UMD Discover
From the UMD Discover Research Guide:
UMD Discover allows you to discover resources and materials in various formats in the UMD and University System of Maryland (USMAI) collections. Filters are available to refine your search by location, format, and many other criteria. If you have used UMD’s prior interface, WorldCat UMD, you will be familiar with Discover’s core features such as a single search box, and faceted limiters.
SRU
UMD Discover provides an SRU API endpoint for searching the UMD and USMAI collections. The ExLibris Developer Network provides documentation on how to structure SRU retrieval queries.
Endpoint: https://usmai-umcp.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/sru/01USMAI_UMCP
#!/bin/bash
curl "https://usmai-umcp.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/sru/01USMAI_UMCP?version=1.2&operation=explain"
curl "https://usmai-umcp.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/sru/01USMAI_UMCP?version=1.2&operation=searchRetrieve&query=alma.all_for_ui=%22libraries%22&recordSchema=dc"Example: umddiscover-sru.py
#!/usr/bin/env -S uv run --script
# /// script
# requires-python = ">=3.12"
# dependencies = []
# ///
import urllib.request
import socket
import ssl
import sys
from urllib.error import HTTPError, URLError
from xml.etree import ElementTree
# Search UMD Discover via SRU
ENDPOINT = 'https://usmai-umcp.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/sru/01USMAI_UMCP'
# A host name that does not resolve, or a certificate that will not verify,
# is a settled fact about the URL rather than a passing condition: it means
# this example is pointed somewhere that no longer answers for it. Every other
# connection failure -- refused, reset, timed out -- may succeed on a retry.
PERMANENT_FAILURES = (socket.gaierror, ssl.SSLCertVerificationError)
# Build the URL
params = {
"version": "1.2",
"operation": "searchRetrieve",
"query": "alma.all_for_ui=\"libraries\"",
"recordSchema": "dc",
}
search_url = ENDPOINT + '?' + urllib.parse.urlencode(params)
print('\n========================')
print(f'Search URL: {search_url}')
# Get search results as parsed XML
try:
with urllib.request.urlopen(search_url) as request:
response = ElementTree.parse(request).getroot()
except HTTPError as error:
print(f'{ENDPOINT} returned HTTP {error.code}: {error.reason}', file=sys.stderr)
# 75 = EX_TEMPFAIL: the service is reachable but cannot serve right now.
# A 4xx means this request is no longer valid, which is this example's problem.
sys.exit(75 if error.code >= 500 or error.code == 429 else 1)
except URLError as error:
# Nothing answered, so the request was never judged. What stopped it
# decides whose problem it is.
print(f'Could not reach {ENDPOINT}: {error.reason}', file=sys.stderr)
sys.exit(1 if isinstance(error.reason, PERMANENT_FAILURES) else 75)
except ElementTree.ParseError:
print(f'{ENDPOINT} did not return XML', file=sys.stderr)
# A body that is not XML means the API changed under this example.
sys.exit(1)
NAMESPACES = {
'srw': 'http://www.loc.gov/zing/srw/',
'srw_dc': 'info:srw/schema/1/dc-schema',
'dc': 'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/',
}
# A search that matches nothing is a legitimate answer, and SRU reports it as
# numberOfRecords 0 with an empty <records/>. So check for numberOfRecords,
# which every searchRetrieveResponse carries, rather than for records.
if response.find('srw:numberOfRecords', NAMESPACES) is None:
print(f'{search_url} did not return an SRU searchRetrieveResponse', file=sys.stderr)
sys.exit(1)
records = response.find('srw:records', NAMESPACES)
# Iterate over the returned items
for record in records if records is not None else []:
dc = record.find('srw:recordData', NAMESPACES).find('srw_dc:dc', NAMESPACES)
# Extract Item information
title = dc.find('dc:title', NAMESPACES).text
contributor = "; ".join([c.text for c in dc.findall('dc:contributor', NAMESPACES)])
print('----')
print(f'Title: {title}')
print(f'Contributor: {contributor}')
Run this example with uv — no download or setup required:
uv run https://opendata.lib.umd.edu/code/umddiscover-sru.pyYou can also use the sru-queryer Python package to build your query to the SRU endpoint. See Working with Bib data – using SRU made easier!.
Example: umddiscover-sru-queryer.py
