University of Leeds API Rules

rules: '0.1'
provider: university-of-leeds
generated: '2026-08-30'
method: derived
x-operator: institution
source: >-
  Consumption rules derived by API Evangelist from behaviour actually observed on 2026-08-30. These
  are guidance for a client integrating with these surfaces; they are not published by the
  University of Leeds.
rules:
  - id: oai-errors-arrive-at-200
    applies_to: [ 'archive.researchdata.leeds.ac.uk/cgi/oai2', 'digital.library.leeds.ac.uk/cgi/oai2' ]
    severity: high
    rule: >-
      Never treat HTTP 200 as success on the OAI-PMH endpoints. Parse the response and check for an
      <error code="..."> element before consuming the payload. Verified: ?verb=Bogus returns 200
      with badVerb.
  - id: spacefinder-location-is-a-string
    applies_to: [ 'spacefinder.leeds.ac.uk/spaces.json' ]
    severity: medium
    rule: >-
      The `location` field holds a GeoJSON Point encoded as a JSON string, not a nested object.
      Deserialise it a second time, or use the separate `lat`/`lng` numeric fields instead.
  - id: spacefinder-has-no-version
    applies_to: [ 'spacefinder.leeds.ac.uk/spaces.json' ]
    severity: medium
    rule: >-
      There is no version field, no ETag-based contract and no changelog. Pin nothing; validate every
      fetch against json-schema/university-of-leeds-spacefinder-space.json and fail loudly on drift.
  - id: iiif-is-level-0
    applies_to: [ 'floorplans.library.leeds.ac.uk/assets/iiif' ]
    severity: medium
    rule: >-
      Do not construct arbitrary IIIF region/size requests. Only combinations enumerated in the
      image's info.json resolve; everything else is a 404.
  - id: do-not-use-the-digital-library-iiif-manifest
    applies_to: [ 'digital.library.leeds.ac.uk/cgi/iiif/manifest' ]
    severity: high
    rule: >-
      This endpoint returns HTTP 200 with a zero-byte body for every identifier tested. It is a
      soft-200 and must not be integrated against.
  - id: primo-is-not-a-leeds-contract
    applies_to: [ 'leeds.primo.exlibrisgroup.com' ]
    severity: high
    rule: >-
      Library discovery is an Ex Libris tenancy (vid=44LEE_INST). Alma/Primo API keys are issued by
      Ex Libris, the contract is Ex Libris', and the terms are Ex Libris'. Do not attribute that
      interface to the University of Leeds.
  - id: hex-encoded-oai-setspecs
    applies_to: [ 'archive.researchdata.leeds.ac.uk/cgi/oai2' ]
    severity: low
    rule: >-
      setSpec values are hex-encoded EPrints field expressions (e.g. 7374617475733D707562 decodes to
      status=pub). Discover them with verb=ListSets rather than constructing them.