University of Oxford Text Archive API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: Oxford OAI-PMH Interface Text Archive API
  version: '2.0'
  summary: OAI-PMH 2.0 harvesting for the Bodleian Libraries' Oxford Text Archive.
  description: 'A second, separate institution-operated OAI-PMH endpoint, distinct from ORA. The Oxford

    Text Archive is a language-resources repository run by the Bodleian Libraries on a DSpace

    installation at ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. DSpace is open-source software Oxford installs and

    runs itself — not a hosted vendor platform — so the surface is institution-operated, not a

    tenancy.


    The Identify response carries an OLAC archive description naming the institution as

    "Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford" with a physical address at Osney Mead, Oxford,

    which is unusually explicit provenance for a repository endpoint. Note two honest defects

    visible in that response: an unresolved template variable `${lr.desription.access}` in the

    OLAC access field (with the typo in the software''s own key), and an OLAC record last

    reviewed 2020-02-26. `deletedRecord` is `transient`, unlike ORA''s `no`.


    DERIVED: this is a convenience description of a protocol Oxford implements. Oxford

    publishes no OpenAPI for it.

    '
  contact:
    name: Oxford Text Archive — Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
    email: ota@bodleian.ox.ac.uk
    url: https://ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repository/xmlui/page/about
  x-operator: institution
  x-operator-evidence: Identify response reports repositoryIdentifier ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk, adminEmail ota@bodleian.ox.ac.uk and an OLAC institution of "Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford". DSpace is self-hosted open-source software, not a vendor tenancy.
  x-provenance:
    generated: '2026-08-19'
    method: derived
    source: Derived from a live Identify response captured 2026-08-19, stored verbatim in ../examples/university-of-oxford-ota-oai-identify.xml.
  x-standard: https://www.openarchives.org/OAI/openarchivesprotocol.html
servers:
- url: https://ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repository/oai/request
  description: Oxford Text Archive OAI-PMH base URL. The Identify response self-reports this base URL over http; https is what actually answers.
tags:
- name: TextArchive
  description: OAI-PMH harvesting of Oxford Text Archive records.
paths:
  /:
    get:
      operationId: otaOaiRequest
      summary: Issue an OAI-PMH verb against the Oxford Text Archive
      tags:
      - TextArchive
      parameters:
      - name: verb
        in: query
        required: true
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - Identify
          - ListSets
          - ListMetadataFormats
          - ListIdentifiers
          - ListRecords
          - GetRecord
      - name: metadataPrefix
        in: query
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
        example: oai_dc
      - name: set
        in: query
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: identifier
        in: query
        required: false
        description: Form `oai:ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk:20.500.12024/{id}` (Handle-based).
        schema:
          type: string
        example: oai:ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk:20.500.12024/0001
      - name: from
        in: query
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
          format: date-time
      - name: until
        in: query
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
          format: date-time
      - name: resumptionToken
        in: query
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: OAI-PMH response envelope. Protocol errors are returned inside a 200 body via an <error> element, not as an HTTP status.
          content:
            text/xml:
              schema:
                type: string
                contentMediaType: text/xml
              examples:
                identify:
                  externalValue: ../examples/university-of-oxford-ota-oai-identify.xml