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Quick summary of primary information about each authority.
| Authority | Results Format | Extent of Data Returned | Example Search API URL | Documentation | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGROVOC | JSONLD - skos ontology | URI, skos:prefLabel | http://agrovoc.uniroma2.it/agrovoc/rest/v1/search/?query=*milk*&lang=en&maxhits=10 | SKOSMOS REST APIs | Additional Information |
| Getty | |||||
| ISNI | RDF/XML, JSON-LD | URI, schema, dcterms, madsrdf, umbel (plus some supporting ontologies) | http://isni-acc.oclc.org/sru/DB=1.2/?query=pica.na+%3D+%22Piketty%2C+Thomas%22&operation=searchRetrieve&recordSchema=isni-rdf | to be released | See ISNI below |
| Library of Congress - Search API | HTML, ATOM/XML, ATOM/JSON | URI (with some formats), preferred label | See "Searching" and "Search Limits..." | See LC Search API below | |
| Library of Congress - Suggest API | JSON | Preferred label, URI | http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/suggest/?q=camus | See LC Suggest API below | |
| Library of Congress - Label Search | HTTP Headers | Preferred label, URI | http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/label/Camus, Albert, 1913-1960 | See "Known-label search". | See LC Label Search below |
| MeSH | JSON | Valid subject headings in a variety of granularity; Heading context; Entry terms; URIs | https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/lookup/descriptor?label=diabetes&match=contains&limit=10 | MeSH RDF API https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/swagger/ui#/ | The API builder includes matching parameters and maximum results returned See MeSH below about SPARQL queries. |
| OCLC | |||||
| Share-VDE | JSON (for the future Share-VDE APIs); XML (for Stardog APIs) | xml/rdf | http://stardog.share-vde.org/Share-VDE_prod/query?query=select*where{graph?g{?s?p?o}}=&limit=10 | See: 1. Share-VDE Stardog databases 2. Share-VDE CKB query examples 3. Stardog APIs | See Share-VDE API below. If you need to query the system for testing, please, ask me for user/pw information. |
| Wikidata | |||||
| add additional authorities |
Additional Information
Details that are helpful in understanding and working with authorities.
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LC's Suggest API has received minor enhancements over the years, but is largely the same as implemented back in 2009-2010, when the service was still hosted at lcsh.info. Its output format is identical. It is formally undocumented (and how it has managed this long without being formally documented is a bit of a mystery) but LC readily and willingly shares information about not only its existence but how it works. LC's Suggest API is a left-anchored, wild-carded search of preferred labels, codes (for example a search for "deu" will return "German" from the ISO-6392 dataset), or tokens (such as "sh12345," which is an LCCN). Results are ordered alphabetically (based on codepoint). There is some support for limiting based on MADS/RDF type (PersonalName, Topic, Geographic, etc.). Notably, it does not search variant/alternate labels. Under the hood, the code is 100% distinct from the code that runs the Search API, mostly so it can better focus on its purpose, which is to return typeahead suggestions as quickly as possible. The service's output is outdated, a form of JSON that is difficult to work with given today's typeaheads. It is also limited to only the URI and label of the hit.
LC Label API
LC's Label API attempts to match a string representing nominally the authorized label and alternatively a variant label to a resource. It returns the URI. LC's Label API has received minor, undocumented enhancements since it was released in 2009-2010. It is sensitive to spaces and punctuation and only returns a result of the result is strong, though it is not without error. The response is pure HTTP, with the Location header being that of a matched entity. A 404 is returned if no match was found.
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings)
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