Book Metadata — ISBN & Title Lookup

Look up book metadata by ISBN, title, author or subject from Open Library — authors, year, publisher, subjects and cover image. No API key required.

What it does

Open Library is the open, Wikipedia-style catalogue of books, and it's a great source for structured book data without a commercial API contract. This Actor accepts a mixed list of queries — ISBNs, titles, author names or subjects — auto-detects what each one is (or you set mode), and returns typed records.

It's the metadata backbone for a bookstore, a reading app, or a library tool: resolve an ISBN to a full record, or search by author to build a bibliography.

Features

• Mixed query input — ISBNs, titles, authors or subjects in one list.
• Auto-detection — figures out ISBNs automatically, or you set mode.
• Typed records — authors, publication year, publisher, subjects.
• Cover images — optionally resolve a cover URL from Open Library.
• No API key required.

What people use it for

• Bookstore and library catalogs — enrich or validate listings.
• Reading apps — resolve an ISBN to metadata and a cover.
• Bibliography building — search an author and get their works.
• Research corpora — gather metadata for a body of literature.
• ISBN/title normalization in a data pipeline.

Formats and identifiers

Open Library understands ISBN-10, ISBN-13, and ISBN-13-with-hyphens as well as OCLC and LCCN where present. The Actor auto-detects an ISBN from the query string, so you can paste 9780134685991 directly.

Subjects vs full text

Subjects come back as tags (e.g. "Fiction", "Science fiction"), useful for categorization but not a full table-of-contents. For a single known book, an ISBN query is the most precise; for discovery, an author or title search returns a set to choose from.

Input

queries is required (ISBNs, titles, authors or subjects). mode controls interpretation.

Field	Type	Default	What it does
queries (required)	array	["9780134685991", "Effective Java", "author:George Orwell"]	ISBNs (auto-detected), titles, author names, or subjects. Auto-detection figures out the type, or set 'mode' explicitly.
mode	string	auto	How to interpret queries. 'auto' detects ISBNs, else treats as a general search. Options: auto, isbn, title, author, subject.
maxResults	integer	10	Max records returned per query. Range 1–50.
withCoverUrl	boolean	true	Resolve a cover image URL from Open Library covers.

Input example

{
  "queries": [
    "9780134685991",
    "Effective Java",
    "author:George Orwell"
  ],
  "mode": "auto",
  "maxResults": 10,
  "withCoverUrl": true
}

Output

One record per matched book with authors, year, publisher, subjects and (optionally) a cover URL.

Every dataset record contains: query, title, authors, firstPublishYear, publishers, isbn, languages, subjects, coverUrl, openLibraryUrl, fetchedAt.

Output example

A real record from a run of this Actor:

{
  "query": "isbn:9780134685991",
  "title": "Effective Java",
  "authors": [
    "Joshua Bloch"
  ],
  "firstPublishYear": 2001,
  "publishers": [
    "Prentice Hall PTR",
    "Addison-Wesley Pub (Sd)",
    "Ji xie gong ye chu ban she",
    "… +3 more"
  ],
  "isbn": [
    "9783827319333",
    "9780134685991",
    "7111113853",
    "… +11 more"
  ],
  "languages": [
    "eng",
    "chi",
    "ger"
  ],
  "subjects": [
    "Java (Computer program language)",
    "Object-oriented programming (Computer science)",
    "Java 2.",
    "… +6 more"
  ],
  "coverUrl": "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/1176573-L.jpg",
  "openLibraryUrl": null,
  "fetchedAt": "2026-08-14T19:30:59.114Z"
}

Export the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or JSONL from the Console, or pull it programmatically through the Apify API and any of the official clients.

How to use it

1. Click Try for free (or Start if you already have an Apify account).
2. Fill in the input fields described above — the defaults already produce a working run.
3. Press Start and watch the log; results stream into the dataset as they are found.
4. When the run finishes, open the Output/Storage tab and export as JSON, CSV or Excel.

Runs can be scheduled (hourly, daily, weekly) and wired into Slack, Google Sheets, Zapier, Make, webhooks or your own backend through Apify integrations. Everything the Console does is also available over the Apify API.

Pricing

This Actor is billed on Apify's pay-per-event model: a small charge when a run starts, plus a charge for each result written to the dataset. You only pay for records you actually receive — a run that finds nothing costs only the start event. Current rates are always shown on the Pricing tab of this page, and the run log prints your usage as it goes.

Free-plan credits from Apify cover a large amount of light usage, so you can evaluate the Actor before committing to anything.

FAQ

Do I need an API key?

No. Open Library is an open project with a public API.

Why is a field empty for some books?

Open Library is community-edited, so completeness varies — older and obscure titles may lack a publisher or cover. Popular books are well-documented.

Can I get the full text of the book?

No — this returns metadata (and a cover link), not the book's content. Full text is a separate licensing matter.

How do I get cover images?

Set withCoverUrl to true; the Actor resolves a cover image URL from Open Library's covers service when one exists.

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Legal and responsible use

This Actor collects only publicly available information. You are responsible for how you use the data, including compliance with the target site's Terms of Service, robots directives, copyright, and data protection law such as GDPR and CCPA. Do not use it to gather personal data without a lawful basis.

Support and feedback

Found a bug, hit a site change, or need an extra field? Open a ticket on the Issues tab of this Actor — issues are read and fixed. Feature requests and custom-scraper enquiries are welcome through the same channel.