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Ask HN: Any APIs you'd like to see from the New York Public Library?

36 points by phprecovery ↗ HN
Hi, I recently started working as a developer at the New York Public Library.

We're working to make all our data (digital collections, catalog, branch information, etc.) as open, easy, and publicly accessible as possible.

Are there any APIs that you'd like to see?

PS: You can check out our Digital Collections API at: http://api.repo.nypl.org/

And, of course, our website at: http://www.nypl.org/

5 comments

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dang
This is great, but had a hard time getting attention because posts without URLs get penalized.

I suggest that you post the API page using the URL you mentioned, then add your question as a first comment in that thread. Good luck!

webmaven
I see you have your catalog data in WorldCat: https://www.worldcat.org/libraries/58122

But WorldCat says there are only 10,136 items.

So, what data do you have that isn't already in there, and can you get it in there? Most developers I know that care about libraries are querying WorldCat.

Work with the Internet Archive to get your data included into https://openlibrary.org/

Once that work has been done, you can put your own API on the same data to address use-cases WorldCat and OpenLibrary don't (or don't easily).

phprecovery
Great suggestions. I'm not actually familiar with WorldCat myself. I'm going to look into it. Thanks!
evanwolf
Would love an api for analytic data. Reveal activity about any given record (times viewed/bookmarked/played, activity over time, etc.).

Show movement: trends, patterns (like popularity, emerging popularity, new acquisitions)

phprecovery
Thanks for the reply.

Analytics for what data set? What media?