bibliophile 1.0.0

Find books at your local library

Bibliophile backend

This is a Python-based tool for finding books at the local library.

It parses your "to read" list from Goodreads.com and checks which items are available at a library of your choosing.

Looking for a GUI?

This repository is all you need to use the tool locally via the command line. For a web-based user interface, see Bibliophile.

Can I use this?

If you live near one of the ~190 public libraries using the BiblioCommons system, then running this software should work for you. It relies on undocumented APIs, so your mileage may vary.

1. Apply for a Goodreads Developer Key.

2. Obtain your Goodreads user id

3. [Optional] Set both these values in your .bashrc

   export GOODREADS_USER_ID=123456789
   export GOODREADS_DEV_KEY=whatever-your-actual-key-is
   

4. Install Poetry

5. Run the script!

   make  # One-time setup of dependencies
   ./lookup.py --biblio seattle  # Set to your own city!
   

Make sure you adhere to the terms of Goodreads' API, and have fun.

Other options

You can choose to show only titles available at your local branch, select titles from another Goodreads shelf, etc. Pass --help to see all options:

usage: lookup.py [-h] [--branch BRANCH] [--shelf SHELF] [--biblio BIBLIO]
                 [--csv CSV]
                 [user_id] [dev_key]

See which books you want to read are available at your local library.

positional arguments:
  user_id          User's ID on Goodreads
  dev_key          Goodreads developer key. See https://www.goodreads.com/api

optional arguments:
  -h, --help       show this help message and exit
  --branch BRANCH  Only show titles available at this branch. e.g. 'Fremont
                   Branch'
  --shelf SHELF    Name of the shelf containing desired books
  --biblio BIBLIO  subdomain of bibliocommons.com (seattle, vpl, etc.)
  --csv CSV        Output results to a CSV of this name.

Cloud-based deployment

This may also be deployed as Lambda functions in AWS. See the Bibliophile README for instructions.