

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

Hi, I recently started working as a developer at the New York Public Library.<p>We&#x27;re working to make all our data (digital collections, catalog, branch information, etc.) as open, easy, and publicly accessible as possible.<p>Are there any APIs that you&#x27;d like to see?<p>PS:
You can check out our Digital Collections API at:
http:&#x2F;&#x2F;api.repo.nypl.org&#x2F;<p>And, of course, our website at:
http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nypl.org&#x2F;
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webmaven
I see you have your catalog data in WorldCat:
[https://www.worldcat.org/libraries/58122](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/](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).

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phprecovery
Great suggestions. I'm not actually familiar with WorldCat myself. I'm going
to look into it. Thanks!

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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)

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phprecovery
Thanks for the reply.

Analytics for what data set? What media?

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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!

