Request a HOLLIS+ Search [Beta]

With the retirement of the HOLLIS (AquaBrowser) discovery layer, we introduce a new search API against the HOLLIS+ (Primo) layer that returns bibliographic items in the same relevancy ranking order as the HOLLIS+ UI.

Individual bibliographic items will be returned in Dublin Core format, with some additional fields. Furthermore, you may additionally request faceting on a variety of axes.

URL request syntax

The base syntax is:

http://webservices.lib.harvard.edu/rest/v2/hollisplus/search/dc/?q={query_string}

There are several additional parameters that can be added

Parameters

Some common-used values for <field> in Primo query syntax.

There are two useful values for the <precision> in the Primo query syntax:

Facet Sets

PRESTO currently supports faceting on several axes; for convenience, some of them are re-named from their Primo titles, which are provided in parentheses

Sample URLs

A basic search using the q parameter is equivalent to entering search terms in the HOLLIS+ search box. Use quotation marks for exact string matches.

search for verba, sidney:

http://webservices.lib.harvard.edu/rest/v2/hollisplus/search/dc/?q= %22verba,+sidney%22

If wanted your search to only contain results where verba, sidney is the creator, you would use the Primo syntax:

http://webservices.lib.harvard.edu/rest/v2/hollisplus/search/dc/?query=creator,contains,verba++sidney

A combination title/author search for old man and the sea and hemingway, ernest 1899-1961:

http://webservices.lib.harvard.edu/rest/v2/hollisplus/search/dc/?query=title,exact,%22old+man+and+the+sea%22&query=creator,contains,Hemingway++Ernest++1899-1961

Response

The response to a HOLLIS+ search may contain further links for moving to the next set of results, refining the search, etc., as described below. You can limit the number of results that are returned; experientially, the high limit seems to be about 200.

Any call to the PRESTO HOLLIS+ Search returns an XML document (or JSON version of it, if requested) with, minimally, the following elements.

Top level XML

For a HOLLIS search, the top level elements in the returned XML look like this:

<results>
  <totalResults>808</totalResults>
  <startIndex>1</startIndex>
  <itemsPerPage>30</itemsPerPage>
  <resultSet>
    <!—a set of individual <item/> records -->
  </resultSet>
  <pager><!-- page details here --></pager>
  <!—if you have requested faceting -->
  <facetSets>
    <facetSet><!—the faceting details for this Set -->
  </facetSets>
</results>

Note that if the number of results is fewer than the limit requested (default: 30), the <pager> element is not present.

<resultSet><items><item> element details

The <resultSet> contains only <item> elements. The <item> element has two attributes:

• id The HOLLIS+ ID

• position (in the list of results)

• rank (NEW) The calculation of ranking for this item within the search results.

The <item> will also enclose many of the elements listed below, as they are available:

• dc:title

• cataloglink -- the URL pointing to the Permanent URI of the item

• dc:type (book, archive_manuscript, image, etc.)

• dc:creator (multiple) – the author(s), if known

• dc:contributor (multiple) any additional known contributors to the work

• authorlink – the query string needed to search for all items created by the dc:creator

• dc:subject (multiple)

• dc:description (multiple)

• dc:date – a text field, usually a year.

• dc:publisher

• notes – any public notes associated with the bibliographic item

• dc:identifier (multiple) -- the OCLC, ISBN, ISSN number(s) as they are available

• (Images) numberofimages

• (Images) related – text description of what the item is related to

• (Images) restrictions – text restrictions

• (Images) links (multiple) – represented as <a href> elements, links to thumbnail and copyright and permissions

<pages> element details

If there are more results than requested by the limit parameter (default: 30), the <pager> element will be present, and contain sub elements. Here's an example from a results XML with 29 results when the requested limit was 20:

The request URL for the example was:

http://webservices.lib.harvard.edu/rest/v2/hollisplus/search/dc/?query=sub,contains,seven+wise+men+of+greece&limit=20

<pages>
  <currentpage>1</currentpage>
  <page querystr="?query=sub,contains,seven+wise+men+of+greece&amp;limit=20&amp;curpage=2">Next</page>
  <page querystr="?query=sub,contains,seven+wise+men+of+greece&amp;limit=20&amp;curpage=2">Last</page>
</pages>

Note the querystr attribute of the <page> element; this string would be used to get the results for whichever “page” was next requested. For the case above, to obtain the last item that fulfills the search, the URL would be:

http://webservices.lib.harvard.edu/rest/v2/hollisplus/search/dc/?query=sub,contains,seven+wise+men+of+greece&limit=20&curpage=2

<facetSets> element details

The <facetSets> element will only be present if you have requested faceting as described above.

The <facetSets> will enclose one or more <facetSet> elements, depending on which facets you have requested.

The <facetSet> element will look as follows:
(the URL was: http://webservices.lib.harvard.edu/rest/v2/hollisplus/search/dc/?query=sub,contains,seven+wise+men+of+greece&limit=20&facets=creator)

<facetSetType>creator</facetSetType>
<facetsCount>38</facetsCount>
<facet>
<title>Erasmus, Desiderius, -1536</title>
<count>4</count>
<link>?query=sub,contains,seven+wise+men+of+greece&amp;limit=20&amp;curpage=1&amp;query=facet_creator,exact,Erasmus++Desiderius++-1536</link>
</facet>
<facet>
<title>Beroaldo, Filippo, 1453-1505</title>
<count>3</count>
<link>?query=sub,contains,seven+wise+men+of+greece&amp;limit=20&amp;curpage=1&amp;query=facet_creator,exact,Beroaldo++Filippo++1453-1505</link>
</facet>
.
.
.
</facetSet>