# Open Library Book Scraper - Low-cost💲🔥📚🌍 (`delectable_incubator/open-library-book-scraper-low-cost`) Actor

📚 Extract books, authors, and reading lists from Open Library with ease. Collect book titles, authors, subjects, editions, publication details, availability, reading lists, and URLs. Ideal for literary research, book discovery,  library analytics, educational projects & publishing insights 🌍📊

- **URL**: https://apify.com/delectable\_incubator/open-library-book-scraper-low-cost.md
- **Developed by:** [Prime Scrape](https://apify.com/delectable_incubator) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.00005 / actor start

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

<p align="center">
  <img src="https://i.ibb.co/jkNS73wX/readme.png" alt="Open Library Book Scraper" width="100%">
</p>

---

## 📚🌍 Open Library Book Scraper 🔍 | Bulk Books, Authors, Subjects & Lists Scraper | Apify Actor

### 🚀 Extract Open Library Data in Seconds (No Code)

The **Open Library Book Scraper (Apify Actor)** is a powerful, scalable, and **SEO-optimized OpenLibrary.org scraping tool** designed to extract structured data about books, authors, subjects, themes, and reading lists.

Built for researchers, digital libraries, publishers, AI developers, content platforms, recommendation engines, and data analysts, this scraper allows you to **collect Open Library data in bulk** and export it into structured datasets ready for analysis.

---

### 🔥 Why This Open Library Scraper?

✔ Best Open Library scraper on Apify

✔ Supports **bulk keyword scraping (multi-search)**

✔ Scrape books, authors, subjects, and reading lists

✔ Fast & scalable extraction engine

✔ Automatic pagination handling

✔ Structured JSON / CSV / Excel output

✔ Perfect for book intelligence and metadata enrichment

✔ Ideal for AI training datasets and recommendation systems

✔ No coding required

---

### 🎯 What This Scraper Does (Open Library Data Extraction)

This Apify Actor extracts structured information directly from OpenLibrary.org search results.

#### 📌 Core Features

✅ Scrape Open Library books

✅ Scrape Open Library authors

✅ Scrape Open Library subjects & themes

✅ Scrape Open Library reading lists

✅ Bulk keyword scraping support (SEO BOOST 🚀)

✅ Automatic pagination handling

✅ Search by title, author, subject, or text

✅ Extract ratings and popularity metrics

✅ Extract publication and edition information

✅ Clean structured dataset output

✅ High-speed extraction engine

---

### ⚡ Input Configuration (Simple & Powerful)

#### 🔥 BULK KEYWORD MODE (SEO BOOST 🚀)

````

{
"keywords": \[
"javascript",
"machine learning",
"artificial intelligence",
"data science",
"python programming",
"history"
],
"entity\_type": "all",
"max\_items": 500
}

```

#### Input Fields

| Field | Description |
|---------|---------|
| keywords | List of search keywords |
| entity_type | all, title, author, theme, text, list |
| max_items | Maximum items to collect |

---

### 📊 Extracted Data (Structured Output)

#### 📘 Books

| Field | Description |
|---------|---------|
| entityType | Entity type |
| itemKey | Open Library unique key |
| title | Book title |
| author | Author name |
| authorUrl | Author profile URL |
| coverUrl | Cover image |
| rating | Average rating |
| ratingCount | Number of ratings |
| wantToRead | Want-to-read count |
| subjects | Book subjects |
| firstPublished | First publication year |
| editionsCount | Number of editions |
| availability | Availability status |
| itemUrl | Open Library URL |

#### ✍️ Authors

| Field | Description |
|---------|---------|
| entityType | Author entity |
| itemKey | Author key |
| authorName | Author name |
| photoUrl | Author image |
| booksCount | Published books |
| subjects | Related subjects |
| itemUrl | Author URL |

#### 🏷️ Subjects / Themes

| Field | Description |
|---------|---------|
| entityType | Theme entity |
| itemKey | Theme key |
| themeName | Subject name |
| booksCount | Related books |
| itemUrl | Subject URL |

#### 📚 Reading Lists

| Field | Description |
|---------|---------|
| entityType | List entity |
| itemKey | List key |
| listTitle | List title |
| owner | List owner |
| coverUrl | Cover image |
| itemsCount | Number of items |
| lastModified | Last update |
| description | List description |
| itemUrl | List URL |

---

### 💡 Use Cases (High Demand SEO Keywords)

This Open Library scraper is used for:

📚 Book metadata extraction

📖 Digital library enrichment

📊 Book popularity analysis

🎓 Academic research datasets

🤖 AI training datasets

🧠 NLP and recommendation systems

📈 Publishing market intelligence

🏷️ Subject and taxonomy analysis

📡 Knowledge graph creation

⚡ Bulk Open Library data extraction

---

### 🚀 Key Features (Apify SEO Optimized)

⚡ Bulk keyword scraping support

📚 Books, authors, subjects & lists

📌 Smart pagination system

🧠 Structured metadata extraction

📊 Popularity and rating metrics

🔁 Auto retry & stability system

💾 Export-ready datasets

⚙️ Scalable cloud execution

🌍 Global Open Library coverage

---

### 📤 Output Formats Supported

✔ JSON (API Ready)

✔ CSV (Excel Compatible)

✔ Excel XLSX

✔ XML

✔ HTML

---

### 📦 Example Output

```

{
"entityType": "book",
"itemKey": "/works/OL12345W",
"title": "JavaScript: The Good Parts",
"author": "Douglas Crockford",
"authorUrl": "https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL123A",
"coverUrl": "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/12345.jpg",
"rating": 4.2,
"ratingCount": 1200,
"wantToRead": 5400,
"subjects": \[
"JavaScript",
"Programming"
],
"firstPublished": 2008,
"editionsCount": 12,
"availability": "Available",
"itemUrl": "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12345W"
}

````

---

### 🔥 Why This is the BEST Open Library Scraper on Apify?

✔ Optimized for Apify marketplace ranking

✔ High-performance extraction engine

✔ Bulk keyword support (rare feature)

✔ Multi-entity scraping capability

✔ Structured metadata output

✔ Enterprise-ready scalability

✔ Ideal for AI, research & publishing

✔ Perfect for SEO visibility and organic traffic

---

### 💸 Pricing

This scraper runs on a **pay-per-result pricing model**.

You only pay for successfully extracted records.

💳 **Price: $0.98 / 1,000 results**

---

### ❓ FAQ (SEO BOOST SECTION)

#### Can I scrape multiple keywords at once?

Yes — bulk keyword mode is fully supported.

#### Can I scrape books and authors simultaneously?

Yes — use `"entity_type": "all"`.

#### Does the scraper handle pagination?

Yes — pagination is handled automatically.

#### Can I use it for AI training datasets?

Absolutely. The scraper is ideal for NLP, LLM, recommendation systems, and knowledge graphs.

#### Is coding required?

No — this is a fully no-code Apify Actor.

#### Can I export the data?

Yes — JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, and HTML are supported.

---

### ⚠️ Disclaimer

This tool is not affiliated with Open Library or the Internet Archive.

It is an independent data extraction solution designed for research, analytics, automation, and content enrichment purposes.

---

### 🔗 Related Actors (PrimeScrape Ecosystem)

We are building a complete **PrimeScrape Data Intelligence Suite**.

👉 More Books, Research, AI, Business, Jobs, E-commerce, Social Media and Lead Generation Scrapers Coming Soon 🚀

---

### 🌍 PrimeScrape Ecosystem

Built for large-scale data collection, automation, market intelligence, and AI workflows.

📚 Book Intelligence

🏢 Company Intelligence

📈 Market Research

🤖 AI Training Datasets

🔍 Search Data Extraction

📊 Analytics Pipelines

⚙️ Automation Workflows

🌐 Web Data Collection at Scale

---

### 📬 Support

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a review if you enjoy this scraper.

📩 Need a custom scraper, enterprise solution, or additional features?

Contact the PrimeScrape team directly through Apify.

**PrimeScrape — Data Extraction & Intelligence at Scale 🚀**

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

One or more keywords to search for on OpenLibrary. Each keyword is scraped independently. For example, 'python', 'javascript', 'machine learning'.
## `entity_type` (type: `string`):

Type of content to search for on OpenLibrary
## `max_items_per_keyword` (type: `integer`):

Limits how many items will be scraped per keyword from OpenLibrary.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "javascript"
  ],
  "entity_type": "all",
  "max_items_per_keyword": 50
}
````

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "keywords": [
        "javascript"
    ],
    "entity_type": "all",
    "max_items_per_keyword": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("delectable_incubator/open-library-book-scraper-low-cost").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 = {
    "keywords": ["javascript"],
    "entity_type": "all",
    "max_items_per_keyword": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("delectable_incubator/open-library-book-scraper-low-cost").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 '{
  "keywords": [
    "javascript"
  ],
  "entity_type": "all",
  "max_items_per_keyword": 50
}' |
apify call delectable_incubator/open-library-book-scraper-low-cost --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=delectable_incubator/open-library-book-scraper-low-cost",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Open Library Book Scraper - Low-cost💲🔥📚🌍",
        "description": "📚 Extract books, authors, and reading lists from Open Library with ease. Collect book titles, authors, subjects, editions, publication details, availability, reading lists, and URLs. Ideal for literary research, book discovery,  library analytics, educational projects & publishing insights 🌍📊",
        "version": "0.0",
        "x-build-id": "vvMQiAxxcrfY3e2BW"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/delectable_incubator~open-library-book-scraper-low-cost/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-delectable_incubator-open-library-book-scraper-low-cost",
                "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": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/delectable_incubator~open-library-book-scraper-low-cost/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-delectable_incubator-open-library-book-scraper-low-cost",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/delectable_incubator~open-library-book-scraper-low-cost/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-delectable_incubator-open-library-book-scraper-low-cost",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": [
                    "keywords",
                    "entity_type"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "keywords": {
                        "title": "Search Keywords 🔍",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "One or more keywords to search for on OpenLibrary. Each keyword is scraped independently. For example, 'python', 'javascript', 'machine learning'.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "default": [
                            "javascript"
                        ]
                    },
                    "entity_type": {
                        "title": "Entity Type 📚",
                        "enum": [
                            "all",
                            "title",
                            "author",
                            "theme",
                            "text",
                            "list"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Type of content to search for on OpenLibrary",
                        "default": "all"
                    },
                    "max_items_per_keyword": {
                        "title": "Maximum items per keyword 🔢",
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Limits how many items will be scraped per keyword from OpenLibrary.",
                        "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
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```