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Find a New Book

This workflow is designed to automate the recommendation of new books. Users can select specific topics (such as children's literature), and the system will randomly select a book from the Open Library API. The recommendation information is sent via email, ensuring that users regularly receive high-quality reading suggestions. It supports manual triggering and scheduled execution, providing convenient book selection services for individuals, institutions, libraries, and educational organizations, effectively saving time in finding books and improving reading efficiency.

Workflow Diagram
Find a New Book Workflow diagram

Workflow Name

Find a New Book

Key Features and Highlights

This workflow automatically retrieves book resources on a specified subject (defaulting to "juvenile_literature") from the Open Library API, randomly selects one book, and sends detailed book recommendation information via email. It supports both manual triggering and scheduled automatic execution every Friday at 11:00 AM, ensuring users consistently receive high-quality reading recommendations.

Core Problem Addressed

By automating the process of finding new book recommendations, this workflow eliminates the hassle and uncertainty of manually filtering through vast amounts of book data. It effectively saves users time and enhances the convenience and efficiency of selecting reading materials.

Use Cases

  • Individuals or organizations seeking regular new book recommendations on specific topics
  • Libraries, reading clubs, and educational institutions pushing curated book lists to members
  • Content curation teams automatically collecting and sharing quality book resources
  • Any user or organization aiming to discover and share book information through automation

Main Process Steps

  1. Trigger Mechanism: Supports manual execution or automatic triggering every Friday at 11:00 AM.
  2. Set Subject: Define the book subject to query (e.g., juvenile literature).
  3. Retrieve Total Book Count: Query the Open Library API to get the total number of books under the specified subject.
  4. Check Book Availability: If no books are found, send a “no books available” notification email.
  5. Random Book Selection: Randomly select one book within the total count range.
  6. Fetch Basic Book Information: Obtain basic details of the selected book via the API.
  7. Fetch Detailed Book Information: Retrieve further details such as the book description.
  8. Format Author Information: Generate a string containing author names with hyperlinks to enrich the recommendation content.
  9. Generate Recommendation Email Content: Include the book title (with link), author(s), and book summary.
  10. Send Email: Deliver the recommendation via SMTP server to the specified email address.

Systems and Services Involved

  • Open Library API: For obtaining book data, including lists and detailed information.
  • SMTP Email Service: Uses Gmail credentials to send recommendation emails and no-book alerts.
  • n8n Automation Platform Nodes: Includes manual and scheduled triggers, HTTP requests, conditional logic, function processing, and email sending.

Target Users and Value

  • Reading enthusiasts seeking personalized book recommendations
  • Librarians and cultural promoters aiming to regularly distribute curated book lists
  • Educators needing to recommend quality reading materials to students
  • Content operators looking to automate content recommendation generation
  • Any individuals or organizations wanting to discover and share book information through automation

Built on the n8n platform, this workflow is user-friendly and highly customizable. Users can modify the subject, recipients, and trigger times to create a personalized intelligent book recommendation assistant.