diff --git a/openlibrary/solr/update_work.py b/openlibrary/solr/update_work.py
index e137a90b670..176b5fc55da 100644
--- a/openlibrary/solr/update_work.py
+++ b/openlibrary/solr/update_work.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import logging
 import os
 import re
+import requests
 import sys
 import time
 from collections import defaultdict
@@ -10,7 +11,6 @@
 
 import simplejson as json
 import six
-from six.moves import urllib
 from six.moves.http_client import HTTPConnection
 import web
 from lxml.etree import tostring, Element, SubElement
@@ -42,14 +42,14 @@
 solr_host = None
 
 
-def urlopen(url, data=None):
+def urlopen(url, params=None, data=None):
     version = "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3]
     user_agent = 'Mozilla/5.0 (openlibrary; %s) Python/%s' % (__file__, version)
     headers = {
         'User-Agent': user_agent
     }
-    req = urllib.request.Request(url, data, headers)
-    return urllib.request.urlopen(req)
+    response = requests.post(url, params=params, data=data, headers=headers)
+    return response
 
 def get_solr():
     """
@@ -1110,8 +1110,7 @@ def get_subject(key):
         'facet.limit': 100
     }
     base_url = 'http://' + get_solr() + '/solr/select'
-    url = base_url + '?' + urllib.parse.urlencode(params)
-    result = json.load(urlopen(url))
+    result = urlopen(base_url, params).json()
 
     work_count = result['response']['numFound']
     facets = result['facet_counts']['facet_fields'].get(facet_field, [])
@@ -1249,7 +1248,7 @@ def update_author(akey, a=None, handle_redirects=True):
 
     logger.info("urlopen %s", url)
 
-    reply = json.load(urlopen(url))
+    reply = urlopen(url).json()
     work_count = reply['response']['numFound']
     docs = reply['response'].get('docs', [])
     top_work = None
@@ -1323,7 +1322,7 @@ def solr_select_work(edition_key):
         get_solr(),
         url_quote(edition_key)
     )
-    reply = json.load(urlopen(url))
+    reply = urlopen(url).json()
     docs = reply['response'].get('docs', [])
     if docs:
         return docs[0]['key'] # /works/ prefix is in solr
diff --git a/openlibrary/tests/solr/test_update_work.py b/openlibrary/tests/solr/test_update_work.py
index c975d46e152..f8db60357a6 100644
--- a/openlibrary/tests/solr/test_update_work.py
+++ b/openlibrary/tests/solr/test_update_work.py
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 import pytest
+import unittest
+try:
+    from unittest import mock
+except ImportError:
+    import mock
 
 from openlibrary.solr import update_work
 from openlibrary.solr.data_provider import DataProvider
@@ -425,8 +430,39 @@ def test_ddcs(self, doc_ddcs, solr_ddcs, sort_ddc_index):
             assert 'ddc' not in d
             assert 'ddc_sort' not in d
 
+def mocked_urlopen(*args, **kwargs):
+    class MockResponse:
+        def __init__(self, json_data, status_code):
+            self.json_data = json_data
+            self.status_code = status_code
+        
+        def json(self):
+            return self.json_data
+        
+    if args[0] == (
+        "http://solr:8080/solr/select?wt=json&json.nl=arrarr&q=author_key:OL25A&"
+        "sort=edition_count+desc&rows=1&fl=title,subtitle&facet=true&facet.mincount=1&"
+        "facet.field=subject_facet&facet.field=time_facet&facet.field=person_facet&"
+        "facet.field=place_facet"
+    ):
+        return MockResponse(
+            {
+                "facet_counts": {
+                    "facet_fields": {
+                        "place_facet": [],
+                        "person_facet": [],
+                        "subject_facet": [],
+                        "time_facet": [],
+                    }
+                },
+                "response": {"numFound": 0},
+            },
+            200,
+        )
+    
+    return MockResponse(None, 404)
 
-class Test_update_items():
+class Test_update_items(unittest.TestCase):
     @classmethod
     def setup_class(cls):
         update_work.data_provider = FakeDataProvider()
@@ -449,20 +485,11 @@ def test_redirect_author(self):
         assert isinstance(requests[0], update_work.DeleteRequest)
         assert requests[0].toxml() == '<delete><query>key:/authors/OL24A</query></delete>'
 
+    @mock.patch('openlibrary.solr.update_work.urlopen', side_effect=mocked_urlopen)
     def test_update_author(self, monkeypatch):
         update_work.data_provider = FakeDataProvider([
             make_author(key='/authors/OL25A', name='Somebody')
         ])
-        # Minimal Solr response, author not found in Solr
-        solr_response = """{
-            "facet_counts": {
-                "facet_fields": {
-                    "place_facet": [], "person_facet": [], "subject_facet": [], "time_facet": []
-                }
-            },
-            "response": {"numFound": 0}
-        }"""
-        monkeypatch.setattr(update_work, 'urlopen', lambda url: StringIO(solr_response))
         requests = update_work.update_author('/authors/OL25A')
         assert len(requests) == 1
         assert isinstance(requests, list)