# Open Library Books Scraper: Search Books & ISBN Lookup (`pankajbhatia/open-library-books-scraper`) Actor

Search millions of books by title, author or subject, or look up ISBNs. Get authors, first publish year, ISBN-10/13, publishers, pages, subjects, languages, ratings, cover images and Goodreads/Amazon IDs from the official Open Library API.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/open-library-books-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Pankaj Bhatia](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 books

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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Open Library Books Scraper: Search Books & ISBN Lookup

Search millions of books by **title, keywords, author or subject**, or look up specific books by **ISBN-10 or ISBN-13**. Each row includes authors, first publish year, ISBNs, publishers, page count, subjects, languages, number of editions, community ratings, cover image and Goodreads/Amazon IDs. Data comes from the official, free Open Library API run by the Internet Archive. No login, no API key.

### Who is it for?

- **Booksellers and ecommerce stores** filling in product data (ISBNs, covers, pages, publishers).
- **Publishers, authors and literary agents** researching competing titles and categories.
- **Librarians, researchers and educators** building reading lists and catalogs.
- **App builders and AI teams** who need clean book metadata at scale.

### How to use it

1. Add **search queries**, **authors**, **subjects** and/or **ISBNs**.
2. Set **Max books per search**, and optionally a **sort order** and **language** (e.g. `eng`).
3. Turn on **Include book description** if you need the blurb (one extra request per book).
4. Click **Start**, then export to JSON, CSV or Excel.

### Input example

```json
{"searchQueries": ["atomic habits"], "authors": ["Brandon Sanderson"], "isbns": ["9780735211292"], "maxResultsPerSearch": 20}
```

### Output example

```json
{"workId": "OL17930368W", "title": "Atomic Habits", "authors": ["James Clear"], "firstPublishYear": 2016, "editionCount": 42, "pagesMedian": 322, "isbn13": ["9780735211292"], "ratingAverage": 3.97, "ratingCount": 1463, "coverUrl": "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/12539702-L.jpg", "url": "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17930368W"}
```

ISBN lookups also return an `edition` object with that edition's publisher, date, pages and format.

### How much does it cost?

Pay-per-event: a small fee **per book** returned, plus a tiny per-run start fee, with no subscription and no separate platform usage costs. For example, 1,000 books cost about $1. Searches with no results and invalid ISBNs are **not charged**. Set **Maximum cost per run** to cap your spending.

### Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents

Run it from the Apify API, on a schedule, or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n or Google Sheets. AI agents can find and call it through the Apify MCP server. Output is clean JSON with the same fields on every run.

### FAQ

**Is it legal?** Yes. Open Library is an open, public catalog and offers this API for anyone to use; the tool identifies itself and keeps a polite request rate. Open Library catalog data is openly licensed; cover images remain the publishers' artwork, so check rights before reusing covers commercially.

**Are ratings the same as Goodreads?** No. Ratings come from Open Library readers. Goodreads IDs are included so you can match books.

**Can I look up thousands of ISBNs?** Yes. Paste them all into the ISBNs list; dashes and spaces are fine.

### More tools from this developer

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- [Website to Markdown for AI & RAG](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/website-to-markdown): turn web pages into clean Markdown for LLMs
- [Tech Stack Detector](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/tech-stack-detector): find what any website is built with
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- [ATS Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/ats-jobs-scraper): jobs from Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable and more
- [Website Screenshot](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/website-screenshot): full-page, mobile and PDF screenshots in bulk
- [PDF to Text & Markdown Extractor](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/pdf-text-extractor): extract text from PDFs for AI and search
- [Domain WHOIS, DNS & SSL Checker](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/domain-whois-dns-ssl-checker): bulk domain, DNS, email security and SSL checks
- [SEO Meta Tags & On-Page Audit](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/seo-meta-tags-checker): bulk on-page SEO audit with fixes
- [Bulk URL Status & Broken Link Checker](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/url-status-broken-link-checker): status codes, redirect chains and broken links
- [RSS & Atom Feed Reader](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/rss-feed-reader): merge and filter many news feeds
- [Hacker News Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/hacker-news-scraper): HN stories, comments and Who is hiring jobs
- [Academic Paper Search](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/academic-paper-search): papers from Crossref, arXiv and PubMed
- [SEC EDGAR Filings & Financials](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/sec-edgar-filings-financials): 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K filings and company financials
- [Apple Podcasts Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/apple-podcasts-scraper): podcast details and full episode lists
- [App Store Top Charts & App Search](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/app-store-top-charts): top free, paid and grossing app rankings
- [ClinicalTrials.gov Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/clinicaltrials-gov-scraper): search and export clinical trials
- [USAspending Federal Awards](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/usaspending-federal-awards): who won federal contracts and grants
- [Grants.gov Opportunities](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/grants-gov-opportunities): open and forecasted federal grants
- [Weather Forecast & Alerts](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/weather-forecast-alerts): 9-day forecasts for any city, plus U.S. alerts
- [EU TED Tenders Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/ted-eu-tenders-scraper): European public procurement notices
- [Bulk Domain Availability Checker](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/bulk-domain-availability-checker): check which domains are free to register
- [Product Recalls Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/product-recalls-fda-cpsc-nhtsa): FDA, CPSC and NHTSA vehicle recalls
- [Federal Register Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/federal-register-documents): U.S. rules, notices and comment deadlines
- [npm & PyPI Package Stats](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/npm-pypi-package-stats): downloads, versions and licenses for packages
- [UK Contracts Finder Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/uk-contracts-finder-scraper): UK public tenders and contract awards
- [Wikipedia Scraper](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/wikipedia-scraper): articles, full text and page views
- [Currency Exchange Rates (ECB)](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/currency-exchange-rates-ecb): official latest and historical FX rates

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Free-text book searches (title, keywords).

## `authors` (type: `array`):

Books by these authors.

## `subjects` (type: `array`):

Books on these subjects, e.g. science fiction.

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

Look up specific books by ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 (dashes are fine).

## `maxResultsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

Limit for each search, author or subject.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Order of search results.

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

Three-letter language code, e.g. eng, spa, fre.

## `maxIsbnsPerBook` (type: `integer`):

How many ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 values to keep per book.

## `includeDescription` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch the work description (one extra request per book).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "atomic habits"
  ],
  "authors": [],
  "subjects": [],
  "isbns": [
    "9780735211292"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerSearch": 20,
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "maxIsbnsPerBook": 5,
  "includeDescription": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per book (work) with authors, ISBNs, publishers, subjects, ratings and cover.

# 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 = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "atomic habits"
    ],
    "authors": [],
    "subjects": [],
    "isbns": [
        "9780735211292"
    ],
    "maxResultsPerSearch": 20,
    "maxIsbnsPerBook": 5
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("pankajbhatia/open-library-books-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 = {
    "searchQueries": ["atomic habits"],
    "authors": [],
    "subjects": [],
    "isbns": ["9780735211292"],
    "maxResultsPerSearch": 20,
    "maxIsbnsPerBook": 5,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("pankajbhatia/open-library-books-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "atomic habits"
  ],
  "authors": [],
  "subjects": [],
  "isbns": [
    "9780735211292"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerSearch": 20,
  "maxIsbnsPerBook": 5
}' |
apify call pankajbhatia/open-library-books-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pankajbhatia/open-library-books-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/bKuwjFROcSUdcAd40/builds/E06flNKzrgKzd5qrX/openapi.json