# Open Library Books Scraper (`bgfc97/openlibrary-books-scraper`) Actor

Scrape book metadata from Open Library (Internet Archive) — title, authors, ISBNs, publishers, first publish year, subjects, languages, page count, ratings, cover image and edition count — by search query or ISBN. Free, no key, no proxy.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/bgfc97/openlibrary-books-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Bruno](https://apify.com/bgfc97) (community)
- **Categories:** Other, AI, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.75 / 1,000 book scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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

## 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 Books Scraper 📚

Scrape book metadata from **Open Library** (the open, free book database by the Internet Archive — 40M+ editions). Search by keyword or look up exact books by ISBN.

Great for **catalog / metadata enrichment, publishing & bookstore data, recommendation engines, library apps, price/edition comparison, and RAG / AI datasets.**

### What it extracts (one row per book)

- `work_id`, `title`, `subtitle`, `authors`
- `first_publish_year`, `publishers`, `isbns`
- `subjects`, `languages`, `page_count_median`, `edition_count`
- `rating_average`, `rating_count`
- `ebook_access`, `has_fulltext`, `ia_ids`
- `first_sentence`, `cover_url`, `url`

### Input

```json
{
  "queries": ["clean code", "subject:machine learning", "author:tolkien"],
  "isbns": ["9780132350884"],
  "maxItemsPerQuery": 200
}
```

- **queries** — free text or fielded (`title:`, `author:`, `subject:`, `publisher:`).
- **isbns** — exact ISBN-10 / ISBN-13 lookups.

### Output example

```json
{
  "type": "book",
  "work_id": "OL15428543W",
  "title": "Clean Code",
  "authors": ["Robert C. Martin"],
  "first_publish_year": 2008,
  "publishers": ["Prentice Hall"],
  "isbns": ["9780132350884", "0132350882"],
  "subjects": ["Computer software", "Software engineering"],
  "languages": ["eng"],
  "page_count_median": 431,
  "edition_count": 12,
  "cover_url": "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/8091016-L.jpg",
  "url": "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15428543W"
}
```

### Notes

- Uses the **free Open Library API** — no key, no quota headaches.
- Pagination handled automatically.
- No proxy required.

# Actor input Schema

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

Free-text book searches. Supports fielded syntax too: 'title:dune', 'author:tolkien', 'subject:machine learning'.

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

Specific ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 codes to look up.

## `maxItemsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many books per search.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional. Open Library is an open API; proxy usually not needed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "clean code"
  ],
  "isbns": [],
  "maxItemsPerQuery": 100,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# 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": [
        "clean code"
    ],
    "isbns": [],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("bgfc97/openlibrary-books-scraper").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": ["clean code"],
    "isbns": [],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("bgfc97/openlibrary-books-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).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": [
    "clean code"
  ],
  "isbns": [],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call bgfc97/openlibrary-books-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=bgfc97/openlibrary-books-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/wndEs0DkWQfDKexL0/builds/H4ByN5ypc71FPnCbM/openapi.json