Open Library Editions Scraper

Open Library Editions Scraper

Scrape edition metadata from Open Library by ISBN or work key, up to a million per run. Every edition returns its publisher, publish date, language, cover ID, and identifiers. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Open Library's public API limits how many editions you can fetch in one call and requires you to handle pagination and rate limits yourself. This Actor reads edition records directly by ISBN list or work key, applies language and publisher filters as it goes, and returns each match in one consistent flat schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape Open Library for
Book collectors	Catalog every published edition of a classic work for valuation.
Librarians	Audit a collection against all known editions of a title.
Data analysts	Build a dataset of publication timelines across languages and publishers.

What it does

This Actor collects Open Library edition records by ISBN list or work key and returns each one as a flat row.

• 📚 ISBN lookup: Paste a list of ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 codes and get the exact edition record for each.
• 📖 Work editions: Provide an Open Library work key to pull every published edition of that work.
• 🌐 Language filter: Restrict work editions to a single language with an ISO 639-2 code like eng or spa.
• 🏢 Publisher filter: Narrow work editions to a specific publisher by name substring.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Open Library data

📖 Reconstruct a work's publishing history.

A bibliographer supplies a work key and an eng language filter to list every English-language edition of a novel, then exports the dataset to chart publication dates by decade.

📚 Verify a book collection against Open Library.

A librarian pastes a shelf list of ISBNs and runs the Actor to confirm each title's metadata and spot missing editions.

🌍 Map translations of a single work.

A researcher pulls all editions of a work key without a language filter, then groups the output by language code to see how many translations exist.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Flat schema	Every edition arrives as one row with the same columns, ready for spreadsheets.
No API key	Reads Open Library's public data feeds directly with no registration.
Bulk scale	Collect up to a million editions in a single run.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets Open Library the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	Open Library Editions Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When Open Library changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from ISBN lists and work keys, alone or together, and language and publisher filters run as each edition is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "isbns": "9780544003415\n9780142418222\n9780261103573"
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "isbns": "9780544003415\n9780142418222\n9780261103573"
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.01867 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$1.87
1,000 results	$18.67
10,000 results	$186.70

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Open Library Editions Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Open Library through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/openlibrary-editions-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your ISBNs are valid 10- or 13-digit codes and that your work key is correct. If you set a language or publisher filter, try removing it to see if the work has any editions at all.

Why are some ISBNs returning the same edition?

A single edition can have both an ISBN-10 and an ISBN-13. If you provide both codes, the Actor resolves each and deduplicates the output so you get one row per edition.

The run stopped before collecting all editions.

The Maximum editions setting caps the total collected. Increase that number up to 1,000,000 if you need more editions.

Why is the language filter not working?

The language filter only applies when you provide a work key. It does not filter ISBN lookups, which return the exact edition regardless of language.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an Open Library API key?	No. This Actor reads Open Library's public data feeds and does not require any registration or API key.
What is a work key and where do I find it?	A work key is an Open Library identifier like OL45804W. You can find it in the URL of a work's page on openlibrary.org, for example /works/OL45804W.
Can I mix ISBNs and work keys in one run?	Yes. Provide both an ISBN list and a work key, and the Actor will resolve the ISBNs to edition records and also pull all editions of the work, deduplicating the results.
How do I filter editions by language?	Enter an ISO 639-2 language code like eng for English or spa for Spanish in the Edition language filter field. The filter applies only when pulling editions from a work key.
What format are the ISBNs in the output?	The Actor returns ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 values exactly as Open Library stores them, which may include both formats for a single edition.
Does this Actor get cover images?	It returns the cover ID for each edition. You can construct the cover image URL using Open Library's cover service with that ID.
Can I limit how many editions are collected?	Yes. Set the Maximum editions field to any number from 1 to 1,000,000. The Actor stops once it reaches that count.
What export formats are supported?	You can export your dataset in CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform.
Does the publisher filter match exactly?	No, it matches as a substring. Entering Penguin will return editions from Penguin Books, Penguin Classics, and any other publisher name containing that word.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Internet Archive. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.