UNC Libraries Catalog Search API (TRLN Discovery / Blacklight)

The UNC University Library catalog answers machine-readable search over its full bibliographic index at /catalog.json, the Blacklight JSON response format, with query, search_field, facet and pagination parameters carried on the query string. Verified keyless and live on 2026-08-30. The application is TRLN Discovery, the Triangle Research Libraries Network's open-source Blacklight stack, which UNC Libraries deploys and extends itself — its ingest adaptation is public at https://github.com/UNC-Libraries/disco-ingest. No API reference is published; the response shape is Blacklight's.

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API entry from apis.yml

apis.yml Raw ↑
aid: university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill:library-catalog-search
name: UNC Libraries Catalog Search API (TRLN Discovery / Blacklight)
description: The UNC University Library catalog answers machine-readable search over its full bibliographic
  index at /catalog.json, the Blacklight JSON response format, with query, search_field, facet and pagination
  parameters carried on the query string. Verified keyless and live on 2026-08-30. The application is
  TRLN Discovery, the Triangle Research Libraries Network's open-source Blacklight stack, which UNC Libraries
  deploys and extends itself — its ingest adaptation is public at https://github.com/UNC-Libraries/disco-ingest.
  No API reference is published; the response shape is Blacklight's.
humanURL: https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/
baseURL: https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog.json
x-operator: institution
x-operator-evidence: catalog.lib.unc.edu CNAMEs to disco.lib.unc.edu (152.2.176.35), UNC Libraries' own
  host. The software is open-source Blacklight/TRLN Discovery that UNC runs and modifies itself, not a
  hosted vendor platform and not an account on someone else's service.
tags:
- Library
- Library Catalog
- Search
- Blacklight
properties:
- type: Website
  url: https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/
- type: GitHub
  url: https://github.com/UNC-Libraries/disco-ingest