The Biodiversity Heritage Library's OpenURL query interface is available
at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/openurl.
Both OpenURL 0.1 and OpenURL 1.0 queries are supported.
The following table summarizes the parameters that are accepted by the OpenURL 0.1 and 1.0
query interfaces.
| OpenURL 0.1 | | OpenURL 1.0 |
|---|
| | Indicates OpenURL version | url_ver=z39.88-2004 |
| title | Book/Journal title | |
| | Book title | rft.btitle |
| | Journal title | rft.jtitle |
| au | Author name ("last, first" or "corporation") | rft.au |
| aulast | Author last name | rft.aulast |
| aufirst | Author first name | rft.aufirst |
| | Author name (corporation) | rft.aucorp |
| publisher | Publication details | rft.publisher |
| | Publisher name | rft.pub |
| | Publication place | rft.place |
| date | Publication date (YYYY or YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD) | rft.date |
| issn | ISSN | rft.issn |
| isbn | ISBN | rft.isbn |
| coden | CODEN | rft.coden |
| stitle | Abbreviation | rft.stitle |
| volume | Volume | rft.volume |
| issue | Issue | rft.issue |
| spage | Start page | rft.spage |
| pid=oclcnum:XXXX | OCLC number (where XXXX is the ID value) | rft_id=info:oclcnum/XXXX |
| pid=lccn:XXXX | Lib. of Congress ID (where XXXX is the ID value) | rft_id=info:lccn/XXXX |
| pid=title:XXXX | BHL title ID (where XXXX is the ID value) | rft_id=http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/XXXX |
| pid=page:XXXX | BHL page ID (where XXXX is the ID value) | rft_id=http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/XXXX |
By default, the query interface will (if possible) redirect to the
Biodiversity Heritage Library page containing the citation described
by the query arguments. If more than one possible citation is found,
the query interface redirects to a page from which the appropriate
citation can be selected.
There are several additional ways that results from the query interface
can be returned: JSON, XML, and HTML. To get the citation data in
those formats, add the "format" argument to the end of the OpenURL
query with one of the following values: "json", "xml", "html".
Following are some example queries and responses.
OpenUrl 0.1
The following query references Samual Wendell Williston, Manual of North American Diptera (New Haven :J.T. Hathaway) 16.
/openurl?
&genre=book
&title=Manual+of+North+American+Diptera
&aufirst=Samuel Wendell
&aulast=Williston
&publisher=New+Haven+:J.T.+Hathaway,
&date=1908
&spage=16
Click here to try it
OpenURL 1.0
Here's the same query, using the OpenURL 1.0 specification.
/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004
&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004
&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook
&rft.genre=book
&rft.btitle=Manual+of+North+American+Diptera
&rft.aufirst=Samuel Wendell
&rft.aulast=Williston
&rft.publisher=New+Haven+:J.T.+Hathaway,
&rft.date=1908
&rft.spage=16
Click here to try it
Response in JSON
To receive the response in JSON, append "&format=json" to the end of the query, as shown here.
This example shows the OpenURL 0.1 query syntax, but it will also work for OpenURL 1.0 queries.
/openurl?
&genre=book
&title=Manual+of+North+American+Diptera
&aufirst=Samuel Wendell
&aulast=Williston
&publisher=New+Haven+:J.T.+Hathaway,
&date=1908
&spage=16
&format=json
Click here to try it
Response in XML
To receive the response in XML, append "&format=xml" to the end of the query, as shown here.
Again, this will work for both OpenURL 0.1 and OpenURL 1.0 queries.
/openurl?
&genre=book
&title=Manual+of+North+American+Diptera
&aufirst=Samuel Wendell
&aulast=Williston
&publisher=New+Haven+:J.T.+Hathaway,
&date=1908
&spage=16
&format=xml
Click here to try it
Response in HTML
To receive the response as an HTML fragment, append "&format=html" to the end of the query, as shown here.
As with JSON and XML responses, this will work for both OpenURL 0.1 and OpenURL 1.0 queries.
/openurl?
&genre=book
&title=Manual+of+North+American+Diptera
&aufirst=Samuel Wendell
&aulast=Williston
&publisher=New+Haven+:J.T.+Hathaway,
&date=1908
&spage=16
&format=html
Click here to try it