University of Helsinki
Helsinki University Library’s open data web service api.hulib.helsinki.fi offers the vast majority of the library’s data in easy-to-use JSON format. In addition to library catalog data, the service contains data of University of Helsinki disciplines and library opening hours. The APIs are documented in Swagger specifications.
Citizens and businesses can retrieve library’s data from the service for personal or commercial purposes. For example, we hope to see new mobile services based on our data. The service will be expanded and developed further in the future. We are planning to open data of Helda, as well as University’s research groups‘ publication data through the service.
The service was implemented by the Helsinki University Library’s application development group. Helsinki University Library has long been a pioneer in the application of information technology, but the current closed library system prevents the library catalog data from appearing in search engines such as Google. The current library system does not provide any tools for opening the data. The upcoming new library system should have built-in support for open APIs.