Skip to main content The Open Library MCP server integrates with Open Library, a free, open-source book and author catalog run by the Internet Archive. It provides read-only tools for discovering books and authors, retrieving details, and fetching cover images — all without authentication.
When should you use this server Use the Open Library MCP server when you want an agent to:
Search for books by title
Search for authors by name
Fetch detailed author information
Retrieve author photos
Get book cover images by ISBN or other identifiers
Key features
No authentication required — uses Open Library’s public API
Simple, read-only operations for book and author discovery
Cover image retrieval for books and authors
ISBN lookup and bibliographic information
Ideal for demos, prototypes, and educational use
Authentication
None required — this server uses Open Library’s public API
get_book_by_title Search for books using their title.
Arguments:
title (string, required) — the book title to search for.
Returns:
List of matching books with metadata.
Example usage:
“Find books with ‘Lord of the Rings’ in the title.” “Search for science textbooks about quantum physics.”
get_authors_by_name Search for authors using their name.
Arguments:
name (string, required) — the author name to search for.
Returns:
List of matching authors with basic information.
Example usage:
“Find authors named Margaret Atwood.” “Search for writers with ‘Smith’ in their name.”
get_author_info Retrieve detailed information for a specific author using their Open Library key.
Arguments:
author_key (string, required) — Open Library author key (OLID).
Returns:
Detailed author information including birth/death dates, biography, and works.
Example usage:
“Get detailed information about author OL26320A.” “Tell me more about this author.”
get_author_photo Get the URL for an author’s photo using their Open Library ID (OLID).
Arguments:
olid (string, required) — Open Library author ID.size (string, optional) — image size (S, M, L), defaults to L.
Returns:
URL to the author’s photo.
Example usage:
“Get the photo of author OL26320A.” “Show me what this author looks like.”
get_book_cover Get the URL for a book’s cover image using identifiers such as ISBN, OCLC, LCCN, OLID, or internal ID.
Arguments:
key (string, required) — identifier type (ISBN, OCLC, LCCN, OLID, ID).value (string, required) — identifier value.size (string, optional) — image size (S, M, L), defaults to L.
Returns:
URL to the book’s cover image.
Example usage:
“Get the cover image for ISBN 9780547928227.” “Show me the book cover for The Hobbit.”
Rate limits
Controlled by Open Library’s public API rate limits (sufficient for typical usage)
Avoid bulk or automated scraping
Notes
All tools are read-only
Records may be incomplete or inconsistent, since data is community-maintained
Great for lightweight demos and testing MCP connectivity , since it requires no credentials
