Hmm, that is pretty smart. I am actually hoping to roll this whole thing into a plugin for Wordpress/Drupal, so if possible I want to avoid using anything that is going to require server configuration (ie setting up Solr). But I bet I could just roll all the LCSH data into an SQLite file and then search it with PHP on the server. 

This might work. Thanks!

Josh Welker


-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ethan Gruber
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 11:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LOC Subject Headings API

I once put all of the LCSH headings into a local Solr index and used TermsComponent to power autosuggest.  It was really fast.

Ethan


On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 12:47 PM, Joshua Welker <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I realized since I made that comment that the API is designed to give 
> the top 10 subject heading suggestions rather than all of them.
>
> So that part is fine. But I am once again unsure if the API will work 
> for me. I am creating a mashup of several data sources for my 
> auto-suggest feature, and I am having a hard time dynamically adding 
> the results from the LOC Suggest API to the existing collection of 
> data that is used to populate my jQuery UI Autocomplete field. 
> Ideally, I'd like to be able to have all the LC Subject Heading data 
> cached on my server so that I can build my autocomplete data source 
> one time rather than having to deal with dynamically adding, sorting, 
> etc. But then the problem I run into is that the LCSH master file is so big that it basically crashes the server.
>
> That's why I'm thinking I might have to give up on this project.
>
> Josh Welker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf 
> Of Michael J. Giarlo
> Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 9:59 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LOC Subject Headings API
>
> Josh,
>
> Can you say more about how the API isn't behaving as you expected it to?
>
> -Mike
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 10:37 AM, Joshua Welker <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > I went with this method and made some good progress, but the results 
> > the API was returning were not what I expected. I might have to give 
> > up on this project.
> >
> > Josh Welker
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf 
> > Of Ethan Gruber
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 8:22 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LOC Subject Headings API
> >
> > You'd write some javascript to query the service with every 
> > keystroke,
> e.g.
> > http://id.loc.gov/authorities/suggest/?q=Hi replies with subjects 
> > beginning with "hi*"  It looks like covo.js supports LCSH, so you 
> > could look into that.
> >
> > Ethan
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 9:13 AM, Joshua Welker <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> >
> > > This would work, except I would need a way to get all the subjects 
> > > rather than just biology. Any idea how to do that? I tried 
> > > removing the querystring from the URL and changing "Biology" in the URL to ""
> > > with no success.
> > >
> > > Josh Welker
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
> > > Behalf Of Michael J. Giarlo
> > > Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 7:05 PM
> > > To: [log in to unmask]
> > > Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LOC Subject Headings API
> > >
> > > How about id.loc.gov's OpenSearch-powered autosuggest feature?
> > >
> > > mjg@moby:~$ curl http://id.loc.gov/authorities/suggest/?q=Biology
> > > ["Biology",["Biology","Biology Colloquium","Biology Curators'
> > > Group","Biology Databook Editorial Board (U.S.)","Biology and 
> > > Earth Sciences Teaching Institute","Biology and Management of True 
> > > Fir in the Pacific Northwest Symposium (1981 : Seattle, 
> > > Wash.)","Biology and Resource Management Program (Alaska 
> > > Cooperative Park Studies Unit)","Biology and behavior 
> > > series","Biology and environment (Macmillan Press)","Biology and 
> > > management of old-growth
> > > forests"],["1
> > > result","1 result","1 result","1
> > > result","1 result","1 result","1 result","1 result","1 result","1 
> > > result"],["http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85014203","
> > > http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79006962","
> > > http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n90639795","
> > > http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85100466","
> > > http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr97041787","
> > > http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85276541","
> > > http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82057525","
> > > http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n90605518","
> > > http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr2001011448","
> > > http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no94028058"]]
> > >
> > > -Mike
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 7:51 PM, Joshua Welker <[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > > I did see that, and it will work in a pinch. But the authority 
> > > > file is pretty massive--almost 1GB-- and would be difficult to 
> > > > handle in an automated way and without completely killing my web 
> > > > app due to memory constraints while searching the file. Thanks,
> though.
> > > >
> > > > Josh Welker
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Bryan Baldus [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > > > Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 6:39 PM
> > > > To: Code for Libraries; Joshua Welker
> > > > Subject: RE: LOC Subject Headings API
> > > >
> > > > On Tuesday, June 04, 2013 6:31 PM, Joshua Welker 
> > > > [[log in to unmask]]
> > > > wrote:
> > > > >I am building an auto-suggest feature into our library's search 
> > > > >box, and
> > > > I am wanting to include LOC subject headings in my suggestions list.
> > > > Does anyone know of any web service that allows for automated 
> > > > harvesting of LOC Subject Headings? I am also looking for name
> > > authorities, for that matter.
> > > > Any format will be acceptable to me: RDF, XML, JSON, HTML, CSV...
> > > > I have spent a while Googling with no luck, but this seems like 
> > > > the sort of general-purpose thing that a lot of people would be 
> > > > interested
> > in.
> > > > I feel like I must be missing something. Any help is appreciated.
> > > >
> > > > Have you seen http://id.loc.gov/ with bulk downloads in various 
> > > > formats at http://id.loc.gov/download/
> > > >
> > > > I hope this helps,
> > > >
> > > > Bryan Baldus
> > > > Senior Cataloger
> > > > Quality Books Inc.
> > > > The Best of America's Independent Presses
> > > > 1-800-323-4241x402
> > > > [log in to unmask]
> > > > [log in to unmask]
> > > > http://home.comcast.net/~eijabb/
> > > >
> > >
> >
>