almaapitk 0.4.3

Python toolkit for the Ex Libris Alma ILS API

almaapitk

A Python toolkit for interacting with the Ex Libris Alma ILS (Integrated Library System) API.

Features

• Simple API Client: Easy-to-use HTTP client with automatic authentication and error handling
• Domain Classes: High-level abstractions for common Alma operations
  • Acquisitions - POL operations, invoicing, item receiving
  • Admin - Sets management (BIB_MMS, USER), full CRUD + member management
  • Analytics - Analytics reports with pagination support
  • BibliographicRecords - Bib records, holdings, items
  • Configuration - Libraries/locations, code tables, letters, mapping tables (active expansion area — more endpoints land in each 0.x release)
  • ResourceSharing - Lending/borrowing via Partners API
  • Users - User management, loans, requests, CRUD, search, expiry processing
• Environment Support: Seamless switching between Sandbox and Production
• Response Wrapper: Consistent response handling with AlmaResponse
• Comprehensive Logging: Built-in logging with automatic API key redaction

Installation

pip install almaapitk

Or with Poetry:

poetry add almaapitk

Quick Start

Setup

Set your Alma API keys as environment variables:

export ALMA_SB_API_KEY="your-sandbox-api-key"
export ALMA_PROD_API_KEY="your-production-api-key"

Basic Usage

from almaapitk import AlmaAPIClient, AlmaAPIError

# Initialize client (uses ALMA_SB_API_KEY)
client = AlmaAPIClient('SANDBOX')

# Make API calls
try:
    response = client.get('almaws/v1/conf/libraries')
    if response.success:
        libraries = response.json()
        for lib in libraries.get('library', []):
            print(f"Library: {lib['name']}")
except AlmaAPIError as e:
    print(f"API error: {e} (status: {e.status_code})")

Using Domain Classes

from almaapitk import AlmaAPIClient, Acquisitions, Users

client = AlmaAPIClient('SANDBOX')

# Acquisitions operations
acq = Acquisitions(client)
# Note: Acquisitions.get_pol returns a plain dict directly
pol = acq.get_pol("POL-12345")
print(f"POL Status: {pol['status']['value']}")

# User operations
# Note: get_user takes a primary ID (NOT email) and returns an AlmaResponse
users = Users(client)
user_response = users.get_user("PRIMARY_ID_12345")
user_data = user_response.json()
print(f"User: {user_data['full_name']}")

Working with Bibliographic Records

from almaapitk import AlmaAPIClient, BibliographicRecords

client = AlmaAPIClient('SANDBOX')
bibs = BibliographicRecords(client)

# Get a bib record (signature: get_record(mms_id, view="full", expand=None))
record = bibs.get_record("99123456789")

# Get holdings for a bib
holdings = bibs.get_holdings("99123456789")

Resource Sharing

from almaapitk import AlmaAPIClient, ResourceSharing

client = AlmaAPIClient('SANDBOX')
rs = ResourceSharing(client)

# Create a lending request
# Mandatory: partner_code, external_id, owner, format_type, title
# (citation_type is required unless mms_id is supplied)
result = rs.create_lending_request(
    partner_code="PARTNER_CODE",
    external_id="EXT-2025-001",
    owner="MAIN",                  # resource sharing library code
    format_type="PHYSICAL",
    title="Introduction to Python",
    citation_type="BOOK",
    author="Smith, John",
)

Analytics Reports

from almaapitk import AlmaAPIClient, Analytics

# Analytics API only works with PRODUCTION
client = AlmaAPIClient('PRODUCTION')
analytics = Analytics(client)

# Get column headers for a report
report_path = "/shared/University/Reports/MyReport"
headers = analytics.get_report_headers(report_path)
print(f"Columns: {headers}")

# Fetch rows with pagination (limit must be 25-1000)
rows = analytics.fetch_report_rows(report_path, limit=100, max_rows=500)
for row in rows:
    print(row)  # Dict with Column0, Column1, etc.

# Optional: pass a progress_callback to track progress for large reports.
# The callback receives one argument: the cumulative row count fetched so far.
def show_progress(rows_so_far: int) -> None:
    print(f"  fetched {rows_so_far} rows...")

rows = analytics.fetch_report_rows(
    report_path,
    limit=100,
    max_rows=500,
    progress_callback=show_progress,
)

API Reference

Core Classes

Class	Description
AlmaAPIClient	Main HTTP client for Alma API
AlmaResponse	Response wrapper with .data, .json(), .success, .status_code
AlmaAPIError	Base exception for API errors
AlmaValidationError	Exception for validation failures

Domain Classes

Class	Description
Acquisitions	POL operations, invoicing, item receiving
Analytics	Analytics reports with pagination (ResumptionToken)
Users	User management, email updates
BibliographicRecords	Bib records, holdings, items, scan-in
Admin	Sets management (BIB_MMS, USER sets)
ResourceSharing	Lending/borrowing via Partners API

Utilities

Class	Description
TSVGenerator	TSV file generation utilities
CitationMetadataError	Exception for citation metadata errors

Environment Configuration

See Quick Start → Setup for environment variable setup. The client automatically picks ALMA_SB_API_KEY for 'SANDBOX' and ALMA_PROD_API_KEY for 'PRODUCTION'.

Error Handling

from almaapitk import AlmaAPIClient, AlmaAPIError, AlmaValidationError

client = AlmaAPIClient('SANDBOX')

try:
    response = client.get('almaws/v1/users/invalid-user')
except AlmaValidationError as e:
    # Input validation failed
    print(f"Validation error: {e}")
except AlmaAPIError as e:
    # API returned an error
    print(f"API error: {e}")
    print(f"Status code: {e.status_code}")
    print(f"Response: {e.response}")

Requirements

• Python 3.12+
• requests

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Links

• Alma API Documentation
• GitHub Repository