LibraryThing APIlibrarything.com ↗
Access LibraryThing book metadata, member reviews, author works, ISBN lookup, tag browsing, and trending titles via 8 structured API endpoints.
What is the LibraryThing API?
The LibraryThing API covers 8 endpoints that return book metadata, member reviews, author works, tag-based collections, and site-wide trending statistics from LibraryThing's catalog of millions of cataloged books. The get_book_details endpoint returns title, author, description, rating, and original publication date by work ID, while get_book_by_isbn lets you resolve an ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 directly to a LibraryThing work.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/3d9464c3-0d24-43d1-aa57-2730bf0b431d/search_books?limit=10&query=harry+potter' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Typed, relational, agent-ready
A generated client with real types, enums, and the links between objects — the structure a flat JSON response can't carry. Autocompletes in your editor and reads cleanly to coding agents.
- Fully typed · autocompletes
- Objects link to objects
- Typed errors & pagination
Typed Python client. Set up the SDK in your uv project, then pull this API’s typed client:
uv add parse-sdk uv run parse init uv run parse add --marketplace librarything-com-api
uv run parse add --marketplace pulls a pinned snapshot of this canonical API — it won’t change underneath you. To customize it, subscribe and swap to your own copy.
from parse_apis.librarything_api import LibraryThing, Book, TaggedBook, Review, Author, AuthorWork, MemberLibrary, BookNotFound
lt = LibraryThing()
# Search for books by keyword
for book in lt.books.search(query="harry potter"):
print(book.title, book.author, book.rating)
# Get detailed book info by work ID
detail = lt.books.get(work_id="113")
print(detail.title, detail.author, detail.description, detail.original_publication_date)
# Look up a book by ISBN
gatsby = lt.books.by_isbn(isbn="0743273567")
print(gatsby.title, gatsby.work_id, gatsby.rating)
# Browse books by tag
for tagged in lt.books.by_tag(tag="science"):
print(tagged.title, tagged.work_id, tagged.url)
# Get reviews for a specific book
hp = lt.book(work_id="113")
for review in hp.reviews.list():
print(review.user, review.rating, review.date)
# Get works by an author
rowling = lt.author(author_key="rowlingjk")
for work in rowling.works():
print(work.title, work.work_id, work.url)
# Get a member's library
library = lt.memberlibraries.get(username="timspalding")
for lib_book in library.books:
print(lib_book.title, lib_book.author, lib_book.entry_date)
# Get site zeitgeist/statistics
zeitgeist = lt.zeitgeists.get(category="overview")
print(zeitgeist.statistics)
for reviewed in zeitgeist.most_reviewed_books:
print(reviewed.title, reviewed.work_id)
Search for books by keyword using the LibraryThing REST API. Returns matching works with title, author, and rating. The REST API returns a single best-match result; if no REST match is found, falls back to the HTML search page for broader results. Rating is on a 0-5 scale.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| limit | integer | Maximum number of results to return |
| queryrequired | string | Search keyword or phrase (book title, author name, or topic) |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"results": "array of objects with work_id, title, author, rating, url"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"results": [
{
"url": "http://www.librarything.com/work/113",
"title": "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire",
"author": "J. K. Rowling",
"rating": 4.35,
"work_id": "113"
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the LibraryThing API
Book Lookup and Metadata
The search_books endpoint accepts a keyword query and returns matching works with work_id, title, author, rating (0–5 scale), and url. The limit parameter controls how many results come back. For precise lookup, get_book_by_isbn accepts either ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 and returns the same core fields plus the resolved work_id. get_book_details takes a numeric work_id string and adds description and original_publication_date to the response; it returns an input_not_found error if the work ID doesn't exist.
Reviews and Community Data
get_book_reviews retrieves paginated member reviews for a given work_id. Each review object includes user, rating (star count), text (capped at 1000 characters), and date. Pages return up to 100 reviews; use the page parameter to walk through them. get_member_library returns a member's cataloged books by username, with title, author, date, entry_date, rating, and url per book. Pagination uses offset and limit.
Authors, Tags, and Trending
get_author_works takes an author slug such as rowlingjk or tolkienjrr and returns the author's works as a list of work_id, title, and url objects. The slug format mirrors what appears in LibraryThing author page URLs. get_tag_books accepts a tag string like fiction or history and returns books sorted by popularity within that tag, including work_id, title, author, author_url, and tag_count.
Zeitgeist and Site Statistics
The get_zeitgeist_books endpoint with category set to overview returns a statistics object covering site-wide member counts, books cataloged, and review totals, alongside most_reviewed_books, most_cataloged_books (each with a count field), and top_authors. Other category values return section-specific subsets of that data.
The LibraryThing API is a managed, monitored endpoint for librarything.com — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when librarything.com changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official librarything.com API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Resolve an ISBN barcode scan to a book title and LibraryThing work ID using
get_book_by_isbn - Pull member reviews by
work_idto aggregate reader sentiment and surface common themes - Enumerate an author's full bibliography using
get_author_workswith their LibraryThing slug - Browse books by genre or topic tag via
get_tag_bookssorted by community popularity - Audit a LibraryThing member's reading catalog with pagination using
get_member_library - Track which books are most cataloged or most reviewed site-wide using
get_zeitgeist_books - Look up original publication dates and descriptions for historical book records via
get_book_details
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does LibraryThing have an official developer API?+
What does `get_book_reviews` actually return, and how do I paginate through all reviews?+
work_id. Each review includes the user (username), rating (star count), text (truncated at 1000 characters), and date. To retrieve additional pages, increment the page parameter starting from 1.Are review texts ever longer than 1000 characters?+
text field in get_book_reviews is capped at 1000 characters per review. Reviews longer than that are truncated. Full-text review content beyond that limit is not currently returned. You can fork this API on Parse and revise the review endpoint to increase or remove that truncation limit.Does the API return book cover images or edition-level details like page count or publisher?+
get_book_details returns title, author, description, rating, and original publication date. Edition-level fields such as page count, publisher, cover image URL, and format are not included in any endpoint. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to add an endpoint that surfaces edition-specific data.How does the author slug format work for `get_author_works`?+
author_id parameter expects the slug that appears in LibraryThing author page URLs — for example, rowlingjk for J.K. Rowling or tolkienjrr for J.R.R. Tolkien. The slug is typically the author's lowercased last name followed by first and middle initials. If you have an author name but not their slug, use search_books to find a work by that author and inspect the returned url for the slug pattern.