@paperdigest.org or see the full FAQ.