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Authentication and Authorization

An Access Token can be obtained by passing credential parameters into the WorldcatAccessToken object. This will authenticate the user against OCLC's Authorization Server and allow the user to send requests to the OCLC Metadata API.

Get Access Token

from bookops_worldcat import WorldcatAccessToken
token = WorldcatAccessToken(
    key="my_WSKey",
    secret="my_secret",
    scopes="WorldCatMetadataAPI",
)
print(token)
#>"access_token: 'tk_Yebz4BpEp9dAsghA7KpWx6dYD1OZKWBlHjqW', expires_at: '2024-01-01 17:19:58Z'"
print(token.is_expired())
#>False

This token object can be passed directly into MetadataSession to authorize requests to the Metadata API web service:

Open MetadataSession

from bookops_worldcat import MetadataSession

session = MetadataSession(authorization=token)
session.brief_bibs_get("321339")

MetadataSession as Context Manager

A MetadataSession can also be used as a context manager. This allows users to use the same parameters and configuration for each request they send to the Metadata API and to ensure that the session is closed after their code has finished running.

MetadataSession inherits all requests.Session methods and properties (see Advanced Usage > MetadataSession for more information).

Metadata Session as Context Manager

with MetadataSession(authorization=token) as session:
    response = session.brief_bibs_get("321339")

A MetadataSession has methods that allow users to interact with each endpoint of the OCLC Metadata API. See the tabs on the left of this page for more information about MetadataSession methods and examples of their usage.