wcdl search "medieval history" --proxy http://user:pass@proxy:8080 --rate 1 --max 2000
Ironically, the mobile app allows you to "scan" barcodes and export lists via email. If you scan 100 books, you can email yourself the CSV. This is the closest thing to a "physical downloader."
Since no commercial "WorldCat Downloader" tool exists on GitHub in a polished form, you will likely need to write a simple script. Below is a legitimate, ethically constructed metadata scraper that respects robots.txt and uses polite delays.
Disclaimer: This script is for educational purposes. Do not abuse WorldCat’s servers. Limit your requests to 1 per second. worldcat.org downloader
To avoid being blocked, a responsible downloader must:
Zotero is a citation manager. Its browser extension detects WorldCat pages. Ironically, the mobile app allows you to "scan"
| Setting | Recommended | Hard maximum | |---------|-------------|--------------| | Requests/second | 1–2 | 5 | | Concurrent threads | 1 | 1 (serial) | | Retries on failure | 3 | 5 | | Delay between retries | 5 sec | 10 sec |
Expected performance:
Large downloads should be run overnight or with --resume enabled.