diff --git a/cps/search_metadata.py b/cps/search_metadata.py
index d72273f6..79e27554 100644
--- a/cps/search_metadata.py
+++ b/cps/search_metadata.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import json
 import os
 import sys
 # from time import time
-from dataclasses import asdict
+
 
 from flask import Blueprint, Response, request, url_for
 from flask_login import current_user
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ from sqlalchemy.exc import InvalidRequestError, OperationalError
 from sqlalchemy.orm.attributes import flag_modified
 
 from cps.services.Metadata import Metadata
-from . import constants, get_locale, logger, ub
+from . import constants, get_locale, logger, ub, web_server
 
 # current_milli_time = lambda: int(round(time() * 1000))
 
@@ -40,6 +40,14 @@ meta = Blueprint("metadata", __name__)
 
 log = logger.create()
 
+try:
+    from dataclasses import asdict
+except ImportError:
+    log.info('*** "dataclasses" is needed for calibre-web to run. Please install it using pip: "pip install dataclasses" ***')
+    print('*** "dataclasses" is needed for calibre-web to run. Please install it using pip: "pip install dataclasses" ***')
+    web_server.stop(True)
+    sys.exit(6)
+
 new_list = list()
 meta_dir = os.path.join(constants.BASE_DIR, "cps", "metadata_provider")
 modules = os.listdir(os.path.join(constants.BASE_DIR, "cps", "metadata_provider"))