# Check a book list for US public-domain status

**Use case:** 

For reprint publishers, ebook makers and used-book sellers: checks each book's US public-domain status from its first publication, not the printing you have (a 1953 printing of The Great Gatsby counts from 1925). Returns the date it enters the public domain, the rule and caveats. Six books from 1813 to 1987.

## Input

```json
{
  "works": [
    {
      "id": "BK-1",
      "title": "Pride and Prejudice",
      "creator": "Jane Austen",
      "type": "book",
      "year": 1813
    },
    {
      "id": "BK-2",
      "title": "The Great Gatsby",
      "creator": "F. Scott Fitzgerald",
      "type": "book",
      "year": 1953
    },
    {
      "id": "BK-3",
      "title": "Gone with the Wind",
      "creator": "Margaret Mitchell",
      "type": "book",
      "year": 1936
    },
    {
      "id": "BK-4",
      "title": "The Hobbit",
      "creator": "J. R. R. Tolkien",
      "type": "book",
      "year": 1937
    },
    {
      "id": "BK-5",
      "title": "To Kill a Mockingbird",
      "creator": "Harper Lee",
      "type": "book",
      "year": 1960
    },
    {
      "id": "BK-6",
      "title": "Beloved",
      "creator": "Toni Morrison",
      "type": "book",
      "year": 1987
    }
  ],
  "works_url": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/your-sheet-id/edit#gid=0",
  "preset": "2027-entrants",
  "as_of_date": "2027-01-01",
  "use_wikidata": true
}
```

## Output

```json
{
  "work_id": {
    "label": "Your ID",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "work_title": {
    "label": "Work",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "work_type": {
    "label": "Type",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "publication_year": {
    "label": "Published",
    "format": "integer"
  },
  "status": {
    "label": "Status",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "us_public_domain_date": {
    "label": "US public domain on",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "rule": {
    "label": "Rule",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "confidence": {
    "label": "Confidence",
    "format": "number"
  },
  "explanation": {
    "label": "Why",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "wikidata_url": {
    "label": "Wikidata",
    "format": "string"
  }
}
```

## About this Actor

This example demonstrates how to use [US Public Domain Checker (books, films, music, art)](https://apify.com/robot-supply-store/us-public-domain-checker.md) with a specific input configuration. Visit the [Actor detail page](https://apify.com/robot-supply-store/us-public-domain-checker.md) to learn more, explore other use cases, and run it yourself.


## How to integrate an Actor?

This Task's input is already configured above. Use it as-is rather than inventing a new one.

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 full API examples (JavaScript, Python, CLI, MCP, OpenAPI), see this Task's Actor page: https://apify.com/robot-supply-store/us-public-domain-checker.md

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`).