On the subject of the new Google Books API that was unveiled during theGoogle IO 2011 conference last week, Jonathan Rochkindstates:

1. Google Books Api Search By Categories
2. Google Books Api Categories
3. Google Book Api
4. Google Books Api Search

Books The Books category on ProgrammableWeb contains dozens of Application Programming Interface (or API) listings in which developers may use to create applications with book data. These include APIs for libraries, textbooks, book sharing, book reviews, literacy, book printing and publishing, storytelling, photo books and more. When I perform a Volume: get search or a Volume: list using the Google Books API, I'm not getting the full subject list back. The API returns: categories: 'Fiction / General' , And this is what the Google Books record shows: Subjects Fiction Thrillers Suspense Fiction / Historical Fiction / Literary Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense.

Once you have an API key, it can keep track of # requests for thatkey — it’s not clear to me if they rate limit you, and if so at whatrate.

I can answer that. There's no mystery to how many queries per day you'reallowed per API key; as the Google API Consoleshows, the default limit is1,000 per day. Note: default - this suggests that Google is willing tobe flexible on this front. Now, I can imagine the immediate grousingresponse along the lines of 'Good luck getting Google to respond', etc.This is one of the reasons I attended Google IO last year and this year:human contact is much more valuable than email, forum posts, or whingingblogs. I have paid for the conference and all expenses out of my ownpocket each year because, as a librarian/developer, there aren't manyentities that are more relevant to our overall information landscapethan Google at the moment. So, I sat in on the Integrating to eBooks:APIs to Sell and Read eBooks for Affiliates, Retailers and DeviceMakerssession and took advantage of the public Q&A session at the end to asksome questions (skip ahead to 31:39 if you want to hear the questionsand answers).

The default limit of 1,000 queries per day per API key was a bit of aconcern, as one direction that my colleague Art Rhyno has beenexploring forthe creation of a local federated search solution is the creation of a'bookshelf' in Google Books that represents the entire collection of theUniversity of Windsor. There is no documentation about the limits on thesize of this bookshelf, and I was able to get an answer that that isbecause there currently is no limit. Good news to these ears. Also, Iwas told that the limit of 1,000 queries per day was just a startingpoint that could be upped, given a reasonable request.

Noting the absence of any sort of loaning feature, I asked what plans(if any) Google Books had to offer users the ability to loan purchasedbooks. I received the expected answer ('We can't talk about futureplans') but by being present at the session I was able to ensure thatthe question was impressed not only on the people responsible for GoogleBooks, but also for all of the other attendees and for subsequentviewers of the online session. Baby steps, eh?

Beyond that, I was also able to talk directly with Pratip and Kevin, thespeakers at the session, to further describe this particular use casethat libraries have for Google Books (enabling full-text search of thebulk of their collection, whether print or electronic) and some of thepossible advantages to Google, and despite their session's clear focuson selling books via affiliate links, they appeared to be genuinely opento the possibilities of partnerships with libraries (hey, there is eventhe possibility of libraries acting as affiliate sellers for GoogleBooks and reaping revenue that way; others have done it with Amazon, soas much as I may find the practice distasteful personally, some placesfind it acceptable).

So, the conversation has begun, as conversations should - person toperson - and I'll report back when / if we make further progress.

Client libraries make it easy to use the Books API in your favorite language!

Books API client libraries

We have developed a client library written specifically for the Books API.

Google Books Api Search By Categories

Google API client libraries

We also offer generic Google API client libraries that you can use with Books API.

Google Books Api Categories

The Google API client libraries, which are available in a number of popular programming languages, make it easy to use the Books API.

In the tables below, the first column shows each library's stage of development (note that some are in early stages), and links to documentation for the library. The second column links to availablesamples for each library.

These early-stage libraries are also available:

Featured samples

Often, the easiest way to learn how to use an API is to look at sample code. The tables above provide links to some basic samples for each of the languages shown. This section highlights some additional interesting samples for the Books API.

Google Book Api

Google Books Api Search