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Library of Congress formats API

Browse items by format type

Library of Congress formats API is one of 25 APIs that Library of Congress publishes on the APIs.io network, described by a machine-readable OpenAPI specification.

Tagged areas include Formats. The published artifact set on APIs.io includes an OpenAPI specification, API documentation, and a GitHub repository.

This API exposes 9 operations across 9 paths, and defines 4 schemas. It is described by OpenAPI 3.0.3, at version 3.

Requests are made against a single base URL, /v3.

9 operations 9 paths 4 schemas 9 GET

Metadata

The identity and technical contract details declared by the specification.

Specification
OpenAPI 3.0.3
API Version
3
Base URL
https://www.loc.gov
Authentication
API Key
Resource Areas
1

Authentication & Security 1

Library of Congress formats API declares 1 security scheme for authenticating requests. An API key is passed in the query as api_key (ApiKeyAuth). By default, every request must be authenticated.

Paths & Operations 9

Across 9 paths, the API surfaces 9 operations — 9 GET. Each is listed below with its method, path, parameters, and response codes.

formats 9

Browse items by format type

GET
/audio/
Browse audio recordings
listAudio 5 params → 200
GET
/books/
Browse books and printed materials
listBooks 5 params → 200
GET
/film-and-videos/
Browse films and videos
listFilmAndVideos 5 params → 200
GET
/manuscripts/
Browse manuscripts and mixed materials
listManuscripts 4 params → 200
GET
/maps/
Browse maps
listMaps 4 params → 200
GET
/newspapers/
Browse newspapers
listNewspapers 4 params → 200
GET
/photos/
Browse photos, prints, and drawings
listPhotos 4 params → 200
GET
/notated-music/
Browse printed music and sheet music
listNotatedMusic 4 params → 200
GET
/web-archives/
Browse web archives
listWebArchives 4 params → 200

Schemas 4

The contract defines 4 schemas that model the data the API accepts and returns. The most detailed are ItemSummary (14 properties), Pagination (10 properties), FacetValue (3 properties), SearchResponse (3 properties). Each schema is shown below with its type and property counts.

Pagination
object
Pagination information for search results
10 properties
SearchResponse
object
Standard search result response from the loc.gov JSON API
3 properties
ItemSummary
object
Summary information for a single collection item in search results
14 properties
FacetValue
object
A facet value used to filter search results
3 properties

Specification

The full machine-readable OpenAPI contract behind this narrative.

Source

loc-formats-api-openapi.yml Raw ↑

Other APIs Library of Congress publishes across the network.

Chronicling America API
Library of Congress amendments API
Library of Congress bill API
Library of Congress bound-congressional-record API
Library of Congress collections API
Library of Congress committee API
Library of Congress committee-meeting API
Library of Congress committee-print API
Library of Congress committee-report API
Library of Congress congress API
Library of Congress congressional-record API
Library of Congress crsreport API
Where this information came from

This is an independent, third-party profile of Library of Congress formats API, published by API Evangelist. We do not operate, host, resell, or support these APIs, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by the company unless stated above. Everything here is built from publicly available information — the company's own site, developer portal, documentation, public repositories, and the specifications it publishes for public use. Nothing is obtained by breaching a system, defeating an access control, or using credentials.

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