# Open Library Scraper (`crawlerbros/openlibrary-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Open Library, Internet Archive's open catalog of 50M+ books. Search by title/author/subject, fetch by ISBN or work ID, get full bibliographic metadata, cover images, ratings, and edition counts.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/openlibrary-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 13 bookmarks
- **User rating**: 5.00 out of 5 stars

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## Open Library Scraper

Scrape Open Library — Internet Archive's open catalog of 50M+ books. Search by title / author / subject, fetch by ISBN or work ID, get full bibliographic metadata, cover images, edition counts, and full-text availability. HTTP-only via the public `openlibrary.org` JSON API. No auth, no proxy.

### What this actor does

- **Four modes:** `search`, `byIsbn`, `byWorkIds`, `byAuthorIds`
- **Universal IDs:** OpenLibrary work IDs, ISBN-10, ISBN-13, author IDs
- **Filters:** publication year range, min edition count, language, full-text availability
- **Cover images:** auto-builds CDN URLs at S/M/L sizes
- **Empty fields are omitted**

### Output per book

- `workId` — OpenLibrary work key (e.g. `OL27482W`)
- `title`, `subtitle`, `description`
- `firstPublishYear`, `editionCount`
- `authors[]`, `primaryAuthor`, `authorIds[]`
- `subjects[]`, `subjectPlaces[]`, `subjectPeople[]`, `subjectTimes[]`
- `languages[]` — 3-letter ISO codes
- `isbn10[]`, `isbn13[]` — capped at 5 each
- `coverUrl` — large cover via covers.openlibrary.org CDN
- `hasFulltext`, `publicScan`, `ebookAccess`
- `openLibraryUrl`
- `recordType: "book"`, `scrapedAt`

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `mode` | string | `search` | `search` / `byIsbn` / `byWorkIds` / `byAuthorIds` |
| `searchQuery` | string | `the lord of the rings` | Free-text query |
| `queryAuthor` | string | – | Constrain to author |
| `querySubject` | string | – | Constrain to subject |
| `isbns` | array | – | ISBNs (mode=byIsbn) |
| `workIds` | array | – | Work IDs (mode=byWorkIds) |
| `authorIds` | array | – | Author IDs (mode=byAuthorIds) |
| `publishYearMin` | int | – | Drop works before this year |
| `publishYearMax` | int | – | Drop works after this year |
| `minEditionCount` | int | – | Drop works with fewer editions |
| `language` | string | – | 3-letter ISO (e.g. `eng`, `fre`) |
| `includeFulltextOnly` | bool | `false` | Only emit works with full-text on Internet Archive |
| `maxItems` | int | `50` | Hard cap (1–1000) |

#### Example: classic fantasy with full-text scans

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "fantasy",
  "publishYearMin": 1900,
  "publishYearMax": 2000,
  "minEditionCount": 10,
  "includeFulltextOnly": true
}
````

#### Example: lookup by ISBN

```json
{
  "mode": "byIsbn",
  "isbns": ["9780261103573", "9780261102217", "0-261-10357-X"]
}
```

#### Example: all of an author's works

```json
{
  "mode": "byAuthorIds",
  "authorIds": ["OL26320A"],
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Use cases

- **Library systems** — bulk-import metadata from Open Library by ISBN
- **Edtech** — discover books by subject for curriculum design
- **Content discovery** — find books by author / subject / time period
- **Recommendation engines** — feed Open Library subject taxonomy into your recommender
- **Publishing intelligence** — track edition counts to gauge popularity
- **Academic research** — bulk-export a subject's bibliographic record

### FAQ

**What's Open Library?**  An open, editable, library-grade catalog from Internet Archive. ~50M books, ~10M authors, free for any use. See [openlibrary.org](https://openlibrary.org).

**Is there a rate limit?**  Generous; no documented hard cap for normal scraping. The actor uses small delays to be polite.

**What are work IDs vs edition IDs?**  A "work" is the abstract concept of a book (e.g. "The Hobbit"); an "edition" is a specific publication of it (paperback 1995 ed.). The actor returns work-level records by default.

**Why are some ISBN lists capped at 5?**  Popular works have hundreds of editions, each with its own ISBN. We keep the first 5 for table compactness; full lists are available via per-edition queries.

**How do `subjects`, `subjectPlaces`, `subjectPeople`, `subjectTimes` differ?**  Open Library's subject taxonomy is faceted: regular subjects (`Fantasy`), geographic places (`Middle-earth`), people (`Bilbo Baggins`), and time periods (`Third Age`).

**What's `ebookAccess`?**  `borrowable` (Internet Archive lending), `printdisabled` (only for users with print disabilities), or `no_ebook` (text not digitized).

**Can I get cover images at other sizes?**  The actor emits the L (large) URL. To get S or M, swap the suffix in the URL: `-L.jpg` → `-M.jpg` or `-S.jpg`.

**How fresh is the data?**  Daily — Open Library re-indexes nightly from edits, ISBN ingestion, and Internet Archive's MARC import pipeline.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

What to fetch.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Free-text query (mode=search).

## `queryAuthor` (type: `string`):

Constrain results to a specific author.

## `querySubject` (type: `string`):

Constrain results to a specific subject (e.g. `science fiction`).

## `isbns` (type: `array`):

ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 strings.

## `workIds` (type: `array`):

Open Library work IDs (e.g. `OL27482W`).

## `authorIds` (type: `array`):

Open Library author IDs (e.g. `OL26320A`).

## `subjectName` (type: `string`):

Open Library subject slug, e.g. `science_fiction`, `love`, `world_war_ii`, `programming`. Spaces become underscores.

## `publishYearMin` (type: `integer`):

Drop works first published before this year.

## `publishYearMax` (type: `integer`):

Drop works first published after this year.

## `minEditionCount` (type: `integer`):

Drop works with fewer published editions than this.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Filter to a specific language (e.g. `eng`, `fre`, `ger`, `spa`).

## `includeFulltextOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only emit works with a readable full-text scan available on Internet Archive.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on emitted records.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "the lord of the rings",
  "isbns": [],
  "workIds": [],
  "authorIds": [],
  "includeFulltextOnly": false,
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `books` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing all scraped Open Library books.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "mode": "search",
    "searchQuery": "the lord of the rings",
    "isbns": [],
    "workIds": [],
    "authorIds": [],
    "includeFulltextOnly": false,
    "maxItems": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/openlibrary-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "mode": "search",
    "searchQuery": "the lord of the rings",
    "isbns": [],
    "workIds": [],
    "authorIds": [],
    "includeFulltextOnly": False,
    "maxItems": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("crawlerbros/openlibrary-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "the lord of the rings",
  "isbns": [],
  "workIds": [],
  "authorIds": [],
  "includeFulltextOnly": false,
  "maxItems": 50
}' |
apify call crawlerbros/openlibrary-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/openlibrary-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Open Library Scraper",
        "description": "Scrape Open Library, Internet Archive's open catalog of 50M+ books. Search by title/author/subject, fetch by ISBN or work ID, get full bibliographic metadata, cover images, ratings, and edition counts.",
        "version": "1.0",
        "x-build-id": "bDWzy04wdcXxlDwuL"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/crawlerbros~openlibrary-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-openlibrary-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/crawlerbros~openlibrary-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-openlibrary-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/crawlerbros~openlibrary-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-openlibrary-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "mode"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "mode": {
                        "title": "Mode",
                        "enum": [
                            "search",
                            "byIsbn",
                            "byWorkIds",
                            "byAuthorIds",
                            "bySubject"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "What to fetch.",
                        "default": "search"
                    },
                    "searchQuery": {
                        "title": "Search query",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Free-text query (mode=search).",
                        "default": "the lord of the rings"
                    },
                    "queryAuthor": {
                        "title": "Filter by author",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Constrain results to a specific author."
                    },
                    "querySubject": {
                        "title": "Filter by subject",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Constrain results to a specific subject (e.g. `science fiction`)."
                    },
                    "isbns": {
                        "title": "ISBNs (mode=byIsbn)",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 strings.",
                        "default": [],
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "workIds": {
                        "title": "Work IDs (mode=byWorkIds)",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Open Library work IDs (e.g. `OL27482W`).",
                        "default": [],
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "authorIds": {
                        "title": "Author IDs (mode=byAuthorIds)",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Open Library author IDs (e.g. `OL26320A`).",
                        "default": [],
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "subjectName": {
                        "title": "Subject name (mode=bySubject)",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Open Library subject slug, e.g. `science_fiction`, `love`, `world_war_ii`, `programming`. Spaces become underscores."
                    },
                    "publishYearMin": {
                        "title": "First-publish year (min)",
                        "minimum": 0,
                        "maximum": 2100,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Drop works first published before this year."
                    },
                    "publishYearMax": {
                        "title": "First-publish year (max)",
                        "minimum": 0,
                        "maximum": 2100,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Drop works first published after this year."
                    },
                    "minEditionCount": {
                        "title": "Min edition count",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 100000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Drop works with fewer published editions than this."
                    },
                    "language": {
                        "title": "Language (3-letter ISO code)",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Filter to a specific language (e.g. `eng`, `fre`, `ger`, `spa`)."
                    },
                    "includeFulltextOnly": {
                        "title": "Has full-text only",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Only emit works with a readable full-text scan available on Internet Archive.",
                        "default": false
                    },
                    "maxItems": {
                        "title": "Max items",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 1000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Hard cap on emitted records.",
                        "default": 50
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```