Loughborough University

aid: loughborough
name: Loughborough University
x-type: university
x-category: Public Research University
description: 'Loughborough University is a public research university in Leicestershire, United Kingdom, a member of the Midlands
  Innovation group, established 1909 and best known for sport science, engineering and design. It publishes no central developer
  portal, no open-data portal and no first-party OpenAPI, and no such thing was generated for it here. Two surfaces are unambiguously
  the university''s own and are recorded as such: a self-hosted Moodle ("Learn") on Loughborough''s own address space running
  as a 1EdTech LTI 1.3 Advantage platform with a publicly readable JWKS, and a SimpleSAMLphp SAML 2.0 Identity Provider registered
  in the UK Access Management Federation. Five more carry Loughborough''s data on someone else''s platform and are recorded
  as tenancies: a Koha library system whose REST API serves a live Swagger 2.0 description and nineteen keyless /public endpoints
  — the single most usable programmable surface the institution has, and hosted by PTFS Europe; a VuFind discovery layer whose
  Search API is deployed but closed; the Loughborough Research Repository, a figshare tenancy; Talis Aspire reading lists;
  and Springshare LibCal. Loughborough is also a DataCite member in its own right. No contract is stored under this slug,
  because none of the contracts are Loughborough''s to claim.'
type: Index
deliveryModel:
  model: self-hosted
  open_source: true
  commercial: false
  callable_host: true
  label: Self-hosted open-source stack · you call their endpoint
  confidence: high
  source:
  - probes
  - conformance
  generated: '2026-08-30'
  method: probed
accessModel:
  pricing: free
  onboarding: none
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: true
  label: Free · No signup for the public library endpoints
  confidence: high
  source:
  - probes
  generated: '2026-08-30'
  method: probed
position: Consuming
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/loughborough.png
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/loughborough/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
tags:
- Education
- Higher Education
- University
- United Kingdom
- Library
- Library Catalog
- Identity Federation
- Learning Management
- Research Data
- Open Access
- Repository
created: '2026-06-03'
modified: '2026-08-30'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
x-coverage:
  state: covered
  reason: covered
  detail: 'Loughborough was previously profiled from a single Figshare contract. Twenty-two vendor surfaces, all resolving
    to api.figshare.com, were attributed to the institution — the same document fourteen other universities in this cohort
    also carried — split by refine-openapis into ten per-tag OpenAPIs and eleven apis[] entries, and everything derived from
    it (schemas, structures, examples, rulesets, vocabulary, JSON-LD context, scopes, authentication, agentic-access, capability
    edges and twenty collections) inherited that provenance. All of it has been removed. In its place, seven live surfaces
    were found by probing lboro.ac.uk hosts directly: the Koha ILS REST API at koha.lboro.ac.uk, which serves an 863KB Swagger
    2.0 description naming its own host and answers GET /api/v1/public/libraries with Loughborough''s own library records
    and no credential; the Moodle LTI 1.3 platform endpoints at learn.lboro.ac.uk, including a public JWKS; the VuFind Search
    API at vufind.lboro.ac.uk, deployed but returning "Permission denied"; the SAML 2.0 IdP at idp.lboro.ac.uk, registered
    in the UK Access Management Federation aggregate under scope lboro.ac.uk; and the figshare, Talis Aspire and LibCal tenancies.
    Two of the seven are marked institution — Learn, which has no CNAME and sits in Loughborough''s own 158.125.161.0/24,
    and the IdP, whose CNAME target lut.ac.uk is Loughborough''s own second registrable domain. The other five carry institution
    hostnames that CNAME to a platform (ptfse.net, figshare.com, talis.com, libcal.com) and are marked tenant on that basis,
    which is the same test this pipeline applies to scholarbank.nus.edu.sg. Loughborough is also a DataCite member in its
    own right (JHAH, prefixes 10.17028 and 10.26174). Two caveats on readability: an Anubis bot challenge fronts the HTML
    paths on koha.lboro.ac.uk and vufind.lboro.ac.uk, which is why the Koha OAI-PMH responder could not be read, and the only
    OAI-PMH that does answer is Figshare''s shared endpoint scoped by set=portal_2 — a tenant surface, not an institution
    one.'
  generated: '2026-08-30'
  method: probed
  evidence:
  - url: https://koha.lboro.ac.uk/api/v1/
    status: 200
  - url: https://koha.lboro.ac.uk/api/v1/public/libraries
    status: 200
  - url: https://learn.lboro.ac.uk/mod/lti/certs.php
    status: 200
  - url: https://vufind.lboro.ac.uk/api/v1/search?lookfor=test&limit=1
    status: 403
  - url: https://idp.lboro.ac.uk/simplesaml/saml2/idp/SSOService.php
    status: 400
  - url: http://metadata.ukfederation.org.uk/ukfederation-metadata.xml
    status: 200
  - url: https://api.datacite.org/clients/bl.lboro
    status: 200
  - url: https://koha.lboro.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/oai.pl?verb=Identify
    status: 200
  - url: https://api.lboro.ac.uk/
    status: 0
  - url: https://data.lboro.ac.uk/
    status: 0
apis:
- aid: loughborough:library-catalogue-api
  name: Loughborough University Library Catalogue API (Koha)
  x-operator: tenant
  description: The REST API of Loughborough University Library's Koha integrated library system, served from the university's
    own koha.lboro.ac.uk host. The live description at /api/v1/ is a Swagger 2.0 document declaring host koha.lboro.ac.uk
    and basePath /api/v1 across 249 paths and 79 tags, nineteen of them under /public. GET /api/v1/public/libraries returns
    Loughborough's own branch records — London Library at Here East, the Inter-Library Loan Service, library@lboro.ac.uk —
    with no credential at all. Staff paths require authentication (401). Koha is community open-source software and the contract's
    info.contact is the Koha Development Team, so no copy of the specification is stored under Loughborough's slug; the deployment,
    the host and the data are Loughborough's and that is what is credited here. The instance is under managed hosting by PTFS
    Europe (koha.lboro.ac.uk CNAMEs to lboro.koha.servers.ptfse.net). An Anubis bot challenge fronts the HTML paths on this
    host; the JSON API paths pass through it.
  humanURL: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/library/search/
  baseURL: https://koha.lboro.ac.uk/api/v1/
  tags:
  - Library
  - Library Catalog
  - Bibliographic
  - Open Access
  properties:
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://koha.lboro.ac.uk/api/v1/.html
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://koha.lboro.ac.uk/api/v1/
  - type: x-example
    url: examples/loughborough-koha-public-libraries-example.json
- aid: loughborough:learn-lti-platform
  name: Loughborough Learn — LTI 1.3 Advantage Platform (Moodle)
  x-operator: institution
  description: 'Loughborough''s virtual learning environment, "Learn", is a Moodle instance self-hosted at learn.lboro.ac.uk
    in the university''s own 158.125.161.0/24 address space. It runs as a 1EdTech (IMS Global) LTI 1.3 / LTI Advantage PLATFORM:
    the OIDC login endpoint (/mod/lti/auth.php), the access-token endpoint (/mod/lti/token.php) and a publicly readable JWKS
    (/mod/lti/certs.php, one RSA RS256 key) all answer live. The same deployment exposes Moodle Web Services at /webservice/rest/server.php,
    which returns a structured moodle_exception invalidtoken without a token — deployed, machine-readable, credentialed. The
    LTI platform issuer is https://learn.lboro.ac.uk. Moodle is community open-source software; no Moodle specification is
    stored under Loughborough''s slug. The LTI platform role, the keys and the tenancy are Loughborough''s.'
  humanURL: https://learn.lboro.ac.uk/
  baseURL: https://learn.lboro.ac.uk/
  tags:
  - Learning Management
  - LTI
  - Education
  - Authentication
  properties:
  - type: x-jwks
    url: https://learn.lboro.ac.uk/mod/lti/certs.php
  - type: x-example
    url: examples/loughborough-moodle-lti-jwks-example.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://learn.lboro.ac.uk/
- aid: loughborough:identity-federation
  name: Loughborough University SAML 2.0 Identity Provider
  x-operator: institution
  description: 'Loughborough operates its own SAML 2.0 Identity Provider — SimpleSAMLphp, Loughborough-branded, at idp.lboro.ac.uk
    — and is registered in the UK Access Management Federation, which feeds eduGAIN. The host CNAMEs to idp.lut.ac.uk (158.125.162.229);
    lut.ac.uk is Loughborough''s OWN second registrable domain, retained from Loughborough University of Technology, and 158.125.0.0/16
    is Loughborough''s own allocation — so this CNAME is internal, not a tenancy. It is declared in 0-working/university-affiliates.json
    so the cohort audit''s --resolve rule stops reading the university''s own IdP as a lut.ac.uk tenant. The federation aggregate
    is the machine-readable artifact: entityID https://idp.lboro.ac.uk/simplesaml/saml2/idp/metadata.php, mdui:DisplayName
    "Loughborough University", shibmd:Scope lboro.ac.uk, SingleSignOnService at https://idp.lboro.ac.uk/simplesaml/saml2/idp/SSOService.php
    (400 without a SAMLRequest, which is the live behaviour). The university also registers a Shibboleth Service Provider,
    MEGS VLE, at https://megsvle.lboro.ac.uk/shibboleth. Identity federation is institution-operated by definition and is
    the surface class most often missed for this cohort.'
  humanURL: https://www.ukfederation.org.uk/
  baseURL: https://idp.lboro.ac.uk/simplesaml/saml2/idp/SSOService.php
  tags:
  - Identity
  - Identity Federation
  - SAML
  - Shibboleth
  - Single Sign-On
  properties:
  - type: x-saml-metadata
    url: http://metadata.ukfederation.org.uk/ukfederation-metadata.xml
  - type: x-conformance
    url: conformance/loughborough-conformance.yml
- aid: loughborough:vufind-discovery
  name: Loughborough University Library Discovery (VuFind)
  x-operator: tenant
  description: 'VuFind discovery layer at vufind.lboro.ac.uk, the public search interface over the Koha catalogue, on managed
    hosting by PTFS Europe (CNAME lboro-vufind.infrastructure.servers.ptfse.net). VuFind''s Search API is present at /api/v1
    but is not open: /api/v1/search and /api/v1/record both return HTTP 403 with {"status":"ERROR","statusMessage":"Permission
    denied"}. The VuFind OAI-PMH responder at /OAI/Server and the HTML surface are behind an Anubis bot challenge and returned
    an interstitial rather than content on every attempt. Recorded because the surface is real and deployed, not because it
    is usable — the honest state is deployed-but-closed.'
  humanURL: https://vufind.lboro.ac.uk/
  baseURL: https://vufind.lboro.ac.uk/api/v1
  tags:
  - Library
  - Discovery
  - Search
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/library/search/
- aid: loughborough:research-repository
  name: Loughborough University Research Repository (figshare tenancy)
  x-operator: tenant
  description: 'The Loughborough Research Repository is the university''s institutional repository for all research outputs,
    and it is a figshare tenancy: repository.lboro.ac.uk, lboro.figshare.com and the legacy dspace.lboro.ac.uk all CNAME to
    figshare.com. The data, the DOIs (DataCite prefixes 10.17028 and 10.26174 under member JHAH, client BL.LBORO) and the
    corpus are Loughborough''s; the API contract is figshare''s, published on the shared api.figshare.com/v2 host that every
    figshare customer uses. Harvesting works over OAI-PMH at https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai with set=portal_2 — confirmed
    as Loughborough''s by pulling ListRecords on that set and finding DOI prefix 10.17028 — but Identify on that endpoint
    names repositoryName "figshare" and adminEmail info@figshare.com. This is recorded as ONE tenant relationship. It was
    previously recorded as eleven separate APIs backed by ten per-tag copies of figshare''s specification; those have been
    removed.'
  humanURL: https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/
  baseURL: https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/
  tags:
  - Research Data
  - Repository
  - Open Access
  - OAI-PMH
  - Metadata
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.figshare.com/
  - type: x-oai-pmh
    url: https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai?verb=Identify&set=portal_2
  - type: x-vendor-repo
    url: https://github.com/api-evangelist/figshare
  - type: x-conformance
    url: conformance/loughborough-conformance.yml
- aid: loughborough:reading-lists
  name: Loughborough University Reading Lists (Talis Aspire tenancy)
  x-operator: tenant
  description: 'Loughborough''s reading lists run on Talis Aspire at lboro.rl.talis.com. The tenancy exposes linked data:
    https://lboro.rl.talis.com/index.json returns 200 application/json describing the institution in RDF terms as an aiiso:Institution
    named "Loughborough University". The list content and organisational structure are Loughborough''s; the platform, the
    vocabulary and the API are Talis''s.'
  humanURL: https://lboro.rl.talis.com/
  baseURL: https://lboro.rl.talis.com/index.json
  tags:
  - Library
  - Reading Lists
  - Linked Data
  - Education
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://lboro.rl.talis.com/
- aid: loughborough:libcal
  name: Loughborough University Library Hours and Bookings (Springshare LibCal tenancy)
  x-operator: tenant
  description: Room booking, opening hours and library event data run on Springshare LibCal at libcal.lboro.ac.uk (CNAME region-eu.libcal.com).
    The legacy keyless widget endpoint /api_hours_grid.php?iid=0&format=json answers 200 application/json but returns an empty
    locations array for the default institution id; the LibCal 1.1 REST API at /api/1.1/* returns 403 without an OAuth client
    credential. Recorded as a tenant surface that exists and is credentialed, not as an open Loughborough API.
  humanURL: https://libcal.lboro.ac.uk/
  baseURL: https://libcal.lboro.ac.uk/api_hours_grid.php?iid=0&format=json
  tags:
  - Library
  - Room Booking
  - Campus Life
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://libcal.lboro.ac.uk/
common:
- type: Website
  url: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/
- type: LibraryCatalog
  url: https://koha.lboro.ac.uk/api/v1/
- type: ResearchRepository
  url: https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/
- type: IdentityFederation
  url: http://metadata.ukfederation.org.uk/ukfederation-metadata.xml
- type: Conformance
  url: conformance/loughborough-conformance.yml
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/LoughboroughUniversity
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://uk.linkedin.com/school/loughborough-university/
- type: Blog
  url: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/rss/
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/privacy/
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/disclaimer/
- type: Support
  url: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/it/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/library/research-support/
- type: ProductPage
  url: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/it/topics/student-account/
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/loughborough-domain-security.yml
- type: Plans
  url: plans/loughborough-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/loughborough-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/loughborough-finops.yml
- type: Review
  url: review.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com