OpenSearch

The simplest form of an OpenSearch request is:
http://www.worldcat.org/webservices/catalog/search/opensearch?q=[search terms]&wskey=[your key]

The complete pattern for an OpenSearch request is:
http://worldcat.org/webservices/catalog/search/opensearch?q=[query]&format=[atom|rss]&start=[start position]&count=[maximum number of records to return]&cformat=[citation format]&wskey=[your key]

Only the query value "q" is required. Queries are sent as strings of keywords. All other values are optional. The default values are: format=atom, cformat=mla, start=1, count=10.

The valid citation format values for the cformat field are apa, chicago, harvard, mla, turabian, or all.  All provides all the types of citation formats listed.  If a valid cformat value is not included in the request, a formatted citation is not supplied by default in the response. For more details, see the following notes about requesting formatted citations.

The only type of index available with OpenSearch is called the "Keyword" index.  It is also used in FirstSearch WorldCat.  The Keyword index includes the following information from the bibliographic record: ISBN, author, title, notes, subjects, dates of publication, and some map information.

Some examples

A search for civil war, returning a result with the default Atom format, starting position, and count:
http://www.worldcat.org/webservices/catalog/search/opensearch?q=civil%20war&wskey=[key]

A search for civil war, returning a result in the RSS format, starting at position 6, with a count of 5 records:
http://www.worldcat.org/webservices/catalog/search/opensearch?q=civil%20war&format=rss&start=6&count=5&wskey=[key]

A search for civil war, returning a result in the Atom format, including an MLA-formatted citation for each record:
http://www.worldcat.org/webservices/catalog/search/opensearch?q=civil%20war&format=atom&cformat=mla&wskey=[key]

Navigation

You can navigate through the result sets using the start and count parameters. The default is to start at the first record and to present 10 records. The maximum number of records are 100 records.

Sample responses

Sample RSS response
Sample Atom response