# OpenLibrary Scraper (`lulzasaur/openlibrary-scraper`) Actor Scrape OpenLibrary.org — open book database with 40M+ records. Search by title/author, ISBN lookup, or browse by subject. Get metadata, covers, editions, and more via free JSON API. - **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/openlibrary-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community) - **Categories:** E-commerce - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $5.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. 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 Book & Author Search Search millions of books and authors on Open Library. Get titles, ISBNs, publishers, page counts, subjects, ratings, and cover images from the world's largest open book database. ### Features - **Book search**: Find books by title, author, or keyword - **Author search**: Look up authors with their works and biography - **Rich metadata**: ISBNs, publishers, page counts, editions, languages, subjects - **Cover images**: High-resolution book cover URLs - **Ratings**: Average ratings and review counts - **Always available**: Free API, no authentication needed, millions of records ### Output Fields (Books) | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | `title` | Book title | | `author` | Author name(s) | | `firstPublishYear` | Year first published | | `isbn` | Primary ISBN | | `publisher` | Primary publisher | | `pageCount` | Median page count | | `editionCount` | Number of editions | | `subjects` | Subject tags (up to 10) | | `coverUrl` | High-res cover image URL | | `ratingsAverage` | Average rating | | `scrapedAt` | ISO timestamp | ### Output Fields (Authors) | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | `name` | Author name | | `birthDate` | Date of birth | | `topWork` | Most well-known work | | `workCount` | Total works count | | `topSubjects` | Common subjects | | `scrapedAt` | ISO timestamp | ### Input Options - **Search Query**: What to search for (e.g. "Lord of the Rings", "Stephen King") - **Search Type**: Books or Authors - **Max Results**: Number of results to return (1-100) ### Use Cases - **Book databases**: Build comprehensive book catalogs with ISBNs and metadata - **Reading lists**: Search and curate themed book collections - **Author research**: Find all works by an author with publication dates - **Library systems**: Enrich library records with Open Library data - **E-commerce**: Get book metadata for online bookstores ### Example Output ```json { "title": "The Lord of the Rings", "author": "J.R.R. Tolkien", "firstPublishYear": 1954, "isbn": "9780618640157", "publisher": "Houghton Mifflin", "pageCount": 1178, "editionCount": 264, "subjects": ["Fantasy fiction", "Middle Earth", "Quests"], "coverUrl": "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/8743774-L.jpg", "ratingsAverage": 4.5, "scrapedAt": "2026-04-26T12:00:00.000Z" } ```` ### Data Source - [Open Library](https://openlibrary.org/) - Free, open-source library catalog with 20M+ records *** ### Run on Apify This scraper runs on the [Apify platform](https://apify.com/?fpr=lulzasaur) - a full-stack web scraping and automation cloud. Sign up for a free account to get started with 30-day trial of all features. [Try Apify free ->](https://apify.com/?fpr=lulzasaur) # Actor input Schema ## `searchQuery` (type: `string`): Search for books or authors by name (e.g. 'Lord of the Rings', 'Stephen King'). ## `searchType` (type: `string`): Whether to search for books or authors. ## `limit` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of results to return. ## Actor input object example ```json { "searchQuery": "Lord of the Rings", "searchType": "books", "limit": 20 } ``` # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "searchQuery": "Lord of the Rings" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "searchQuery": "Lord of the Rings" } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("lulzasaur/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 '{ "searchQuery": "Lord of the Rings" }' | apify call lulzasaur/openlibrary-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lulzasaur/openlibrary-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "OpenLibrary Scraper", "description": "Scrape OpenLibrary.org — open book database with 40M+ records. Search by title/author, ISBN lookup, or browse by subject. Get metadata, covers, editions, and more via free JSON API.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "EEPs5AWtZA3LwAV2B" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/lulzasaur~openlibrary-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-lulzasaur-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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/lulzasaur~openlibrary-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-lulzasaur-openlibrary-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/lulzasaur~openlibrary-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-lulzasaur-openlibrary-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": [ "searchQuery" ], "properties": { "searchQuery": { "title": "Search Query", "type": "string", "description": "Search for books or authors by name (e.g. 'Lord of the Rings', 'Stephen King').", "default": "Lord of the Rings" }, "searchType": { "title": "Search Type", "enum": [ "books", "authors" ], "type": "string", "description": "Whether to search for books or authors.", "default": "books" }, "limit": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 100, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of results to return.", "default": 20 } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```