# Books Scraper — Titles, Authors, ISBN, Editions (Open Library) (`yadroo/openlibrary-books`) Actor

Search books by title, author, ISBN or subject: title, authors, first publish year, editions count, ISBNs, subjects, languages, cover image, Open Library and Goodreads ids; ISBN lookup with publisher, pages and description. No API key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/yadroo/openlibrary-books.md
- **Developed by:** [Samat Makatov](https://apify.com/yadroo) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, E-commerce
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.70 / 1,000 result items

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

Search 20+ million Open Library book records by title, author, subject, publisher or ISBN and get clean JSON: authors, first publish year, edition count, ISBNs, subjects, languages, publishers, ratings, reading-log popularity, Goodreads/Amazon/OCLC ids, covers and e-book availability. Look up ISBNs for publisher, pages, format and description; list an author's works, browse a subject, or pull every edition of a work. No API key, no proxy, no browser.

### Use cases

- **Catalogue enrichment for bookshops and marketplaces**: turn a list of ISBNs into title, authors, publisher, pages, format, cover and description.
- **Publisher and competitor research**: list a publisher's catalogue (`searchField: "publisher"`) or a subject's newest titles.
- **Rights and translation scouting**: find which languages and editions exist for a work, with years and publishers.
- **Reading-list and recommendation products**: rank books in a subject by popularity (reading logs, want-to-read) or rating.
- **Author due diligence**: bio, birth/death dates, Wikidata/VIAF/ISNI ids and most-read works of an author.
- **Library and e-learning**: filter to works with a readable/borrowable scan on archive.org (`ebookOnly`).

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Allowed values / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| `queries` | string\[] | required | Titles, keywords, author names, subjects, ISBN-10/13 (hyphens ok), Open Library keys `OL…W` / `OL…M` / `OL…A` or their URLs |
| `mode` | string | `auto` | `auto` (detect ISBN/key/text), `search`, `isbn`, `author`, `subject`, `work` |
| `searchField` | string | `any` | `any`, `title`, `author`, `subject`, `publisher`, `place`, `person`, `isbn` (search mode) |
| `limit` | integer | 5 | 1–100 results per query (search/author/subject) |
| `offset` | integer | 0 | 0–10 000, for paging across runs |
| `sortBy` | string | `relevance` | see [Sort orders](#sort-orders); subject mode: only `relevance`/`editions` (most editions), `new`, `old` — other sorts are refused there |
| `language` | string | any | MARC 21 code, see [Languages](#languages); search and author modes (refused in subject mode: the subjects API has no language filter) |
| `yearFrom` / `yearTo` | integer | none | 1000–2100, first publication year (inclusive) |
| `ebookOnly` | boolean | false | Only works with a scan on archive.org |
| `includeAvailability` | boolean | false | Lending status per work (search mode) |
| `includeDescription` | boolean | false | Work description + external links (+1 request/work; ISBN, edition and work lookups always carry the description) |
| `includeEditions` | boolean | false | Editions list per work (+1 request/work) |
| `maxEditions` | integer | 10 | 1–50 |
| `includeAuthorDetails` | boolean | false | `authorsDetailed`: bio, dates, Wikipedia/Wikidata/VIAF/ISNI, photo (+1 request per distinct author, cached) |
| `coverSize` | string | `L` | `S`, `M`, `L` |
| `maxSubjects` | integer | 15 | 0–200 |
| `dedupe` | boolean | true | Save each work/edition/author once across queries |
| `fields` | string\[] | all | Keep only these output fields, in your order; `query` is always kept. Case, snake_case and Open Library names (`author_name`, `cover_i`) are read as the field; unknown names are left out and named in the status; a list with no known field is refused. Rows with none of the listed fields (e.g. the author row for `["title"]`) are not saved and not charged |

### Reference

#### Lookup modes

| Mode | What you pass | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| `auto` | anything | ISBN → edition record; `OL…W` → work; `OL…M` → edition; `OL…A` → author + works; text → search |
| `search` | keywords | Works matching the text (optionally in one `searchField`) |
| `isbn` | ISBN-10/13 | One edition: publisher, date, pages, format, identifiers, work description, subjects, author names. Check digit is validated (warning only) |
| `author` | name or `OL…A` | One author row (for names, the record with the most works is chosen, alternatives are logged) + their works |
| `subject` | subject name/slug | Works in that subject (`science fiction` → `science_fiction`), with total `subjectWorkCount`. Years and `ebookOnly` apply; `language` does not exist there |
| `work` | `OL…W` / `OL…M` | Full work record from the search index + description |

#### Sort orders

| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `relevance` | Best text match (default) |
| `new` / `old` | First publish year, newest / oldest first |
| `rating` | Average user rating |
| `editions` | Most editions |
| `readinglog` | Most reading-log entries (overall popularity) |
| `want_to_read` / `currently_reading` / `already_read` | Reading-log shelves |
| `title` | Title A–Z |
| `scans` | Works with scans first |
| `random` | Random order |

#### Languages

The `language` select offers these MARC 21 codes; Apify refuses any other value before the run starts. Full MARC list: [loc.gov MARC language codes](https://www.loc.gov/marc/languages/language_code.html).

| Code | Language | Code | Language | Code | Language | Code | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eng | English | spa | Spanish | fre | French | ger | German |
| ita | Italian | por | Portuguese | rus | Russian | chi | Chinese |
| jpn | Japanese | kor | Korean | ara | Arabic | dut | Dutch |
| swe | Swedish | pol | Polish | tur | Turkish | per | Persian |
| heb | Hebrew | hin | Hindi | ukr | Ukrainian | cze | Czech |
| dan | Danish | fin | Finnish | nor | Norwegian | hun | Hungarian |
| gre | Greek | rum | Romanian | kaz | Kazakh | uzb | Uzbek |
| kir | Kyrgyz | tgk | Tajik | aze | Azerbaijani | geo | Georgian |
| arm | Armenian | mon | Mongolian | bel | Belarusian | tat | Tatar |
| ind | Indonesian | may | Malay | vie | Vietnamese | tha | Thai |
| ben | Bengali | urd | Urdu | tam | Tamil | tel | Telugu |
| mar | Marathi | lat | Latin | cat | Catalan | bul | Bulgarian |
| hrv | Croatian | srp | Serbian | slo | Slovak | slv | Slovenian |
| lit | Lithuanian | lav | Latvian | est | Estonian | ice | Icelandic |
| afr | Afrikaans | swa | Swahili | tgl | Tagalog | | |

#### Common subject slugs

Any Open Library subject works; examples: `business`, `entrepreneurship`, `management`, `economics`, `finance`, `marketing`, `leadership`, `self-help`, `psychology`, `science_fiction`, `fantasy`, `mystery_and_detective_stories`, `romance`, `history`, `biography`, `programming`, `computer_science`, `artificial_intelligence`, `machine_learning`, `mathematics`, `medicine`, `cooking`, `travel`, `children`, `poetry`. Browse more at [openlibrary.org/subjects](https://openlibrary.org/subjects).

### Examples

**Enrich a list of ISBNs for a shop catalogue**

```json
{ "queries": ["978-0-307-88789-4", "9780062316097", "0735211299"], "mode": "isbn", "includeAuthorDetails": true, "coverSize": "M" }
```

**Newest books in a subject (new-release tracking)**

```json
{ "queries": ["entrepreneurship"], "mode": "subject", "yearFrom": 2024, "sortBy": "new", "limit": 50 }
```

**An author's most-read works with all editions (rights scouting)**

```json
{ "queries": ["Peter Drucker"], "mode": "author", "sortBy": "readinglog", "limit": 10, "includeEditions": true, "maxEditions": 20, "includeAuthorDetails": true }
```

**A publisher's catalogue in one language**

```json
{ "queries": ["O'Reilly Media"], "searchField": "publisher", "language": "eng", "yearFrom": 2020, "sortBy": "new", "limit": 100, "fields": ["title", "authors", "firstPublishYear", "isbn13", "url"] }
```

**Free-to-read classics for an e-learning library**

```json
{ "queries": ["economics"], "searchField": "subject", "ebookOnly": true, "includeAvailability": true, "sortBy": "readinglog", "limit": 25 }
```

### Output

Search / author / subject rows describe a **work**; ISBN rows describe an **edition**; author mode adds one **author** row. Real example (author-mode work row for `"Peter Drucker"`, `sortBy: "readinglog"`; arrays trimmed):

```json
{
  "query": "Peter Drucker",
  "mode": "author",
  "workKey": "OL274337W",
  "title": "The Practice of Management",
  "authors": ["Peter F. Drucker"],
  "authorKeys": ["OL4345625A"],
  "firstPublishYear": 1954,
  "latestPublishYear": 2017,
  "editionCount": 37,
  "isbn13": "9780060913168",
  "isbn10": "0330020315",
  "isbnCount": 44,
  "languages": ["chi", "und", "eng"],
  "publishers": ["Butterworth Heinemann", "Taylor & Francis Group"],
  "subjects": ["Business", "Nonfiction", "Industrial management"],
  "pagesMedian": 404,
  "firstSentence": "THE manager is the dynamic, life-giving element in every business.",
  "rating": 5,
  "ratingsCount": 2,
  "readingLogCount": 144,
  "wantToRead": 130,
  "goodreadsId": "114837",
  "amazonAsin": "B002JN0B82",
  "oclc": "567448468",
  "ddc": "658",
  "ebookAccess": "borrowable",
  "hasFulltext": true,
  "coverUrl": "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/6418448-L.jpg",
  "url": "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL274337W",
  "source": "openlibrary",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-09-13T08:17:11.726Z",
  "numFound": 320
}
```

| Field | Rows | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `query`, `mode`, `found` | all | Input query (always kept, also with `fields`), lookup type; `found` is `true` on every row (queries that match nothing or fail are not rows — see `SUMMARY`) |
| `workKey`, `editionKey`, `authorKey` | work / edition / author | Stable Open Library ids |
| `title`, `subtitle`, `authors`, `authorKeys` | work, edition | |
| `firstPublishYear`, `publishYears`, `latestPublishYear`, `editionCount` | work | |
| `isbn13`, `isbn10`, `isbns`, `isbnCount` | work (strings: the first ISBN-13/-10; `isbns`: first 20), edition (lists) | |
| `languages`, `publishers`, `subjects`, `places`, `people`, `timePeriods` | work | |
| `rating`, `ratingsCount`, `readingLogCount`, `wantToRead`, `currentlyReading`, `alreadyRead` | work | Popularity signals |
| `goodreadsId`, `amazonAsin`, `librarythingId`, `oclc`, `lccn`, `lcc`, `ddc` | work, edition | External identifiers / classifications |
| `ebookAccess`, `hasFulltext`, `publicScan`, `archiveOrgIds`, `availability` | work | E-book status |
| `publishDate`, `publishYear`, `pages`, `physicalFormat`, `publishPlaces`, `series`, `edition`, `description` | edition | |
| `editions`, `editionsTotal` | with `includeEditions` | Brief edition list: key, year, publishers, ISBNs, languages, pages, format, cover |
| `authorsDetailed`, `name`, `bio`, `birthDate`, `deathDate`, `wikidataId`, `viaf`, `isni`, `photoUrl` | author / `includeAuthorDetails` | The dataset's **Authors** view shows the author rows |
| `numFound`, `subjectWorkCount` | search / subject | Total matches at the source |
| `coverUrl`, `url`, `source`, `fetchedAt` | all | |

Every field's type, meaning and an example are in the dataset schema (Output tab / API).

### Use it from code / agents

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/yadroo~openlibrary-books/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"queries":["9780307887894","9780062316097"],"mode":"isbn"}'
```

```js
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('yadroo/openlibrary-books').call({ queries: ['machine learning'], mode: 'subject', sortBy: 'new', limit: 30 });
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
```

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run = client.actor("yadroo/openlibrary-books").call(run_input={"queries": ["Nassim Taleb"], "mode": "author", "includeAuthorDetails": True})
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
```

MCP: add `https://mcp.apify.com` to Claude / Cursor / any MCP client and call the `yadroo/openlibrary-books` tool with the same JSON input.

### Pricing

Pay per event: **$0.001 per run start + $0.001 per dataset row** (work, edition or author). Queries that match nothing or fail are not rows and are not charged.
Store discounts: Bronze −10 %, Silver −20 %, Gold and above −30 % on the row price; the start event is the same on every plan; platform usage is included.
Typical runs: 10 ISBN lookups ≈ $0.011; 100 books in a subject ≈ $0.101; an author row + 50 works ≈ $0.052.
The run never goes over your **Maximum cost per run**: it stops with the status `Stopped at your spending limit: N rows delivered`, and it spends enrichment requests only on rows the limit still pays for.

### Limits & FAQ

- **Speed and politeness**: Open Library is a volunteer-run non-profit. Its API policy allows 3 requests per second to clients that identify themselves, as this actor does with its User-Agent. The actor sends one request at a time, at least 350 ms apart (retries included). An ISBN costs about 3 requests: the edition, its work (subjects, description) and its author names, with authors cached within the run. Enrichment options add one request per work, and `includeAuthorDetails` adds one per distinct author.
- **Capacity**: a 15-minute run (the default timeout) does roughly 2 000 requests. That is about 600–700 ISBNs, or a few hundred enriched works. Near the timeout the actor stops starting requests, saves what it has and ends with the status `Stopped before the run timeout: N rows saved`. Raise the timeout or split the job for more.
- **Bulk data**: Open Library asks not to bulk-download through its API. For whole-catalogue work (millions of records) use its free [monthly data dumps](https://openlibrary.org/developers/dumps) instead of this actor.
- **Data quality**: records are community-edited: duplicates of authors/works exist, `ratings` are sparse, some ISBNs map to the wrong work. For name lookups in author mode the record with the most works is chosen and alternatives are logged; pass an `OL…A` key to force one.
- **Freshness**: live API, new records appear as soon as they are added to Open Library.
- **Not found / errors**: ISBNs, keys or searches that match nothing, and requests that fail, are **not** dataset rows (you are not charged for them). They are listed in the run's `SUMMARY` record (`notFound`, `notFoundCount`, `errors: [{ input, error }]`, `errorCount`) and in the status message, e.g. `7 record(s) saved · 1 query not found · 1 failed`. The run fails only when nothing could be fetched at all. Each request gets 30 s per attempt and up to 3 attempts. Retries on 429/5xx, dropped connections and non-JSON answers wait 2 s and then 4 s, or whatever `Retry-After` asks for. When 3 requests in a row fail like that, Open Library is treated as down: the run stops and the status names the queries not tried.
- **Not included**: prices, stock or seller offers (Open Library does not have them), and full text of books.
- **Roadmap**: trending lists.

***

Made by **Yadroo**. Sibling actors: [arxiv-papers](https://apify.com/yadroo/arxiv-papers), [openalex-works](https://apify.com/yadroo/openalex-works), [wikipedia-search](https://apify.com/yadroo/wikipedia-search), [rss-to-json](https://apify.com/yadroo/rss-to-json), [hackernews-search](https://apify.com/yadroo/hackernews-search).

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

One lookup per entry. In auto mode the type is detected: ISBN-10/13 → edition lookup; OL…W / OL…M / OL…A keys (or their URLs) → work / edition / author; anything else → search. Force a type with `mode`.

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

`author`: finds the best-matching author and lists their works. `subject`: browse a subject like `entrepreneurship`, `science_fiction`, `machine learning` (spaces are fine). `work`: fetch a known OL…W / OL…M key.

## `searchField` (type: `string`):

Restrict text search to one field (search mode). E.g. searchField=publisher + query "O'Reilly" lists a publisher's catalogue.

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Max works per query (search / author / subject modes).

## `offset` (type: `integer`):

Skip the first N results (paging across runs).

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

Open Library search sort. Subject mode orders only by most editions (relevance / editions), new or old; other sorts are refused in subject mode — use mode search with searchField subject for them.

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

Only works with an edition in this language (MARC 21 3-letter code). Search and author modes; not available in subject mode (Open Library's subjects API has no language filter). Does not apply to ISBN/key lookups.

## `yearFrom` (type: `integer`):

Earliest first-publication year (search: first_publish_year; subject: published_in).

## `yearTo` (type: `integer`):

Latest first-publication year, inclusive.

## `ebookOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only works with a scanned/borrowable copy on archive.org (has_fulltext).

## `includeAvailability` (type: `boolean`):

Add archive.org lending status per work (borrowable / readable / previewable). Search mode only.

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

Fetch the work record for its description/blurb and external links (+1 request per work; ISBN, edition and work lookups always include the description).

## `includeEditions` (type: `boolean`):

List editions (ISBN, publisher, year, language, format) of each work (+1 request per work).

## `maxEditions` (type: `integer`):

Cap for includeEditions (editionsTotal always holds the real count).

## `includeAuthorDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Add authorsDetailed: bio, birth/death dates, Wikipedia/Wikidata/VIAF ids, photo (+1 request per distinct author, cached within the run).

## `coverSize` (type: `string`):

Size variant for coverUrl.

## `maxSubjects` (type: `integer`):

Cap the subjects list (0 = omit).

## `dedupe` (type: `boolean`):

Save each work/edition once even if several queries return it.

## `fields` (type: `array`):

Keep only these output fields, in this order, e.g. \["title","authors","isbn13","firstPublishYear","url"]. `query` is always kept (first, unless you place it). Letter case, snake_case and Open Library's own names (author_name, cover_i …) are read as the field; unknown names are left out and named in the status. Rows that have none of the listed fields (e.g. the author row for \["title"]) are not saved. Empty = all fields.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "The Lean Startup",
    "9780307887894"
  ],
  "mode": "auto",
  "searchField": "any",
  "limit": 5,
  "offset": 0,
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "language": "",
  "ebookOnly": false,
  "includeAvailability": false,
  "includeDescription": false,
  "includeEditions": false,
  "maxEditions": 10,
  "includeAuthorDetails": false,
  "coverSize": "L",
  "maxSubjects": 15,
  "dedupe": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

## `summary` (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 = {
    "queries": [
        "The Lean Startup",
        "9780307887894"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("yadroo/openlibrary-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 = { "queries": [
        "The Lean Startup",
        "9780307887894",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("yadroo/openlibrary-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 '{
  "queries": [
    "The Lean Startup",
    "9780307887894"
  ]
}' |
apify call yadroo/openlibrary-books --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,yadroo/openlibrary-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/h6ig0R4nInMW8YxXj/builds/mxAKbuqGAOOF9GTLH/openapi.json