# Open Library Book Metadata (`second_coming/open-library-books`) Actor

Search and retrieve book metadata from Open Library. Supports keyword search and bulk ISBN lookup. Returns titles, authors, publishers, subjects, covers, and more. Free API, no key needed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/second\_coming/open-library-books.md
- **Developed by:** [Richard P](https://apify.com/second_coming) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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 Metadata — Apify Actor

Search and retrieve book metadata from [Open Library](https://openlibrary.org/), a free, open,
and community-edited catalog of books. This actor requires **no API key** and is ready to run
on the [Apify platform](https://apify.com/).

### Features

- **Search mode** — keyword search for books (title, author, subject).
- **ISBN mode** — bulk metadata lookup by ISBN-10 or ISBN-13.
- Returns: title, authors, publishers, publish date, page count, subjects, cover URL,
  and description.
- Author names are resolved via the Open Library authors API.
- Descriptions are fetched from the Open Library works API.
- Exponential-backoff HTTP retries (3 attempts) for resilience.
- Graceful shutdown on Apify platform abort signals.

### Input

| Field        | Type         | Default  | Description                             |
|--------------|--------------|----------|-----------------------------------------|
| `mode`       | `select`     | `search` | `search` or `isbn`                      |
| `query`      | `textfield`  | —        | Keyword search query (search mode)      |
| `isbns`      | `stringList` | —        | List of ISBN-10/13 (ISBN mode)          |
| `maxResults` | `number`     | 20       | Max results (1–100)                     |

### Output

Each dataset record contains:

| Field         | Type     | Description                             |
|---------------|----------|-----------------------------------------|
| `source`      | string   | `"search"` or `"isbn"`                  |
| `olid`        | string   | Open Library ID                         |
| `isbn`        | string   | Comma-separated ISBNs                   |
| `title`       | string   | Book title                              |
| `authors`     | string   | Author names (comma-separated)          |
| `publishers`  | string   | Publisher names (comma-separated)       |
| `publishDate` | string   | Publication date or year                |
| `pageCount`   | integer  | Number of pages                         |
| `subjects`    | string   | Comma-separated subjects/genres         |
| `coverUrl`    | string   | URL to the book cover image             |
| `description` | string   | Book description / synopsis             |

### Local development

```bash
## Create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

## Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

## Run locally (requires APIFY_* env vars set by the Apify CLI)
python3 -m my_actor
```

### Deploy

```bash
apify push
```

### API endpoints used

- **Search:** `GET https://openlibrary.org/search.json?q={query}&limit={n}`
- **ISBN lookup:** `GET https://openlibrary.org/isbn/{isbn}.json`
- **Author details:** `GET https://openlibrary.org/authors/{key}.json`
- **Work details:** `GET https://openlibrary.org/works/{olid}.json`

### License

MIT

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Search by keyword or lookup specific ISBNs

## `query` (type: `string`):

Keyword search for books (e.g. 'the hobbit')

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

List of ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 numbers to look up

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of results to return

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "isbns": [
    "9780140328721",
    "0451524934"
  ],
  "maxResults": 20
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("second_coming/open-library-books").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("second_coming/open-library-books").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 '{}' |
apify call second_coming/open-library-books --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/KySOvf30SOwM6Ucqm/builds/jaTue65mBXbxh3jhV/openapi.json