Classification Resource

Access to the Classify API is provided through a secure endpoint.

If you are on OCLC member library and you know your OCLC symbol and WorldShare username and password, please visit the API Keys page to request a key

If you do not know your OCLC symbol and/or your WorldShare username and password, or if you are associated with a commercial partner, please contact us.

 

 

Classify supports two operations.

Operation Resource URL HTTP METHOD
Read https://metadata.api.oclc.org/classify/?oclc=57358293&summary=true GET
Search https://metadata.api.oclc.org/classify/?author=Weinberger%2C%20David&title=everything%20is%20miscellaneous&summary=true GET

HTTP Accept Types

  • application/xml

Response Options

Summary

Fields
Description
work/author author
work/editions number of editions
work/format format
work/holdings number of libraries with holdings
work/hyr  
work/lyr  
work/swid work ID
work/title title
recommendations This section contains classification recommendations
recommendations/ddc Dewey classification recommendations
recommendations/ddc/mostPopular section for most popular classifications
recommendations/ddc/mostPopular/sfa classification number from the subfield $a of 082/092 or 050/090, or 060/096
recommendations/ddc/mostPopular/nsfa normalized classification number from the subfield $a of 082/092 or 050/090, or 060/096
recommendations/ddc/mostPopularsf2 subfield $2 of 082/092
recommendations/ddc/mostRecent section for the classification from
Same possible attributes as mostPopular
recommendations/ddc/latestEdition section for the classification from the latest edition(s)
Same possible attributes as mostPopular
recommendations/lcc Library of Congress Classification
Same possible subelements and attributes as DDC

Full Detail

The Full Detail view has the same Work attributes as the Summary format. In addition it has more detailed Edition and Recommendation sections. This view is only available for single works. Example Output

Fields
Description
edition node for a particular edition
edition/author author
edition/date date edition was published
edition/format format of edition
edition/holdings number of libraries with this edition
edition/language language of edition
edition/oclcnumber oclc number
edition/title Title
edition/classifications classifications
editions/classifications/class LCCN Year
editions/classifcations/class/edition LCCN ?
editions/classifcations/class/tag Work Identifier
editions/classifcations/class/ind1 Author
editions/classifcations/class/ind2 Title
editions/classifcations/class/sfa Summary output

or Full Detail

graph Graph of editions Classified and Unclassified
fast aFAST Headings section
fast/graph
graph of FAST headings
fast/headings FAST headings
fast/headings/heading FAST heading
fast/headings/heading/heldby number of institutions that hold this edition and have this heading
fast/headings/heading/ident FAST identifier

Multi-Work

Fields
Description
work/author author
work/editions number of editions
work/format format
work/holdings number of libraries with holdings
work/hyr  
work/lyr  
work/swid work ID
work/title title

Parameters

Below is a list of all the possible parameters that can be used as part of a Classify request:

Parameter Required Notes
summary Yes Determines response type as Summary output,

Full Detail (only available for single work), or Multi-Work

stdnbr No Standard Number
oclc No OCLC Number
isbn No ISBN
issn No ISSN
upc No UPC
ident No FAST ID
heading No FAST Heading
lccn No LCCN
lccn_pfx No LCCN Prefix
lccn_yr No LCCN Year
lccn_sno No LCCN ?
swid No Work Identifier
author No Author
title No Title
maxRecs No The number of records to be returned.
orderBy No desired sort order
mancount asc (number of editions, ascending)
mancount desc (number of editions descending)
hold asc (holdings, ascending)
hold desc (holdings, descending)
lyr asc (date of first edition, ascending)
lyr desc (date of first edition, descending)
hyr asc (date of latest edition, ascending)
hyr desc (date of latest edition, descending)
ln asc (language, ascending)
ln desc (language, descending)
sheading asc (FAST subject heading, ascending)
sheading desc (FAST subject heading, descending)

Examples

Retrieve summary classification information based on OCLC Number 57358293:

GET http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/Classify?oclc=57358293&summary=true

Retrieve summary classification information based on ISBN 0679442723:

GET http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/Classify?isbn=0679442723&summary=true

Retrieve summary classification information based on ISSN 0027-1535:

GET http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/Classify?issn=0027-1535&summary=true

Retrieve summary classification information based on LCCN 2011588147:

GET http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/Classify?lccn=2011588147&summary=true

Retrieve summary classification information for the title Everything is miscellaneous by author David Weinberger:

GET http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/Classify?author=Weinberger%2C%20David&title=everything%20is%20miscellaneous&summary=true

Note, a request like the following may retrieve more than one work:

GET http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/Classify?author=morville&title=information%20architecture&summary=true

Notes

A Service Explorer and a web interface to Classify also exists.

Status Codes

0:    Success. Single-work summary response provided.
2:    Success. Single-work detail response provided.
4:    Success. Multi-work response provided.
100:    No input. The method requires an input argument.
101:    Invalid input. The standard number argument is invalid.
102:    Not found. No data found for the input argument.
200:    Unexpected error.