Open Library MCP Server connects AI assistants to the Open Library database, the collaborative catalog of books from Internet Archive. It enables searching for book titles, author information, and retrieving cover images through structured API responses. Key features of Open Library MCP Server: - Search books by title to find matching titles and metadata - Search authors by name to discover matching authors - Retrieve detailed author information using Open Library keys - Fetch author photo URLs using Open Library IDs (OLID) - Retrieve book cover images using ISBN, OCLC, LCCN, OLID, or generic ID identifiers - Access complete book details using standard library identifiers (ISBN, LCCN, OCLC, OLID)

MCP Open Library

[](https://archestra.ai/mcp-catalog/8ensmith__mcp-open-library) [](https://smithery.ai/server/@8enSmith/mcp-open-library)

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the Open Library API that enables AI assistants to search for book and author information.

Overview

This project implements an MCP server that provides tools for AI assistants to interact with the Open Library. It allows searching for book information by title, searching for authors by name, retrieving detailed author information using their Open Library key, and getting URLs for author photos using their Open Library ID (OLID). The server returns structured data for book and author information.

Features

Installation

Installing via Smithery

To install MCP Open Library for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @8enSmith/mcp-open-library --client claude

Manual Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/8enSmith/mcp-open-library.git
cd mcp-open-library
Install dependencies
npm install
Build the project
npm run build

Usage

Running the Server

1. Ensure you are running node v22.21.1 (it'll probably work on a newer version of node but this is what Im using for this test). If you have nvm installed run nvm use. 2. In the mcp-open-library root directory run npm run build 3. Next run npm run inspector. Once built, click the URL with the MCP_PROXY_AUTH_TOKEN query string parameter to open the Inspector. 4. In the Inspector, choose 'STDIO' transport 5. Make sure the command is set to 'build/index.js' 6. Click the 'Connect' button in the Inspector - you'll now connect to the server 7. Click 'Tools' in the top right menu bar 8. Try running a tool e.g. click get_book_by_title 9. Search for a book e.g. In the title box enter 'The Hobbit' and then click 'Run Tool'. Server will then return book details.

Using with an MCP Client

This server implements the Model Context Protocol, which means it can be used by any MCP-compatible AI assistant or client e.g. Claude Desktop. The server exposes the following tools:

Example get_book_by_title input:

{
  "title": "The Hobbit"
}

Example get_book_by_title output:

[
  {
    "title": "The Hobbit",
    "authors": [
      "J. R. R. Tolkien"
    ],
    "first_publish_year": 1937,
    "open_library_work_key": "/works/OL45883W",
    "edition_count": 120,
    "cover_url": "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/10581294-M.jpg"
  }
]

Example get_authors_by_name input:

{
  "name": "J.R.R. Tolkien"
}

Example get_authors_by_name output:

[
  {
    "key": "OL26320A",
    "name": "J. R. R. Tolkien",
    "alternate_names": [
      "John Ronald Reuel Tolkien"
    ],
    "birth_date": "3 January 1892",
    "top_work": "The Hobbit",
    "work_count": 648
  }
]

Example get_author_info input:

{
  "author_key": "OL26320A"
}

Example get_author_info output: ```json { "name": "J. R. R. Tolkien", "personal_name": "John Ronald Reuel Tolkien", "birth_date": "3 January 1892", "death_date": "2 September 1973", "bio": "John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was a major