National Library of Israel MCP Server 🇮🇱📖🔍

This package provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that interfaces between large language models and the National Library of Israel's APIs. The MCP server allows AI assistants to search the NLI catalog, retrieve images, and access library resources programmatically.

> ⚠️ Important Note: This is an independent, external initiative and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Library of Israel. This project is developed by enthusiasts to enhance AI accessibility to public library resources.

## Features

Catalog Search: Query the NLI catalog by various criteria including general terms, title, creator, date range
IIIF Image Access: Retrieve, manipulate and get detailed information about digitized materials
Advanced Filtering: Control search by resource type (photographs, maps, books etc.), online availability, date range, and creator
Image Manipulation: Support for different regions, sizes, rotations, and quality parameters
Large Image Support: Generate tiled image URLs for efficiently retrieving high-resolution images

search_catalog
Search the NLI catalog with advanced filtering options
Inputs:
query (string): The main search query
resource_type (string, optional): Type of resource to search for (photograph, book, manuscript, etc.)
start_date (string, optional): Start date in format YYYYMMDD
end_date (string, optional): End date in format YYYYMMDD
creator (string, optional): Creator/author name to search by
availability (string, optional): Availability type (online_resources, all_items, etc.)
page_size (integer, optional): Number of results to return (default: 10)

get_image_info
Get information about an image using the IIIF Image Information API
Inputs:
identifier (string): Image identifier

get_image
Get an image using the IIIF Image API
Inputs:
identifier (string): Image identifier
region (string, optional): Region parameter (default: "full")
size (string, optional): Size parameter (default: "max")
rotation (string, optional): Rotation parameter (default: "0")
quality (string, optional): Image quality (default: "default")
image_format (string, optional): Image format (default: "jpg")

get_tiled_image_urls
Get URLs for retrieving a large image as tiles
Inputs:
identifier (string): Image identifier
* tile_size (integer, optional): Size of each tile in pixels (default: 256)

## Installation

### Dependencies

- Python 3.10 or higher
- httpx
- mcp >= 1.2.0
- uv (recommended)

For installing uv, please follow the instructions at uv documentation.

To install this package from source, navigate to the project and run:

  uv sync
  

## Claude Desktop Integration

To use this MCP server with Claude Desktop, add the following configuration to your claude_desktop_config.json file:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "nli_mcp": {
        "command": "uv",
        "args": [
          "run",
          "--with",
          "mcp[cli]",
          "mcp",
          "run",
          "[PATH_TO_REPO]/nli_mcp_server/main.py"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
  

Replace [PATH_TO_REPO] with the actual path to your checked out git repository.

## Development

For development, use uv to run the server:

  # Start the server in development mode
  uv run mcp dev main.py
  

## License

MIT License