Open Library Authors Scraper

Open Library Authors Scraper

Scrape Open Library author profiles, works, and bibliography data. Get author names, birth dates, work titles, and more in a clean dataset. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Open Library's public catalog holds millions of author records, but browsing them one by one is slow. This Actor reads author pages directly, by search query or URL, and returns each author as a flat row with optional works and bibliography details. No API registration or rate limits to manage.

Who uses it	What they scrape Open Library for
Librarians and archivists	Building a local index of authors for a special collection
Book marketers	Compiling author contact and work lists for outreach
Researchers	Analyzing publication patterns across author bibliographies
App developers	Enriching book-related apps with author metadata

What it does

This Actor collects Open Library author profiles by search query or direct URL, and returns each author as a flat row with optional works and bibliography details.

• 🔍 Search by name or keyword: enter a query like 'Shakespeare' and get matching authors.
• 🔗 Direct URL input: paste an Open Library author URL to scrape that specific profile.
• 📚 Include works: optionally fetch each author's works and bibliography, up to a limit you set.
• ⚙️ Flexible limits: set max authors and max works per author to control output size.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Open Library data

📖 Build an author database.

A librarian runs the Actor with a search query for a genre and gets a CSV of all matching authors with their works, ready for catalog integration.

📊 Analyze publication trends.

A researcher scrapes authors in a field with works included, then charts publication years to spot trends.

📬 Compile outreach lists.

A book marketer scrapes authors by keyword, exports names and work titles, and uses them for targeted email campaigns.

🧩 Enrich your app.

A developer uses the Actor to fetch author metadata on demand, populating their book recommendation app with real data.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Uses the public Open Library website, no registration needed
Flat output	Each author is one row, easy to import into spreadsheets or databases
Works included	Optionally get work titles, publication years, and more
Scalable	From a single author to thousands, with configurable limits

How it compares

No other Store actor targets Open Library the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	Open Library Authors Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When Open Library changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a search query or a direct author URL, and optionally include works with a per-author limit. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "query": "Shakespeare",
  "includeWorks": true,
  "maxWorksPerAuthor": 20
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "query": "Shakespeare",
  "includeWorks": true,
  "maxWorksPerAuthor": 20
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.03199 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$3.20
1,000 results	$31.99
10,000 results	$319.90

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Open Library Authors Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Open Library through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/open-library-authors-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your search query is spelled correctly and not too specific. Also ensure Start URL is empty when using a query, or that the URL is a valid Open Library author page.

Why are works not included?

Make sure Include Works is checked. If it is, check Max Works Per Author; if set to 0, it should get all works, but some profiles may have no works listed.

Why did the run stop before reaching Max Items?

The Actor stops when there are no more results matching your query or URL. Try a broader search or a different starting URL.

Why am I getting an error about the URL?

Ensure the Start URL is a full Open Library author URL, like https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL12345A. If using a search query, leave Start URL empty.

Why is the dataset empty even though the run finished?

Check the log for warnings. The search may have returned no matches, or the URL may not be an author page. Try a different query or URL.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an Open Library API key?	No. This Actor scrapes the public Open Library website, so no API key or registration is required.
Can I scrape a specific author by URL?	Yes. Paste the author's Open Library URL into the Start URL field and the Actor will scrape that profile.
How do I search for authors?	Leave Start URL empty and enter a name or keyword in the Search Query field. The Actor will return matching authors.
What data is included for each author?	Each row includes the author's name, birth and death dates, bio, and other profile fields. If Include Works is enabled, it also includes work titles and details.
Can I limit the number of works per author?	Yes. Set Max Works Per Author to a number, or use 0 to get all works listed on the profile.
What is the maximum number of authors I can scrape?	Free users can scrape up to 100 authors. Paid users can set Max Items up to 1,000,000.
What output formats are supported?	You can export the dataset as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform.
Is the data from Open Library reliable?	Open Library is maintained by the Internet Archive and its community. Data quality is generally high, but some fields may be incomplete.
Can I schedule this Actor to run regularly?	Yes, you can set up a schedule in Apify to run the Actor at intervals, such as daily or weekly.
Does this Actor handle pagination?	Yes, it automatically follows pagination on search results and author pages to collect all requested items.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Internet Archive. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.