book_search

Query the Google Books API to retrieve structured book metadata and preview links.

1|Updated Mar 23, 2026

Search Tags:#search #preview #metadata #book #isbn #google-books

Ready to run

npx skills add https://github.com/hellonish/singularity --skill book-search-hellonish

💬 Prompt for ChatGPT / Claude Chat▼

Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: book_search
Source: https://github.com/hellonish/singularity/tree/main/SKILLS/tier1_retrieval/book_search
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/hellonish/singularity --skill book-search-hellonish

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve?

It eliminates the manual work of locating credible book sources and extracting key bibliographic details and previews from the Google Books catalog.

Core Features & Use Cases

Structured book metadata: retrieves title, authors, publisher, published date, description, ISBNs, and preview links from Google Books.
Preview access awareness: reports the level of preview availability (full, partial, none) for each result.
Use Case: For literature reviews or research planning, collects candidate books with essential metadata for quick evaluation.

Quick Start

Query the Google Books API with a search query to retrieve a curated list of books and their preview links.

Frequently Asked Questions about book_search

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema

How do I fetch book metadata and previews from Google Books?▼

To fetch book metadata from Google Books, query the Google Books API with a structured search input to retrieve titles, authors, publishers, published dates, descriptions, ISBNs, and preview links.

Can I retrieve ISBNs and preview links for books found via Google Books search?▼

Yes, querying the Google Books API returns industry identifiers like ISBNs and provides direct preview links, while filtering out non-book results to ensure a strictly bibliographic dataset.

What is the best way to collect structured book metadata for a literature review?▼

Collecting structured book metadata for a literature review is best done by querying the Google Books API to produce a concise, normalized dataset of candidate books with essential bibliographic details.

Does the Google Books API search show preview availability for returned books?▼

Yes, the Google Books API search reports the level of preview availability for each result, indicating whether a full, partial, or no preview is accessible for the returned books.

How do I filter non-book results when searching the Google Books catalog?▼

Filtering non-book results when searching the Google Books catalog is handled automatically by returning only items of kind books#volume, ensuring the output contains strictly book-related metadata.

What bibliographic details can I get from a Google Books API volume search?▼

A Google Books API volume search retrieves bibliographic details including titles, authors, publisher, publishedDate, description, industry identifiers, and preview links for quick evaluation.