The User Set API allows users to create and maintain their own collection of items (sets) that are available in Europeana. Besides creating sets, users can also search for sets that were created by other users and are available for public viewing. This API supports the gallery functionality that is available in the Europeana website for logged-in users.

Retrieval

Methods for accessing either the metadata of a user set or the metadata of the items that are part of the user set. Considering that the number of items that are part of the user may be relatively high, it was decided to separate the user set metadata from the item metadata retrieval and to offer a paginated approach to accessing the information about the items that are part of the user set.

Retrieving user set metadata

Retrieves all metadata available for a specific user set. This includes all descriptive metadata but leaves out the contents of the set.

Request

https://api.europeana.eu/set/[IDENTIFIER]
Accept: [ACCEPT]

https://api.europeana.eu/set/[IDENTIFIER].[FORMAT]

Parameter	Location	Description
IDENTIFIER	path	The local identifier of the user set.
ACCEPT	header	Indicates the preferred format via which the user set is to be represented if the format is accepted by the service. Only JSON-LD is supported.
FORMAT	path	Convenience method where the format is indicated as a path parameter instead of via the Accept header.

Response

On success, the method returns a HTTP 200 with the metadata of the user set.

The response is a JSON-LD structure composed of the following fields:

Field	Datatype	Description
User Set
@context	String (URL)	The JSON-LD context
id	String (URI)	The unique identifier of the user set
type	String	The type of the user set. By default all user sets are classified as 'Collection'. The 'BookmarkFolder' and 'EntityBestItemsSet' are types that are used to support specific functionality in the Europeana Website.
visibility	String	Access visibility of the user set. The possible states are “private”, “public” and “published”. The default value assigned at the creation of the set when omitted is “private”. For “BookmarkFolder” sets, the visibility is immutable and cannot be changed to another value besides “private”.
title	Object (LangMap)	Name given by the user to the set.
description	Object (LangMap)	A summary of the content and topics of the user set.
subject	Array (String (URI))	Overall topical content of the items in the set. These topics are restricted to URIs of the Europeana Entities. This property is repeatable when several subjects apply to the whole set.
pinned	Integer	The number of pinned items in the “EntityBestItemsSet” (only applicable for this kind of set). This is a temporary field while a more suitable option is found to handle user suggestions for Entities.
creator	Object (User)	Refers to a registered user which is the creator and owner of the set.
contributor	Array (String (URI))	Refers to the registered users which have requested changes to the set. The API will list the URIs of all users that co-created the set.
provider	Object (Provider)	Holds a reference to an Organisation entity in Europeana or the URL of the project page in Europeana Pro together with the project name.
created	String (Datetime)	The time at which the set was created by the user. The value must be a Literal expressed as xsd:dateTime with the UTC timezone expressed as 'Z'.
modified	String (Datetime)	The time at which the set was modified, after creation. The value must be a Literal expressed as xsd:dateTime with the UTC timezone expressed as 'Z'.
issued	String (Datetime)	The time at which the set was published for a wider audience in the Europeana website. The value must be a Literal expressed as xsd:dateTime with the UTC timezone expressed as 'Z'.
isDefinedBy	String (URL)	Defines a search request to the Search API which selects the items that are part of the Set (only relevant for open sets).
total	Integer	A non-negative integer specifying the total number of items that are contained within this set.
first	String (URL)	Indicates the first preceding page of items in the set.
last	String (URL)	Indicates the furthest proceeding page of the set.
User
id	String (URI)	The unique identifier of the user in Europeana.
type	String	The type of the resource. Always set to "Person".
nickname	String	The username of the user. For privacy reasons, this is the only personal information made publicly available.
Provider
id	String (URI)	Holds a reference to an Organisation entity in Europeana or the URL of the project page in Europeana Pro.
type	String	The type of the resource. Always set to "Organization".
name	String	The name of the project that contributed the set.

Retrieving items within a user set

Retrieves a limit number of items contained within a specific user set. This method is used to traverse through the complete list of items within the user set by requesting each page of items at a time. Use the 'page' and 'pageSize' parameters to navigate or follow the links in the 'next' or 'prev' properties to navigate respectively to the next or previous page.

Request

https://api.europeana.eu/set/[IDENTIFIER]?page=[PAGE]
Accept: [ACCEPT]

Parameter	Location	Description
IDENTIFIER	path	The local identifier of the user set.
page	query	The number of the page (defaults to 1).
pageSize	query	The number of items to retrieve, maximum is 100, defaults to 10.
profile	query	A parameter used to define the extent of the response. Two profiles are available “standard“ (default) and “itemDescriptions“. standard: Presents only the identifiers of the items that are part of the page. itemDescriptions: Presents the metadata of the item as obtained from the Search API.
ACCEPT	header	Indicates the preferred format via which the user set is to be represented if the format is accepted by the service. Only JSON-LD is supported.

Response

On success, the method returns a HTTP 200 with a subset of items of the user set.

The response is a JSON-LD structure composed of the following fields:

Field	Datatype	Description
User Set Page
@context	String (URL)	The JSON-LD context
id	String (URI)	The unique identifier of the page of items
type	String	The type of the page of items. Always set to 'CollectionPage'.
partOf	Object (Collection)	The user set to which this page belongs. Only the subset of information for navigating the itens is presented.
startIndex	Integer	A non-negative integer specifying the position in sequence of the first item in the user set page.
total	Integer	A non-negative integer specifying the total number of items in the user set page.
items	Array (String(URI) or Object(Item) )	The metadata for, or a reference to, the items that are part of the set page.
prev	String (URL)	A reference to the previous page in the sequence of pages that make up the set.
next	String (URL)	A reference to the next page in the sequence of pages that make up the set.
Collection
id	String (URI)	The unique identifier of the user set.
type	String	The type of the resource. Always set to "Collection".
total	Integer	A non-negative integer specifying the total number of items that are contained within this set.
first	String (URL)	Indicates the first preceding page of items in the set.
last	String (URL)	Indicates the furthest proceeding page of the set.
Item
id	String (URI)	The unique identifier of a record in Europeana
… metadata for the item (see Search API documentation for an overview of the metadata) …

Discovery

Methods for searching for items that are part of a user set or to search across all user sets that are available in Europeana.

Search for items within a user set

Search for items contained within a user set based on a given selection criteria. This method is paginated similar to the listing method. Use the 'page' and 'pageSize' parameters to navigate or follow the links in the 'next' or 'prev' properties to navigate, respectively, to the next or previous page.

Fields available for search:

item: using local identifier of the record contained within the set

No sort or faceting is available

Request

https://api.europeana.eu/set/[IDENTIFIER]/search?query=[QUERY]
Accept: [ACCEPT]

Parameter	Location	Description
IDENTIFIER	path	The local identifier of the user set.
query	query	The text to be used for searching. Always set to the wildcard value (ie. '*') for content search.
qf	query	A search query filter. This parameter can be used multiple types if more than one query filter is needed.
page	query	The number of the page (defaults to 1).
pageSize	query	The number of items to retrieve, maximum is 100, defaults to 10.
ACCEPT	header	Indicates the preferred format via which the user set is to be represented if the format is accepted by the service. Only JSON-LD is supported.

Response

On success, the method returns a HTTP 200 with a subset of items that are part of the user set and match the search criteria.

The response is a JSON-LD structure composed of the following fields:

Field	Datatype	Description
(Search) Result Page
@context	String (URL)	The JSON-LD context
id	String (URI)	The identifier of the search results page.
type	String	The type of the page of items. Always set to 'ResultPage'.
partOf	Object (ResultList)	The complete list of items that match the search query. Only the subset of information for navigating the items in the search results list is presented.
total	Integer	A non-negative integer specifying the total number of items in the search results page.
items	Array (String (URI))	The reference to the items that are part of the search results page.
prev	String (URL)	A reference to the next page in the sequence of pages that make up the search results.
next	String (URL)	A reference to the previous page in the sequence of pages that make up the search results.
(Search) Result List
id	String (URI)	The identifier of the search results.
type	String	The type of the resource. Always set to "ResultList".
total	Integer	The total number of items matching the search query.
first	String (URL)	Indicates the first preceding page of items in the result list.
last	String (URL)	Indicates the furthest proceeding page of items in the result list.

Search for user sets

Search for user sets based on a given selection criteria. This method is paginated similar to the listing method. Use the 'page' and 'pageSize' parameters to navigate or follow the links in the 'next' or 'prev' properties to navigate, respectively, to the next or previous page.

Fields available for search:

set_id
creator: using local identifier or URI
contributor: using local identifier or URI
visibility:
type: with value 'Collection' or 'BookmarkFolder', or 'EntityBestItemsSet')
item: with the local identifier of the record contained within the set)
subject: with the URI), lang (with a two-letter code), title.

Fields available for sorting:

modified
score

No faceting is available

Request

https://api.europeana.eu/set/search?query=[QUERY]
Accept: [ACCEPT]

Parameter	Location	Description
IDENTIFIER	path	The local identifier of the user set.
query	query	The text to be used for searching.
qf	query	A search query filter, ie. a filter is applied on the result list to remove unwanted results and therefore has no effect on ranking. This parameter can be used multiple types if more than one query filter is needed.
profile	query	A parameter used to define the extent of the response. Three profiles are available “minimal“ (default), “standard“ and “facets“. minimal: Presents only the identifiers of the items that are part of the page. standard: Presents the metadata of the user sets that are part of the page. facets: Presents the facets.
sort	query	A comma separated list of fields used for sorting the results. The field can be suffixed with the order in which the results are sorted, either 'asc' or 'desc' by the following: <field_name>+<sort_order>. The special keyword 'score' can be used to order by the ranking as determined by the search engine (which is the default).
page	query	The number of the search result page (defaults to 1).
pageSize	query	The number of user sets to retrieve, maximum is 100, defaults to 10.
ACCEPT	header	Indicates the preferred format via which the user set is to be represented if the format is accepted by the service. Only JSON-LD is supported.

Response

On success, the method returns a HTTP 200 with a subset of user sets that match the search criteria.

The response is a JSON-LD structure composed of the following fields:

Field	Datatype	Description
(Search) Result Page
@context	String (URL)	The JSON-LD context
id	String (URI)	The identifier of the search results page.
type	String	The type of the page of items. Always set to 'ResultPage'.
partOf	Object (ResultList)	The complete list of user sets that match the search query. Only the subset of information for navigating the items in the search results list is presented.
total	Integer	A non-negative integer specifying the total number of user sets in the search results page.
items	Array (String (URI) or Object(Set))	The sets that are part of this search results page.
prev	String (URL)	A reference to the next page in the sequence of pages that make up the search results.
next	String (URL)	A reference to the previous page in the sequence of pages that make up the search results.
(Search) Result List
id	String (URI)	The identifier of the search results.
type	String	The type of the resource. Always set to "ResultList".
total	Integer	The total number of user sets matching the search query.
first	String (URL)	Indicates the first preceding page of user sets in the result list.
last	String (URL)	Indicates the furthest proceeding page of user sets in the result list.

User Set API Documentation

Retrieval

Retrieving user set metadata

Request

Response

Retrieving items within a user set

Request

Response

Discovery

Search for items within a user set

Request

Response

Search for user sets

Request

Response

Provision