diff --git a/internal/librarian/java/readme.go b/internal/librarian/java/readme.go
index 15a0ce22606..8ca97817b8f 100644
--- a/internal/librarian/java/readme.go
+++ b/internal/librarian/java/readme.go
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ var (
 
 	// errEmptyTitle indicates the extracted title value is empty.
 	errEmptyTitle = errors.New("title value cannot be empty")
+
+	// errEmptyDir indicates the provided directory path is empty.
+	errEmptyDir = errors.New("dir cannot be empty")
 )
 
 // codeSample represents a discovered Java code sample along with its derived title.
@@ -45,6 +48,27 @@ type codeSample struct {
 	File  string
 }
 
+// extractSamples locates production Java sample files and returns parsed codeSample structs
+// containing display titles and relative paths for README rendering.
+func extractSamples(dir string) ([]codeSample, error) {
+	if dir == "" {
+		return nil, errEmptyDir
+	}
+	files, err := collectSampleFiles(dir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	var samples []codeSample
+	for _, file := range files {
+		sample, err := parseCodeSample(dir, file)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		samples = append(samples, *sample)
+	}
+	return samples, nil
+}
+
 // collectSampleFiles recursively scans dir/samples for Java production files.
 func collectSampleFiles(dir string) ([]string, error) {
 	samplesDir := filepath.Join(dir, "samples")
diff --git a/internal/librarian/java/readme_test.go b/internal/librarian/java/readme_test.go
index d4ba75a3355..ea83f04e1d4 100644
--- a/internal/librarian/java/readme_test.go
+++ b/internal/librarian/java/readme_test.go
@@ -23,6 +23,127 @@ import (
 	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
 )
 
+func TestExtractSamples(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, test := range []struct {
+		name       string
+		setupFiles func(t *testing.T, dir string)
+		want       []codeSample
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "missing samples directory",
+			setupFiles: func(t *testing.T, dir string) {
+				// Do nothing, tempDir is empty.
+			},
+			want: nil,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "extract successfully",
+			setupFiles: func(t *testing.T, dir string) {
+				samplesDir := filepath.Join(dir, "samples", "src", "main", "java")
+				if err := os.MkdirAll(samplesDir, 0755); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				file1 := filepath.Join(samplesDir, "RequesterPays.java")
+				content1 := `// sample-metadata:
+//   title: Custom Title Override
+public class RequesterPays {}`
+				if err := os.WriteFile(file1, []byte(content1), 0644); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				file2 := filepath.Join(samplesDir, "DemoSample.java")
+				content2 := `public class DemoSample {}`
+				if err := os.WriteFile(file2, []byte(content2), 0644); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+			},
+			want: []codeSample{
+				{
+					Title: "Demo Sample",
+					File:  "samples/src/main/java/DemoSample.java",
+				},
+				{
+					Title: "Custom Title Override",
+					File:  "samples/src/main/java/RequesterPays.java",
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			tempDir := t.TempDir()
+			test.setupFiles(t, tempDir)
+
+			samples, err := extractSamples(tempDir)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			if diff := cmp.Diff(test.want, samples); diff != "" {
+				t.Errorf("mismatch (-want +got):\n%s", diff)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestExtractSamples_Error(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, test := range []struct {
+		name       string
+		setupFiles func(t *testing.T, dir string)
+		dir        string
+		wantErr    error
+	}{
+		{
+			name:    "error on empty directory",
+			dir:     "",
+			wantErr: errEmptyDir,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "error on empty title override",
+			setupFiles: func(t *testing.T, dir string) {
+				samplesDir := filepath.Join(dir, "samples", "src", "main", "java")
+				if err := os.MkdirAll(samplesDir, 0755); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				file := filepath.Join(samplesDir, "Sample.java")
+				content := `// sample-metadata:
+//   title: ""
+public class Invalid {}`
+				if err := os.WriteFile(file, []byte(content), 0644); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+			},
+			wantErr: errEmptyTitle,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "error on missing title line immediately following sample-metadata",
+			setupFiles: func(t *testing.T, dir string) {
+				samplesDir := filepath.Join(dir, "samples", "src", "main", "java")
+				if err := os.MkdirAll(samplesDir, 0755); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				file := filepath.Join(samplesDir, "Sample.java")
+				content := `// sample-metadata:
+//   description: missing title line
+public class Invalid {}`
+				if err := os.WriteFile(file, []byte(content), 0644); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+			},
+			wantErr: errMissingTitle,
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			dir := test.dir
+			if test.setupFiles != nil {
+				dir = t.TempDir()
+				test.setupFiles(t, dir)
+			}
+			_, err := extractSamples(dir)
+			if !errors.Is(err, test.wantErr) {
+				t.Errorf("extractSamples() err = %v, want %v", err, test.wantErr)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestCollectSampleFiles(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, test := range []struct {
 		name       string