🇨🇭 Part of the Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio
📚 swiss-academic-libraries-mcp
MCP server providing access to Swiss academic libraries — swisscovery, e-rara, e-periodica, e-manuscripta. No API key required.
🇩🇪 Deutsche Version
Demo
Overview
swiss-academic-libraries-mcp connects AI models to the full Swiss academic library infrastructure via standardised, open protocols. It covers the swisscovery union catalogue (500+ libraries, 10M+ records) and three digitalisation platforms: historical prints (e-rara), periodicals (e-periodica) and manuscripts (e-manuscripta).
All data sources use open, authentication-free protocols (SRU/MARC21, OAI-PMH/Dublin Core). The server supports both local use via Claude Desktop (stdio transport) and cloud deployment (Streamable HTTP).
Anchor demo query: "Which Swiss university dissertations on primary school pedagogy are held in Swiss libraries, and are any of them digitised in e-rara?"
Features
- 11 tools across 4 data sources — all read-only, no API key required
- swisscovery search with full CQL syntax: full-text, title, author, subject, ISBN/ISSN
- OAI-PMH harvesting with date range and collection filters plus pagination via resumption tokens
- MARC21 parser extracting 20+ fields (title, creator, publication info, subjects, abstract, URLs)
- Dublin Core parser for all three digitalisation portals
- Dual transport: stdio for Claude Desktop · Streamable HTTP for cloud/self-hosted deployments
- 2 built-in prompts:
research-workflow and education-research
- Markdown and JSON output for all tools
- 34 unit tests (no network) + 6 live smoke tests
Data Sources
| Source | Protocol | Content | Records |
|---|
| swisscovery (SLSP) | SRU / MARC21 | 500+ Swiss libraries | 10M+ |
| e-rara | OAI-PMH / Dublin Core | Digitised historical prints | 250k+ |
| e-periodica | OAI-PMH / Dublin Core | Digitised periodicals (1750–today) | 1M+ articles |
| e-manuscripta | OAI-PMH / Dublin Core | Manuscripts & archival material | 100k+ |
Tools
| Tool | Source | Function |
|---|
library_info | — | Entry point: overview of all sources and tools |
swisscovery_search | swisscovery | Full-text / CQL search across the union catalogue |
swisscovery_get_record | swisscovery | Single record by MMS-ID |
erara_list_records | e-rara | Prints filtered by date / collection |
erara_get_record | e-rara | Single item by OAI identifier |
erara_list_collections | e-rara | All participating libraries |
eperiodica_list_records | e-periodica | Articles filtered by date |
eperiodica_get_record | e-periodica | Single article by OAI identifier |
emanuscripta_list_records | e-manuscripta | Manuscripts filtered by date / collection |
emanuscripta_get_record | e-manuscripta | Single object by OAI identifier |
emanuscripta_list_collections | e-manuscripta | All archives / collections |
Example Use Cases
| Query | Tool |
|---|
| "Which books about Swiss primary schools are held in Swiss libraries?" | swisscovery_search |
| "Show digitised historical works from ETH Library" | erara_list_records |
| "Which Swiss periodicals were digitised in 2023?" | eperiodica_list_records |
| "What manuscript collections does e-manuscripta hold?" | emanuscripta_list_collections |
Prerequisites
- Python 3.11 or higher
- uv / uvx (recommended) or pip
- Internet access (all APIs are publicly available)
Installation
Claude Desktop (recommended)
Add to claude_desktop_config.json:
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"swiss-academic-libraries": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["swiss-academic-libraries-mcp"]
}
}
}
Restart Claude Desktop — the server starts automatically on first use.
Cloud / Self-hosted (Streamable HTTP)
uvx swiss-academic-libraries-mcp --http --port 8000 [--host 127.0.0.1]
Security & Deployment Notes
- Default binding is
127.0.0.1 (loopback only). The server has no
built-in authentication.
- Use
--host 0.0.0.0 only when running behind a reverse proxy that
provides authentication and per-IP rate limits (e.g. nginx with
limit_req + OAuth2-Proxy). Non-loopback bindings emit a WARN log.
- Logs go to stderr; set verbosity with
MCP_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG|INFO|WARNING.
Development
git clone https://github.com/malkreide/swiss-academic-libraries-mcp
cd swiss-academic-libraries-mcp
pip install -e .
Quickstart
Start by calling library_info for a full overview. Then:
"Which books about Swiss primary schools are held in Swiss libraries?"
→ swisscovery_search(query='subject = "Volksschule"', max_records=20)
"Show digitised historical works from ETH Library"
→ erara_list_records(set_spec="zut")
"Which Swiss periodicals were digitised in 2023?"
→ eperiodica_list_records(from_date="2023-01-01", until_date="2023-12-31")
"What manuscript collections does e-manuscripta hold?"
→ emanuscripta_list_collections()
→ [More use cases by audience](EXAMPLES.md) →
💡 "No API key — just install and query."
CQL Search Syntax (swisscovery)
Full text: Volksschule Zürich
Title: title = "education reform"
Author: creator = "Pestalozzi"
Subject: subject = "pedagogy"
ISBN: isbn = "978-3-05-006234-0"
Combined: title = "school" AND creator = "Pestalozzi"
Pagination: start_record = 11
Configuration
No API keys or environment variables required.
| Parameter | Default | Description |
|---|
--http | off | Enable Streamable HTTP transport |
--port | 8000 | Port for HTTP transport |
Project Structure
swiss-academic-libraries-mcp/
├── src/
│ └── swiss_academic_libraries_mcp/
│ ├── __init__.py # Package init
│ ├── server.py # FastMCP server, 11 tools, 2 prompts, 1 resource
│ └── api_client.py # HTTP client, MARC21 + OAI-PMH/DC parsers
├── tests/
│ └── test_server.py # 34 unit tests + 6 live smoke tests
├── pyproject.toml
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md # Contributing guide (English)
├── CONTRIBUTING.de.md # Contributing guide (German)
├── SECURITY.md # Security policy (English)
├── SECURITY.de.md # Security policy (German)
├── LICENSE
├── README.md # This file (English)
└── README.de.md # German version
Testing
# Unit tests (no network required)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -m "not live"
# Live smoke tests (internet required)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -m "live"
Safety & Limits
- Read-only: All tools perform HTTP GET requests against public SRU and OAI-PMH endpoints — no data is written, modified, or deleted.
- No personal data: The APIs return bibliographic metadata (titles, authors, publication info, subject headings) and public digitisation records. No personally identifiable information (PII) about library users is processed or stored.
- Rate limits: swisscovery SRU and the OAI-PMH endpoints are public and have no documented hard limits, but OAI-PMH harvesting is paginated via resumption tokens — use
from_date / until_date and keep max_records reasonable. The server enforces a 30s timeout per request.
- Data freshness: Results reflect the upstream catalogues at query time. No caching is performed by this server; indexing latency is controlled by SLSP and the digitisation platforms.
- Terms of service: Data is subject to the ToS and licences of each source — swisscovery / SLSP, e-rara, e-periodica, e-manuscripta. Most digitised material is in the public domain or under Creative Commons licences; always check the rights statement on the individual record before redistribution.
- No guarantees: This is a community project, not affiliated with SLSP, ETH Library, or any of the participating institutions. Availability depends on the upstream APIs.
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on:
- Reporting bugs and requesting features
- Setting up the development environment
- Code style and test requirements
- Submitting pull requests
This project follows the conventions of the Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio.
Security
To report a vulnerability, please follow the responsible disclosure process in SECURITY.md. The server is read-only and requires no API key; see the Safety & Limits section above for the security model.
Changelog
See CHANGELOG.md
Deployment for Swiss Public Administration
If you self-host this server for a Swiss school authority, archive,
or municipal use case:
- Data residency: prefer on-premise or a CH-based cloud provider.
The query patterns themselves (which library searches a civil
servant runs) may reveal ongoing research and are best kept on
Swiss infrastructure.
- Upstream calls go exclusively to CH-hosted services: SLSP /
swisscovery, ETH-Bibliothek (e-rara, e-periodica, e-manuscripta).
No data leaves Switzerland.
- Logging: logs are written to stderr; configure your IT
retention policy accordingly (e.g. systemd-journal
MaxRetentionSec).
- HTTP transport must run behind a reverse proxy with
authentication and per-IP rate limits (see Security & Deployment
Notes above).
License
MIT License — see LICENSE
Author
Hayal Oezkan · github.com/malkreide
Credits & Related Projects
Installation
Run via uv's uvx — no clone or manual install needed. Add to your MCP client config (mcpServers for Claude Desktop, Cursor and Windsurf; use a top-level servers key for VS Code in .vscode/mcp.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"swiss-academic-libraries-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"swiss-academic-libraries-mcp"
]
}
}
}
