diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 316b69c..74e2a70 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ external assets or are slow:
 | `DPUB_TEST_WHISPER_MODEL=/path/ggml-*.bin` and `DPUB_TEST_AUDIO=/path/audio.mp3` | Enable the Whisper smoke test in `dpub-whisper`. Optional `DPUB_TEST_WHISPER_LANG=nl`. |
 | `epubcheck` on `PATH` | The `dpub-validate` and `epub3-writer` integration tests will run EPUBCheck and assert zero errors. They skip silently if the binary is missing. |
 | `ace` on `PATH` | (No CI-gated test yet.) Enables `dpub a11y` end-to-end. Install with `npm install -g @daisy/ace`. |
+| `DPUB_TEST_OPENLIBRARY=1` | Enables the live Open Library cover-lookup smoke test in `dpub-meta`. Skipped on CI to avoid flakiness on third-party-service availability. |
 | `ffmpeg` on `PATH` | The `dpub-audio` and Opus re-encoding tests run; they skip silently otherwise. |
 | `cmake` on `PATH` | Required to build `dpub-whisper` (and therefore `dpub-cli` once it depends on it). The `whisper-rs-sys` crate compiles whisper.cpp from source. |
 
diff --git a/crates/dpub-meta/tests/openlibrary.rs b/crates/dpub-meta/tests/openlibrary.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed6f5e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/dpub-meta/tests/openlibrary.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+//! Network-gated smoke test for the Open Library cover lookup.
+//!
+//! Skipped unless `DPUB_TEST_OPENLIBRARY=1` is set. Real CI runs (and
+//! every contributor's `cargo test`) skip silently — we don't want
+//! the test suite to fail because Open Library was briefly slow,
+//! degraded, or because someone is offline.
+//!
+//! Run with:
+//!
+//! ```sh
+//! DPUB_TEST_OPENLIBRARY=1 cargo test -p dpub-meta --test openlibrary -- --nocapture
+//! ```
+//!
+//! Asserts only that the path *can* return a real JPEG/PNG cover for
+//! a known well-indexed book — not the exact bytes, since Open Library
+//! image content can change.
+
+use dpub_meta::{LookupHints, lookup_cover};
+
+fn enabled() -> bool {
+    std::env::var_os("DPUB_TEST_OPENLIBRARY").is_some()
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn fetches_cover_for_pride_and_prejudice_by_isbn() {
+    if !enabled() {
+        eprintln!("DPUB_TEST_OPENLIBRARY not set — skipping");
+        return;
+    }
+    let hints = LookupHints {
+        title: "Pride and Prejudice",
+        creator: Some("Jane Austen"),
+        language: Some("eng"),
+        identifier: Some("9780141439518"),
+    };
+    let got = lookup_cover(&hints).expect("lookup");
+    let cover = got.expect("matched");
+    assert!(cover.bytes.len() > 1024, "cover too small: {}", cover.bytes.len());
+    assert!(
+        cover.media_type == "image/jpeg" || cover.media_type == "image/png",
+        "unexpected media type: {}",
+        cover.media_type,
+    );
+    eprintln!(
+        "got {} bytes ({}); provenance: {}",
+        cover.bytes.len(),
+        cover.media_type,
+        cover.provenance,
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn fetches_cover_by_title_and_author_when_no_isbn() {
+    if !enabled() {
+        eprintln!("DPUB_TEST_OPENLIBRARY not set — skipping");
+        return;
+    }
+    let hints = LookupHints {
+        title: "Pride and Prejudice",
+        creator: Some("Jane Austen"),
+        language: Some("eng"),
+        identifier: None, // force the title+author path
+    };
+    let got = lookup_cover(&hints).expect("lookup");
+    let cover = got.expect("matched");
+    assert!(cover.bytes.len() > 1024);
+    eprintln!(
+        "got {} bytes via {} path",
+        cover.bytes.len(),
+        cover.provenance,
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn returns_none_for_obviously_nonexistent_book() {
+    if !enabled() {
+        eprintln!("DPUB_TEST_OPENLIBRARY not set — skipping");
+        return;
+    }
+    let hints = LookupHints {
+        title: "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ_DPUB_TEST_NONEXISTENT_BOOK_XXXXX",
+        creator: Some("AAAAAAAAA Nonexistent Author"),
+        language: None,
+        identifier: None,
+    };
+    let got = lookup_cover(&hints).expect("lookup");
+    assert!(
+        got.is_none(),
+        "expected miss for gibberish title, got {:?}",
+        got.as_ref().map(|c| &c.provenance),
+    );
+}