Open Library Search — Books by Title, Author or Subject
Search the Internet Archive's Open Library and get flat book rows — title, first author, first publish year, editions and ISBN.
Open Library Search — Books by Title, Author or Subject returns 7 documented output fields, including title, author, firstPublishYear, language and editionCount. Every field carries a declared type, a written description and an example value. 3 runs are recorded on Apify.
- 7
- Output fields
- 3
- Inputs
- 3
- Runs
- 2026-10-23
- Last run
01 — output
What it returns
Every field the extractor writes to its dataset, with its type, a written description and an example value.
| Field | Type | What it holds | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| title | string | Title as the source writes it. | Example title, as the source writes it |
| author | string | Author of this record, as the source publishes it. | jane.cooper |
| firstPublishYear | number | Year of the earliest edition of this work the source holds. Not the year of this particular edition. | 1 |
| language | string | Language code for this record's text. | en |
| editionCount | number | How many editions of this work the source has catalogued. A count of editions, not of copies. | 1 |
| isbn | string | ISBN of this edition. Hyphens are the source's; ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 are both possible. | example-value |
| url | string | The URL this row describes. | https://example.com/resource |
02 — sample
One record
Assembled from the example values declared on the schema above, not invented at render time.
{
"title": "Example title, as the source writes it",
"author": "jane.cooper",
"firstPublishYear": 1,
"language": "en",
"editionCount": 1,
"isbn": "example-value",
"url": "https://example.com/resource"
}03 — input
What you give it
| Input | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| query | stringoptional | Title, author or subject to search for. |
| maxItems | integeroptional | Stop after this many rows. |
| maxPages | integeroptional | Stop after this many pages. |
04 — run
Run Open Library Search on your own input
It runs in the cloud on Apify. Check its current price and billing events on the Apify page before you run it.
05 — questions
Asked before running it
7 of 7 fields described
- What does Open Library Search — Books by Title, Author or Subject return?
- It returns 7 documented output fields: title, author, firstPublishYear, language, editionCount, isbn and url. Each field declares its type, a description of what it holds, and an example value.
- What input does Open Library Search — Books by Title, Author or Subject take?
- The schema marks all 3 inputs optional. Check the field descriptions and credential requirements before running.
- Does Open Library Search — Books by Title, Author or Subject need an API key or login?
- No input field is marked secret. Check the Actor documentation for any source access requirements.
- How do I run Open Library Search — Books by Title, Author or Subject?
- It runs on Apify. Start it from its listing with the inputs above, or call the Apify API with the Actor's ID. Results land in a dataset you can export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read through the Apify API into your own pipeline.