loc-authorities

Python library for querying and representing LoC ID APIs. The library provides connectors for the Library of Congress Linked Data Authority.

loc-authorities uses the python library rdflib to query Library of Congress entities and represent them as python classes.

Supported search interfaces:

• Resource retrieval
• Known label retrieval
• Left-anchored suggest
• Keyword query

Fully supported authorities:

• LC Subject Headings
• LC Name Authority File

Partially supported authorities:

• LC Children's Subject Headings
• LC Medium of Performance Thesaurus for Music
• LC Demographic Group Terms
• Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
• AFS Ethnographic Thesaurus
• LC Genre/Form Terms

There are no plans to support further authorities at this point in time, but pull requests for implementations of other authorities are welcome!

This implementation provides dummy containers for Temporal and Complex subject entities. Many of these components are valid but have not yet been indexed in the Library of Congress API. This means they lack URIs and cannot be validated via the Library of Congress API. These classes implement minimal RDF with basic metadata.

Installation

Via pip into virtual environment

Clone the repo, then in the base directory, run:

$ pip install loc-authorities

Usage

# construct URIs

>>>
>>> from loc_authorities.api import LocAPI
>>> LocAPI.uri_from_id('n79043402')
'http://id.loc.gov/authorities/n79043402'

>>>
>>> LocAPI.dataset_uri_from_id('n79043402')
'http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79043402'

# Query LoC search endpoints

>>>
>>> loc = LocAPI()
>>> loc.retrieve_label('Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790')
'n79043402'

# query the left-anchored search through the method "suggest"
# returns list of top ten results from API
>>>
>>> suggest = loc.suggest('Franklin, Benjamin')
>>> suggest[0].uri
'http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n2015067702'
>>> suggest[0].label
'Franklin Benjamin'

# method LocAPI.search() queries the keyword search method in the same manner

# Represent a single entity
>>>
>>> from loc_authorities.api import LocEntity
>>> entity = LocEntity('mp2013015202')
>>> entity.authoritative_label
rdflib.term.Literal('dancer', lang='en')
>>> entity.dataset_uri
'http://id.loc.gov/authorities/performanceMediums/mp2013015202'
>>> entity.instance_of
[
    rdflib.term.URIRef('http://www.loc.gov/mads/rdf/v1#Medium'),
    rdflib.term.URIRef('http://www.loc.gov/mads/rdf/v1#Authority'),
    rdflib.term.URIRef('http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#Concept')
]

# Represent an entity from the Name Authority
>>>
>>> from loc_authorities.api import NameEntity
>>> name = NameEntity('n79043402')
>>> name.authoritative_label
rdflib.term.Literal('Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790') # inherits all properties of LocEntity
>>> name.birthdate
rdflib.term.Literal('1706-01-17', datatype=rdflib.term.URIRef('http://id.loc.gov/datatypes/edtf/EDTF'))
>>> name.birthyear
1706
>>> name.deathdate
rdflib.term.Literal('1790-04-17', datatype=rdflib.term.URIRef('http://id.loc.gov/datatypes/edtf/EDTF'))
>>> name.deathyear
1790

# Represent an entity from the Subject Authority
>>>
>>> from loc_authorities.api import SubjectEntity
>>> subject = SubjectEntity('sh85054401')
>>> subject.authoritative_label
rdflib.term.Literal('German literature--Germany (East)', lang='en') # inherits all properties of LocEntity
# for complex subjects, components instances of either NameEntity or SubjectEntity
>>> subject.components
[<loc_authorities.api.SubjectEntity object at 0x0000025AF492B810>, <loc_authorities.api.NameEntity object at 0x0000025AF492A990>]

# Represent an entity with an unindexed temporal component
>>>
>>> from loc_authorities.api import SubjectEntity
>>> subject = SubjectEntity('sh93000006')
>>> subject.authoritative_label
rdflib.term.Literal('Costa Rica--History--1986-', lang='en')
>>> subject.components
[<loc_authorities.api.NameEntity object at 0x000001D224378D40>, <loc_authorities.api.SubjectEntity object at 0x000001D224379430>, <loc_authorities.api.TemporalEntity object at 0x000001D22412D370>]
>>> temporal = subject.components[2]
>>> temporal.authoritative_label
rdflib.term.Literal('1986-', lang='en')
>>> temporal.instance_of
[rdflib.term.URIRef('http://www.loc.gov/mads/rdf/v1#Temporal'), rdflib.term.URIRef('http://www.loc.gov/mads/rdf/v1#Authority')]
>>> print(temporal.dataset_uriref)
None

# Represent a valid but unindexed complex entity
>>> from loc_authorities.api import DummyComplexEntity
# initialize the component from a list of identifiers
# Use plain strings for unindexed temporal components
>>> subject = DummyComplexEntity(['sh85003744', 'n79022911-781', '1733'])
# dummy entities have many, but not all, characteristics of subject entities
>>> subject.authoritative_label
rdflib.term.Literal('Almanacs--Pennsylvania--1733', lang='en')
>>> subject.instance_of
[rdflib.term.URIRef('http://www.loc.gov/mads/rdf/v1#ComplexSubject'), rdflib.term.URIRef('http://www.loc.gov/mads/rdf/v1#Authority')]
>>> subject.components
[<loc_authorities.api.SubjectEntity object at 0x000001D2244AB050>, <loc_authorities.api.NameEntity object at 0x000001D2244AAD20>, <loc_authorities.api.TemporalEntity object at 0x000001D2244AB950>]
# Dummy subjects take a rdflib.BNode as their identifier
# This persists during the session, but not across sessions
>>> subject.dataset_uriref
rdflib.term.BNode('N13ec427732a2411299d42104094d0af3')

Running tests

Install development requirements
$ pip install . --group dev

Run tests with pytest
$ python -m pytest

Run tests and produce HTML coverage report

$ python -m pytest --cov --cov-report=html:calc_cov

Build documentation

Install development requirements $ pip install . --group dev

Run doctest to make sure the code examples work $ make -C docs doctest

Build documentation with Sphinx $ sphinx-build ./docs/source ./docs/build