Book Finder

Book Finder

Search one or multiple books and get structured book information including title, author, cover image, publication year, edition count, and available languages.

The actor accepts one or more book titles and returns matching books from Open Library in a clean JSON format. Multiple searches are processed concurrently for faster execution.

Use cases

Book catalog enrichment

Add book metadata such as authors, cover images, and publication years to existing databases.

Reading applications

Power reading lists, recommendation systems, and personal library applications with structured book information.

Research and analytics

Collect book publication data and language availability for analysis and reporting.

Educational projects

Build book search features for schools, libraries, and learning platforms.

Content aggregation

Gather book information from multiple searches in a single actor run.

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What data does this actor extract?

Each book record includes:

{
    "title": "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone",
    "author": "J. K. Rowling",
    "image": "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/15155833-M.jpg",
    "first_publish_year": 1997,
    "edition_count": 398,
    "language": [
        "eng",
        "spa",
        "fre",
        "ger"
    ]
}

Field	Type	Description
title	string	Book title
author	string	Author name(s)
image	string	Cover image URL
first_publish_year	integer	First known publication year
edition_count	integer	Number of known editions
language	array	Language codes available for the book

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Input

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
books	array	Required	List of book names to search
limit	integer	5	Maximum results returned per book search

Example input

{
    "books": [
        "harry potter",
        "atomic habits",
        "rich dad poor dad"
    ],
    "limit": 5
}

Search a single book

{
    "books": [
        "don quixote"
    ]
}

Search multiple books with more results

{
    "books": [
        "harry potter",
        "lord of the rings",
        "the hobbit"
    ],
    "limit": 10
}

---

Output

Results are stored in the default dataset.

Example output

[
    {
        "title": "Don Quijote de la Mancha",
        "author": "Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra",
        "image": "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/14428305-M.jpg",
        "first_publish_year": 1600,
        "edition_count": 1594,
        "language": [
            "eng",
            "spa",
            "fre"
        ]
    },
    {
        "title": "Don Quixote",
        "author": "Kathy Acker",
        "image": "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/568626-M.jpg",
        "first_publish_year": 1986,
        "edition_count": 8,
        "language": [
            "eng",
            "fre"
        ]
    }
]

---

How it works

1. Reads book names from the actor input.
2. Processes multiple searches concurrently.
3. Searches Open Library for matching books.
4. Collects metadata for each result.
5. Removes duplicate records.
6. Stores all collected books in the Apify dataset.

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Integrations

Book Finder works with Apify integrations such as:

• Google Sheets
• Slack
• Zapier
• Make
• Webhooks
• APIs and custom workflows

Use webhooks to automatically process newly collected book data when a run finishes.

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FAQ

Can I search multiple books in one run?

Yes. Provide multiple book titles in the books array and the actor will process them concurrently.

How many results can I get per book?

Use the limit parameter to control the maximum number of returned results for each search.

Does the actor return cover images?

Yes. When a cover image is available, the actor returns a direct image URL.

Are duplicate books removed?

Yes. Duplicate records with the same title and author combination are filtered out.

What happens if a book cannot be found?

The actor simply returns no records for that search query.

Can I use the data in my own applications?

Yes. The dataset output can be connected directly to APIs, databases, spreadsheets, dashboards, or automation workflows.

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Notes

• Multiple searches are processed concurrently for improved performance.
• Results depend on the availability of data in Open Library.
• Some books may not contain cover images or complete metadata.
• Language values are returned as standard language codes.