01 · Request identity
We identify the application clearly
Bookitis identifies its worker when it makes Open Library requests. The production worker uses a descriptive User-Agent and a contact address so Open Library can recognize the traffic and reach us if a request pattern needs attention.
Contact: support@bookitis.com
The /research URL is an informational page, not an API endpoint and not a crawler entry point. It is the page linked from the request identity so the purpose of the application is easy to understand.
02 · Purpose
Human-facing book discovery, not a catalog mirror
Bookitis is a social discovery product about the current conversation around books. Open Library helps us verify and enrich individual book candidates found in creator posts. We use structured API responses for bibliographic facts such as titles, authors, publication information, identifiers, and available covers.
Open Library is one evidence source in a provenance chain. A response does not automatically become a public catalog record: candidates are reconciled by ISBN and external identity, checked for ambiguity, and retained with source attribution. We do not scrape Open Library HTML pages, harvest its data in bulk, or present Open Library as a replacement for its own service.
We do not download Open Library data dumps through the API, crawl pages, distribute traffic across many IPs, or make Open Library requests from browser visitors. Provider calls happen in the background worker, outside user request paths.
03 · Cover images
Every cover keeps its source and its credit
When an indexed edition needs a cover, Bookitis first tries the retained source URL, then an Open Library lookup by ISBN or cover identifier when available. A successful image is validated, resized for the site, and stored in our RustFS media cache so the public site does not repeatedly fetch the same asset.
The cached image does not change ownership. The catalog retains Open Library as the provider, preserves the source and lookup URL, and exposes an attribution link back to Open Library. If no verified cover can be obtained, Bookitis displays a clearly labeled placeholder instead of implying that the placeholder is an original publisher cover.
Open Library recommends a courtesy link back to its book page when a cover is used. Bookitis provides that link through the cover attribution control and this research page.
04 · Request discipline
Small, paced, and cached
Open Library asks applications making regular requests to identify themselves, cache responses, and stay within its published rate limits. Bookitis follows that direction with bounded worker queues, response caching, a shared minimum request-start delay, and exponential backoff for transient failures, 429 responses, and provider errors.
- Structured lookups are performed only for indexed candidates that need evidence.
- Cover requests are serialized across concurrent cover processors for this deployment.
- Repeated requests use cached catalog or media results whenever possible.
- Provider failures remain retryable; they do not trigger an unbounded request loop.
- Open Library HTML is not scraped, and ancient channel history is not bulk-imported.
The worker also honors creator opt-outs and removes provider data when the applicable source-lifecycle rules require it. Public pages link back to the original services rather than attempting to replace them.
05 · Attribution and contact
Credit belongs where it belongs
Open Library bibliographic data and cover images remain attributed to Open Library and the applicable rights holders. Bookitis does not claim ownership of a cover, publisher artwork, author text, or creator content. Our catalog stores provider, source URL, retrieval details, and attribution alongside the resulting public projection.
Questions about Bookitis' Open Library usage, attribution, request identification, or a source correction can be sent to support@bookitis.com. Open Library policy and service questions should be directed to Open Library through its own support channels.
Bookitis follows the guidance available as of 08 August 2026 in the Open Library APIs documentation and the Open Library Covers API documentation. Policies and rate limits can change; this page is reviewed when our integration changes.