USA Today Best-Selling Books API
From the website:
USA Today’s Best-Selling Books API provides a method for developers to retrieve USA TOday’s weekly compiled list of the nation’s best-selling books, which is published each Thursday. In addition, developers can also retrieve archived lists since the book list’s launch on Thursday, Oct. 28, 1993. The Best-Selling Books API can also be used to retrieve a title’s history on the list and metadata about each title.
Available metadata:
- Author. Contains one or more names of the authors, illustrators, editors or other creators of the book.
- BookListAppearances. The number of weeks a book has appeared in the Top 150, regardless of ISBN.
- BriefDescription. A summary of the book. Contains indicators of the book’s class (fiction or non-fiction) and format (hardcover, paperback, e-book). If a title is available in multiple formats, the format noted is the one selling the most copies that week.
- CategoryID. Code for book category type.
- CategoryName. Text of book category type.
- Class. Specifies whether the book is fiction or non-fiction.
- FirstBookListAppearance. The date of the list when the particular ISBN first appeared in the top 150.
- FormatName. Specifies whether the ISBN is assigned to a hardcover, paperback or e-book edition.
- HighestRank. The highest position on the list achieved by this book, regardless of ISBN.
- ISBN. The book’s 13- or 10-digit ISBN. The ISBN for a title in a given week is the ISBN of the version (hardcover, paperback or e-book) that sold the most copies that week.
- MostRecentBooksListAppearance. The date of the list when the particular ISBN last appeared in the top 150.
- Rank. The book’s rank on the list.
- RankHistories. The weekly history of the ISBN fetched.
- RankLastWeek. The book’s rank on the prior week’s list if it appeared. Books not on the previous week’s list are designated with a “0”.
- Title. The book title. Titles are generally reported as specified by publishers and as they appear on the book’s cover.
- TitleAPIUrl. URL to retrieve the list history for that ISBN. Note that the ISBN refers to the version of the title that sold the most copies that week if multiple formats were available for sale. Sales from other ISBNs assigned to that title may be included; we do not provide the other ISBNs each week.
Questions:
- Would you use a topic map to dynamically display this information to library patrons? If so, which parts? (2-3 pages, no citations)
- What information would you want to use to supplement this information? How would you map it to this information? (2-3 pages, no citations)
- What information would you include for library staff and not patrons? (if any) (2-3 pages, no citations)