LibraryThing Developer Hub

To use LibraryThing and Talpa Search APIs you must have a LibraryThing Account. This is free and easy. Create an account or sign in here. You will be directed back to this page upon completion.

Talpa Search API

Talpa Search is an innovative new way to search for books.

The Talpa Search API is robust but has low limits because the cost of calls can add up, and we want to control usage at scale. We are eager to work with booksellers, libraries, and library vendors to integrate Talpa into your application. For more information, email tim@librarything.com.

LibraryThing APIs

Our Lightweight APIs will primarily interest developers in the library and book world.

LibraryThing does not currently offer an API for members' books. (Members who want copies of their own data should visit Import/Export.) This is due to data-licensing restrictions from external providers, especially Amazon. We are working on a solution to deliver the data we can, transforming licensed data to free versions where possible.

LibraryThing does not offer bibliographic data. For high-quality bibliographic data, such as titles, authors, publication dates, covers, and summaries, please visit Bowker Book Data.

LibraryThing Feeds

LibraryThing offers several XML data feeds to select libraries and bookstores, as well as to qualified academic researchers.