WorldCat · Rate Limits
Worldcat Rate Limits
OCLC WorldCat APIs enforce usage caps designed to meet typical member requirements while preserving network resources for all users. Rate limits vary by API and are applied on a rolling 24-hour window basis. Organizations with higher volume needs can request increased limits by contacting OCLC developer support with their WSKey and use case details.
Worldcat Rate Limits is the machine-readable rate-limit profile for WorldCat on the APIs.io network, conforming to the API Commons Rate Limits specification.
It captures 4 rate-limit definitions.
Tagged areas include Libraries, Bibliographic Records, WorldCat, OCLC, and Cataloging.
4 Limits
LibrariesBibliographic RecordsWorldCatOCLCCatalogingMetadataDiscoveryBooksMediaLinked Data
Limits
Rolling 24-hour limit of 50,000 requests applies to the WorldCat Search API. This is consistent with the v1 limit before v1 was deprecated at end of 2024. Libraries needing higher limits should contact OCLC support.
Production access is limited to 50,000 requests per day. The API supports both OpenURL requests for matching citations and REST requests for browsing and searching subscription resources.
Specific rate limit figures are not published for the Metadata API. OCLC establishes usage caps in line with typical library cataloging workflows. Contact OCLC developer support for current limits.
Specific rate limit figures are not published for the Entities Data API. Access is limited to OCLC Meridian subscribers. Contact OCLC developer support for current limits applicable to your subscription.
Work with this as data
Every rate limit here is available over the APIs.io API and to AI agents over MCP.