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OverDrive Libby Library Availability Scraper

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OverDrive Libby Library Availability Scraper

Scrape real-time ebook and audiobook availability from any public library's OverDrive/Libby catalog. Provide one or more library slugs (e.g. lapl for LA Public Library, nypl for New York Public Library) and search queries — the actor returns copy counts, holds, estimated wait times, and full metadata for every matching title.

What you get

Each output record contains:

Field Description
library Library slug (e.g. lapl)
query Search query that returned this title
title Book title
subtitle Subtitle (if present)
creators Pipe-separated authors/narrators with roles
media_type ebook or audiobook
formats Pipe-separated format IDs (e.g. ebook-overdrive | ebook-kindle)
isbn ISBN from the primary format
publisher Publisher name
publish_date Publication date (YYYY-MM-DD)
subjects Pipe-separated subject categories
languages Pipe-separated language names
availability_status available or waitlist
owned_copies Number of copies the library owns
available_copies Copies currently available to borrow
holds_count Number of holds in the queue
estimated_wait_days Estimated wait in days (0 if available now)
cover_url Cover image URL (300 px wide)
sample_url Free sample URL (if available)
detail_url Direct link to the title on Libby
reserve_id OverDrive internal ID (UUID)

Input

Parameter Type Required Description
libraryIds array Yes OverDrive library slugs (e.g. ["lapl", "nypl"])
queries array Yes Search terms (e.g. ["Stephen King", "fiction"])
maxItems integer No Max total records to return (0 = unlimited)

Finding your library's slug

The slug is the short identifier in your library's OverDrive/Libby URL. Examples:

  • Los Angeles Public Library: lapl
  • New York Public Library: nypl
  • Chicago Public Library: chipublib
  • Toronto Public Library: torontopubliclibrary

Open libbyapp.com, sign in, and find the slug in the URL after /library/.

Example input

{
    "libraryIds": ["lapl", "nypl"],
    "queries": ["Stephen King", "science fiction"],
    "maxItems": 200
}

This returns up to 200 results from both LAPL and NYPL for both queries — every combination.

Use cases

  • Publishers & authors — Track copy counts and holds across library systems to gauge demand for your titles
  • Library analytics — Compare collection depth across multiple libraries
  • Reading research — Find which libraries have a title available now vs. waitlisted
  • Market research — Identify which genres or authors have the most library demand

Notes

  • Uses the public OverDrive thunder API — no authentication or API key required
  • The API is rate-polite by default (~2 requests/second)
  • Results reflect real-time availability at the time of the run
  • Multi-library × multi-query runs fetch every combination (e.g. 3 libraries × 4 queries = 12 API streams)
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