Searching for Authors
You can search for authors using the https://openlibrary.org/search/authors.json search API which accepts q
as a query parameter:
https://openlibrary.org/search/authors.json?q=j%20k%20rowling
`<br />
{<br />
numFound: 1,<br />
start: 0,<br />
numFoundExact: true,<br />
docs: [<br />
{
key: "OL23919A",
text: [...],
type: "author",
name: "J. K. Rowling",
alternate_names: [...],
birth_date: "31 July 1965",
top_work: "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone",
work_count: 162,
top_subjects: [...],
_version_: 1702166143068799000
},
]<br />
}<br />
`
Data on Individual Authors
Once you have the identifier key of an author of interest, e.g. /authors/OL23919A
, you can fetch their complete data by visiting their Author page as .json
, .rdf
, .yml
:
e.g. https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL23919A.json
Gotchas
Note that by default, navigating to https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL23919A will redirect to https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL23919A/J._K._Rowling (appending the human readable slug "J._K._Rowling"). Adding .json to the end of the slug (e.g. https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL23919A/J._K._Rowling.json) will not work. You must first remove the human readable slug and append .json
directly to the end of the author's key, e.g. https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL23919A.json.
History
- Created June 27, 2021
- 5 revisions
August 1, 2021 | Edited by raybb | add pagination and limits |
July 1, 2021 | Edited by Mek | Edited without comment. |
June 27, 2021 | Edited by Mek | Edited without comment. |
June 27, 2021 | Edited by Mek | Edited without comment. |
June 27, 2021 | Created by Mek | Edited without comment. |