Data visualization with the Primo APIs: building an application to support librarians

Abstract

This session will show how the librarians at the Kingsborough Community College library created a web-based tool for visually representing our Primo data by drawing from the Primo X-Service Search API. Building upon this API, we created an application using Python’s Flask framework and the D3.js JavaScript library that visualizes our collections interactively. The most recent version of our application can be seen at http://b7jl.sdf.org:35317/. The tool has shown its value in several ways, including collection development (as it helps librarians see where the collection is lacking) and in answering interdisciplinary reference questions (since librarians can use the tool to visualize where search terms fall in the collection). This presentation will be of interest to those interested in visual representations of Primo data, as well as those interested in applications of the Primo APIs. It raises broader questions about the potential of APIs in libraries, and the ways in which we can use them to benefit our stakeholders.