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https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib

python library to validate, clean, transform and get metadata of ISBN strings (for devs).
https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib

biblatex bibliographic-references book csl-json doi ean13 endnote google-books isbn metadata open-library python

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python library to validate, clean, transform and get metadata of ISBN strings (for devs).

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Info

====



``isbnlib`` is a (pure) python library that provides several

useful methods and functions to validate, clean, transform, hyphenate and

get metadata for ISBN strings.



Install

-------



From the command line, enter (in some cases you have to precede the

command with ``sudo``):



.. code-block:: bash



    $ pip install isbnlib



If you use linux systems, you can install using your distribution package

manager (all major distributions have packages ``python-isbnlib``

and ``python3-isbnlib``), however these are (usually) **very old and don't work well any more**!



ISBN

----



   The official form of an ISBN is something like ``ISBN 979-10-90636-07-1``. However for most

   applications only the numbers are important, you can always 'mask' them if you need (see below).

   This library works mainly with 'stripped' ISBNs (only digits and X) like '0826497527'. You can

   strip an ISBN-like string by using ``canonical(isbnlike)``. You can

   'mask' the ISBN by using ``mask(isbn)``. So in the examples below, when you see 'isbn'

   in the argument, it is a 'stripped' ISBN, whereas when the argument is an 'isbnlike', it is a string

   like ``ISBN 979-10-90636-07-1`` or even something dirty like ``asdf 979-10-90636-07-1 bla bla``.



   Two important concepts: a **valid ISBN** should be an ISBN that was built according to the rules,

   which is distinct from an **issued ISBN**, which is an ISBN that was already issued to a publisher

   (this is the usage of the libraries and most of the web services).

   However *isbn.org*, probably for legal reasons, merges the two!

   So, according to *isbn-international.org*, '9786610326266' is not valid (because the block 978-66...

   has not been issued yet, however if you use ``is_isbn13('9786610326266')`` you will get ``True``

   (because '9786610326266' follows the rules of an ISBN). But the situation is even murkier,

   try ``meta('9786610326266')`` and you will see that this ISBN was already used!



   If possible, work with ISBNs in the ISBN-13 format (since 2007, only ISBNs

   in the ISBN-13 format are issued). You can always convert ISBN-10 to ISBN-13, but **not** the reverse (read this_).

   Read more about ISBNs at isbn-international.org_ or wikipedia_.



Main Functions

--------------



``is_isbn10(isbn10like)``

    Validates as ISBN-10.



``is_isbn13(isbn13like)``

    Validates as ISBN-13.



``to_isbn10(isbn13)``

    Transforms ISBN-13 to ISBN-10.



``to_isbn13(isbn10)``

    Transforms ISBN-10 to ISBN-13.



``canonical(isbnlike)``

    Keeps only digits and X. You will get strings like `9780321534965` and `954430603X`.



``clean(isbnlike)``

    Cleans ISBN (only legal characters).



``notisbn(isbnlike, level='strict')``

    Checks with the goal of invalidating ISBN-like.



``get_isbnlike(text, level='normal')``

    Extracts all substrings that seem like ISBNs (very useful for scraping).



``get_canonical_isbn(isbnlike, output='bouth')``

    Extracts ISBNs and transforms them to the canonical form.



``ean13(isbnlike)``

    Transforms an `isbnlike` string into an EAN13 number (validated canonical ISBN-13).



``doi(isbn)``

    Returns a DOI's ISBN-A from a ISBN-13.



``mask(isbn, separator='-')``

    `Mask` (hyphenate) a canonical ISBN.



``info(isbn)``

    Gets the language or country assigned to this ISBN.



``meta(isbn, service='default')``

    Gives you the main metadata associated with the ISBN. As the `service` parameter you can use:

    ``'goob'`` uses the **Google Books service** (**no key is needed**) and

    **is the default option**,

    ``'wiki'`` uses the **wikipedia.org** API (**no key is needed**),

    ``'openl'`` uses the **OpenLibrary.org** API (**no key is needed**).

    You can enter API keys

    with ``config.add_apikey(service, apikey)`` (see example below).

    The output can be formatted as ``bibtex``, ``csl`` (CSL-JSON), ``msword``, ``endnote``, ``refworks``,

    ``opf`` or ``json`` (BibJSON) bibliographic formats with ``registry.bibformatters``.

    Now, you can extend the functionality of this function by adding plugins, more metadata

    providers or new bibliographic formatters (check_ for available plugins).



``editions(isbn, service='merge')``

    Returns the list of ISBNs of editions related with this ISBN. By default

    uses 'merge' (merges 'openl', 'thingl' and 'wiki'), but other providers are available:

    'openl' (uses the search API from **Open Library**),

    'thingl' (uses the service ThingISBN from **LibraryThing**),

    'wiki' (uses the service Citation from **Wikipedia**)

    and 'any' (first tries 'wiki', if no data then 'openl').



``isbn_from_words(words)``

    Returns the most probable ISBN from a list of words (for your geographic area).



``goom(words)``

    Returns a list of references from **Google Books multiple references**.



``classify(isbn)``

    Returns a dictionary of **classifiers** for a canonical ISBN. For the meaning of these classifiers see OCLC_.

    Most of the data in the underlying service are for books in English. (See issue 138_).



``desc(isbn)``

    Returns a small description of the book.

    *Almost all data available are for US books!*



``cover(isbn)``

    Returns a dictionary with the url for cover.

    *Almost all data available are for US books!*



``doi2tex(DOI)``

    Returns metadata formatted as BibTeX for a given DOI.



``ren(filename)``

    Renames a file using metadata for an ISBN in the filename.



See files test_core_ and test_ext_ for **a lot of examples**.



Plugins

-------



You can extend the functionality of the library by adding plugins (for now, just

new metadata providers or new bibliographic formatters).



For available plugins check_ here.



After installing, your plugin will blend transparently in ``isbnlib`` (you will have more options in ``meta`` and ``bibformatters``).



For Devs

========



API's Main Namespaces

---------------------



In the namespace ``isbnlib`` you have access to the **core functions**:

``is_isbn10``, ``is_isbn13``, ``to_isbn10``, ``to_isbn13``, ``canonical``,

``clean``, ``notisbn``, ``get_isbnlike``, ``get_canonical_isbn``, ``mask``,

``info``, ``check_digit10``, ``check_digit13``, ``doi`` and ``ean13``.



In addition, you have access to **metadata functions**, namely:

``meta``, ``editions``, ``ren``, ``desc``, ``cover``,

``goom``, ``classify``, ``doi2tex`` and ``isbn_from_words``.



The exceptions raised by these methods can all be caught using ``ISBNLibException``.



You can extend the lib by using the classes and functions exposed in the

namespace ``isbnlib.dev``, namely:



* ``WEBService`` a class that handles access to web

  services (just by passing a url) and supports ``gzip``.

  You can subclass it to extend the functionality... but

  you probably don't need to use it! It is used in the next class.



* ``WEBQuery`` a class that uses ``WEBService`` to retrieve and parse

  data from a web service. You can build a new provider of metadata

  by subclassing this class.

  Its main methods allow passing custom

  functions (*handlers*) that specialize them to specific needs (``data_checker`` and

  ``parser``). It implements a **throttling mechanism** with a default rate of

  one call per second per service.



* ``Metadata`` a class that structures, cleans and 'validates' records of

  metadata. The ``merge`` method allows implementing a simple merging

  procedure for records from different sources. The main features of this class can be

  implemented by calling the ``stdmeta`` function instead!



* ``vias`` exposes several functions to make calls to services simply by passing the name and

  a pointer to the service's ``query`` function.

  ``vias.parallel`` allows making threaded calls.

  You can use ``vias.serial`` to make serial calls and

  ``vias.multi`` to use several cores. The default is ``vias.serial``.



The exceptions raised by these methods can all be caught using ``ISBNLibDevException`` (or, more generally, ``ISBNLibException``).

You **shouldn't raise** this exception in your code, only raise the specific exceptions

exposed in ``isbnlib.dev`` whose names end in Error.



In ``isbnlib.dev.helpers`` you can find several methods that we found very useful, some of which

are only used in ``isbntools`` (*an app and framework* that uses ``isbnlib``).



With ``isbnlib.config`` you can read and set configuration options:

change timeouts with ``seturlopentimeout`` and ``setthreadstimeout``,

access API keys with ``apikeys`` and add new ones with ``add_apikey``,

access and set generic and user-defined options with ``options.get('OPTION1')`` and ``set_option``.



Finally, from ``isbnlib.registry`` you can change the metadata service to be used by default

(``setdefaultservice``),

add a new service (``add_service``), access bibliographic formatters for metadata (``bibformatters``),

set the default formatter (``setdefaultbibformatter``), add new formatters (``add_bibformatter``) and

set a new cache (``set_cache``) (e.g. to switch off the cache ``set_cache(None)``).

The cache only works for calls through metadata functions. These changes only work for the 'current session',

so should always be done before calling other methods.



Let us concretize these points with a small example.



Suppose you want a small script to get metadata using ``Open Library`` formatted in BibTeX.



A minimal script would be:



.. code-block:: python



    from isbnlib import meta

    from isbnlib.registry import bibformatters



    SERVICE = "openl"



    # now you can use the service

    isbn = "9780446310789"

    bibtex = bibformatters["bibtex"]

    print(bibtex(meta(isbn, SERVICE)))



Patterns of Usage

-----------------



The library implements a very simple API with sensible defaults, but there are cases

that need your attention (see case 3 below).



A. You only need **core functions**:



.. code-block:: python



    # import the core functions you need

    from isbnlib import canonical, is_isbn10, is_isbn13



    isbn = canonical("978-0446310789")

    if is_isbn13(isbn):

        ...

    ...



B. You also need **metadata functions** with the **default config**:



.. code-block:: python



    from isbnlib import canonical, meta, description



    isbn = canonical("978-0446310789")

    data = meta(isbn)

    ...



C. You also need **metadata functions** with a **special config**:



   *Let's suppose you need to add an API key for a metadata plugin

   and change the cache too*.



.. code-block:: python



    from myapp.utils import MyCache



    # import the functions you need, plus 'config' and 'registry'

    from isbnlib import canonical, config, meta, registry



    # you should use 'config' first

    config.add_apikey("isbndb", "kjshdfkjahsdflkjh")



    # then 'registry'

    registry.set_cache(MyCache())



    # Only now should you use metadata functions

    # (there are no adaptions for core functions,

    # so they can be used at any time)

    isbn = canonical("978-0446310789")

    data = meta(isbn, service="isbndb")

    ...



D. You want to build a **plugin** or use **isbnlib.dev** in your code:



   You should study the **public** methods in ``dir(isbnlib.dev)`` very carefully, starting with this template_

   and following the instructions there. For inspiration take a look at goob_.



   Most of the public bibliographic catalog services return data in **SRU** or **Unimarc** format. It is very easy

   to write a customer **plugin** for these services, just use porbase_ (SRU) or sbn_ (Unimarc) as templates

   and consult this project_.



Caveats

-------



1. These classes are optimized for single calls to services and not for batch calls.



2. If you inspect the library, you will see that there are a lot of private modules

   (their names start with '_'). These modules **should not** be accessed directly since

   there's a high probability your program will break with a future version of the library!



Projects using *isbnlib*

========================



**Open Library**   https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary



**NYPL Library Simplified**  https://github.com/NYPL-Simplified



**RERO ILS**  https://github.com/rero/rero-ils



**CERN CDS RDM** https://github.com/CERNDocumentServer/cds-rdm



**ResearchHub** https://github.com/ResearchHub/researchhub-backend



**Manubot**   https://github.com/manubot



**isbntools**      https://github.com/xlcnd/isbntools



**isbnsrv**        https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnsrv



See the full list here_.



Help

====



If you need help, please take a look at github_ or post a question on

stackoverflow_.



.. _github: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib/discussions



.. _range: https://www.isbn-international.org/range_file_generation



.. _isbntools: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/isbntools



.. _sourcegraph: http://bit.ly/ISBNLib_srcgraph



.. _readthedocs: http://bit.ly/ISBNLib_rtd



.. _stackoverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/search?tab=newest&q=isbnlib



.. _test_core: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib/blob/master/isbnlib/test/test_core.py



.. _test_ext: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib/blob/master/isbnlib/test/test_ext.py



.. _isbn-international.org: https://www.isbn-international.org/content/what-isbn



.. _wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number



.. _python-future.org: http://python-future.org/compatible_idioms.html



.. _issue: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib/issues/28



.. _check: https://pypi.python.org/pypi?%3Aaction=search&term=isbnlib_&submit=search



.. _template: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib/blob/dev/PLUGIN.zip



.. _goob: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib/blob/dev/isbnlib/_goob.py



.. _search: https://pypi.python.org/pypi?%3Aaction=search&term=isbnlib&submit=search



.. _51: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib/issues/51



.. _here: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib/network/dependents?package_id=UGFja2FnZS01MjIyODAxMQ%3D%3D



.. _OCLC: http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/



.. _this: http://web.archive.org/web/20211024015637/https://bisg.org/news/479346/New-979-ISBN-Prefixes-Expected-in-2020.htm



.. _sbn: https://github.com/arangb/isbnlib-sbn/blob/main/isbnlib_sbn/_sbn.py



.. _porbase: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib-porbase/blob/dev/isbnlib_porbase/_porbase.py



.. _project: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3Aproject



.. _138: https://github.com/xlcnd/isbnlib/issues/138