diff --git a/include/book.h b/include/book.h
index eff8a037f..f9e685f5f 100644
--- a/include/book.h
+++ b/include/book.h
@@ -95,6 +95,9 @@ class Book
   void setFaviconMimeType(const std::string& faviconMimeType) { m_faviconMimeType = faviconMimeType; }
   void setDownloadId(const std::string& downloadId) { m_downloadId = downloadId; }
 
+ private:
+  std::string getCategoryFromTags() const;
+
  protected:
   std::string m_id;
   std::string m_downloadId;
@@ -102,6 +105,7 @@ class Book
   bool m_pathValid = false;
   std::string m_title;
   std::string m_description;
+  std::string m_category;
   std::string m_language;
   std::string m_creator;
   std::string m_publisher;
diff --git a/src/book.cpp b/src/book.cpp
index f7f284036..a2f349384 100644
--- a/src/book.cpp
+++ b/src/book.cpp
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ void Book::updateFromXml(const pugi::xml_node& node, const std::string& baseDir)
   try {
     m_downloadId = ATTR("downloadId");
   } catch(...) {}
+  m_category = getCategoryFromTags();
 }
 #undef ATTR
 
@@ -156,6 +157,8 @@ void Book::updateFromOpds(const pugi::xml_node& node, const std::string& urlHost
   m_name = VALUE("name");
   m_flavour = VALUE("flavour");
   m_tags = VALUE("tags");
+  const auto catnode = node.child("category");
+  m_category = catnode.empty() ? getCategoryFromTags() : catnode.child_value();
   m_articleCount = strtoull(VALUE("articleCount"), 0, 0);
   m_mediaCount = strtoull(VALUE("mediaCount"), 0, 0);
   for(auto linkNode = node.child("link"); linkNode;
@@ -221,6 +224,11 @@ bool Book::getTagBool(const std::string& tagName) const {
 }
 
 std::string Book::getCategory() const
+{
+  return m_category;
+}
+
+std::string Book::getCategoryFromTags() const
 {
   try
   {
diff --git a/test/library.cpp b/test/library.cpp
index 322890f7f..7f34e008b 100644
--- a/test/library.cpp
+++ b/test/library.cpp
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ const char * sampleOpdsStream = R"(
     <updated>2018-06-23T00:00::00:Z</updated>
     <language>fra</language>
     <summary>Tania Louis videos</summary>
-    <tags>youtube</tags>
+    <tags>youtube;_category:category_defined_via_tags_only</tags>
     <link type="text/html" href="/biologie-tout-compris_fr_all_2018-06" />
     <author>
       <name>Tania Louis</name>
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ const char * sampleOpdsStream = R"(
     <updated>2019-06-05T00:00::00:Z</updated>
     <language>fra</language>
     <summary>Une page de Wikiquote, le recueil des citations libres.</summary>
+    <category>category_defined_via_category_element_only</category>
     <tags>wikiquote;nopic</tags>
     <link type="text/html" href="/wikiquote_fr_all_nopic_2019-06" />
     <author>
@@ -76,7 +77,8 @@ const char * sampleOpdsStream = R"(
     <updated>2019-06-02T00:00::00:Z</updated>
     <summary>Une sélection d'articles de Wikipédia sur la géographie</summary>
     <language>fra</language>
-    <tags>wikipedia;nopic</tags>
+    <category>category_element_overrides_tags</category>
+    <tags>wikipedia;nopic;_category:tags_override_category_element</tags>
     <link type="text/html" href="/wikipedia_fr_geography_nopic_2019-06" />
     <author>
       <name>Wikipedia</name>
@@ -91,7 +93,8 @@ const char * sampleOpdsStream = R"(
     <updated>2019-05-13T00:00::00:Z</updated>
     <language>fra</language>
     <summary>Une</summary>
-    <tags>wikipedia;nopic</tags>
+    <tags>wikipedia;nopic;_category:tags_override_category_element</tags>
+    <category>category_element_overrides_tags</category>
     <link type="text/html" href="/wikipedia_fr_mathematics_nopic_2019-05" />
     <author>
       <name>Wikipedia</name>
@@ -228,6 +231,15 @@ TEST_F(LibraryTest, sanityCheck)
   EXPECT_EQ(lib.getBooksPublishers().size(), 1U);
 }
 
+TEST_F(LibraryTest, categoryHandling)
+{
+  EXPECT_EQ("", lib.getBookById("0c45160e-f917-760a-9159-dfe3c53cdcdd").getCategory());
+  EXPECT_EQ("category_defined_via_tags_only", lib.getBookById("0d0bcd57-d3f6-cb22-44cc-a723ccb4e1b2").getCategory());
+  EXPECT_EQ("category_defined_via_category_element_only", lib.getBookById("0ea1cde6-441d-6c58-f2c7-21c2838e659f").getCategory());
+  EXPECT_EQ("category_element_overrides_tags", lib.getBookById("1123e574-6eef-6d54-28fc-13e4caeae474").getCategory());
+  EXPECT_EQ("category_element_overrides_tags", lib.getBookById("14829621-c490-c376-0792-9de558b57efa").getCategory());
+}
+
 TEST_F(LibraryTest, filterCheck)
 {
   auto bookIds = lib.filter(kiwix::Filter());