Type an ISBN and get the book's title, authors and cover data from Open Library. Typed entry only — no camera scan inside a web page. Free.
What this tool does
A camera barcode scan sounds convenient, but inside a website frame it is unreliable: browsers gate camera access, frames block it further, and a failed scan helps nobody. Typing the 10 or 13 digits printed above the barcode is fast and always works. This tool takes a typed ISBN, normalises hyphens and spaces away, validates the check digit, and looks the book up in Open Library for title, authors and publish year — the honest version of an ISBN scanner for the web.
Why it matters
Good citations do quiet work. They let a reader find every source you used, they show that your argument rests on real evidence rather than memory, and they protect you: a clean reference list is much harder to challenge than a vague one. Most marks lost on referencing are not lost on difficult sources. They are lost on small, repeated slips — a missing year, a swapped initial, a title in the wrong case — that a quick tool pass catches before submission.
How to use it
- Type the ISBN (10 or 13 digits, hyphens fine).
- Click Look up book.
- Read title, authors and year.
Worked example
ISBN 9780134685991 (Effective Java) normalises to 9780134685991, passes the check digit, and Open Library returns Joshua Bloch as author with the edition’s publish year. A mistyped digit fails validation before any lookup, so you catch the typo immediately.
Tips for good results
Copy the ISBN from the copyright page, not the back cover sticker. Stickers sometimes carry a different edition’s number.
Work from the source itself, not from another paper’s copy of it. And keep one style for the whole list: a single mixed entry undermines an otherwise perfect bibliography.
Honest limits
Typed ISBN only: this tool deliberately has no camera scanning, because camera access inside an embedded web page is unreliable. Open Library coverage is broad but not complete — small-press and very old books may be missing — and the tool needs Open Library reachable from your browser.
Common mistakes to avoid
Common mistakes to avoid: copying a reference from another paper without checking it against the original, trusting a PDF filename for the title or year, and mixing two styles in one list. Each of these looks harmless alone and careless together. Run the tool, read its output once, and compare it with the source itself before you paste it into your document.
Before you submit
Run through this short check before you submit: is every author name spelled as it appears on the source, is every year present and correct, and does every in-text citation have a matching entry in your reference list? Read the list once from top to bottom rather than skimming it. Most referencing errors are found in that single slow read, and fixing them there is far cheaper than fixing them after a reviewer finds them. If one entry still looks odd after that read, check it against the original source before you change anything else.
Frequently asked questions
Is this tool really free?
Yes. It runs in your browser on this page, with no account and no payment. For live lookups, your query goes to the public API named in the tool; nothing else is sent anywhere.
Do I still need to check the result?
Yes, once. Tools apply rules; they cannot verify facts about your source. Compare the output with the source itself before submitting.
Can I use the output in my paper?
Yes. The output is a formatted reference or analysis for your own work. Keep the source’s facts accurate and the formatting consistent across your list.
What if the tool’s output differs from my style guide?
Trust the style guide. Tools encode the common rules of a style; your university or journal’s own sheet wins every disagreement. Use the tool to do the routine work, then apply the local rule where it differs.
Also available in Spanish: Aplicación de Escaneo ISBN – Busca Libros por ISBN Escrito con Open Library Gratis.