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I use web scraping sometimes to extract data from systems that lack APIs. I'm doing this to get current library job openings from our University jobs application, for instance. I use the structure of their website in a way similar to an API query, scrape the results, and extract only what I need. I jokingly call it a FIFIO API (Fine, I'll Figure It Out). Obviously, such a tool is inherently unstable, and has to be closely managed. When used with things like the jobs application, which maintain a relatively stable uri structure over time, however, it can be a pretty good tool when you have nothing else. I also used screen scraping as part of a tool I built years ago to allow authorized staff to create announcements within a special libguide that they then pushed to the EZ Proxy login page. I wrote a book chapter on that one: "Leveraging LibGuides as an EZProxy Notifications Interface." Innovative Libguides Applications: Real World Examples. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016 Best regards, *Jason Bengtson* *http://www.jasonbengtson.com/ <http://www.jasonbengtson.com/>* On Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 12:24 PM, Brad Coffield <[log in to unmask] > wrote: > I think there's likely a lot of possibilities out there and was hoping to > hear examples of web scraping for libraries. Your example might just > inspire me or another reader to do something similar. At the very least, > the ideas will be interesting! > > Brad > > > -- > Brad Coffield, MLIS > Assistant Information and Web Services Librarian > Saint Francis University > 814-472-3315 > [log in to unmask] >