Search BHL Publications (Catalog)
bhl.literature.searchRead-onlyIdempotent
Search the Biodiversity Heritage Library catalog by keyword across title, author, subject, and publisher to locate digitized natural-history works; results include item and title IDs plus direct URLs.
Instructions
Search the Biodiversity Heritage Library catalog by keyword across title, author, subject, and publisher fields. BHL is the world's largest open-access library of biodiversity literature — 60M+ pages of digitized natural-history books, journals, and manuscripts from 1469 to the present, all public domain. Returns item and title IDs, full title, authors, publisher, publication date, genre, and direct URLs to the digitized item and bibliography page. Use bhl.literature.fulltext to search within the scanned text of publications.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| page | No | Page number for pagination (default 1) | |
| limit | No | Number of results per page (1–50, default 10) | |
| query | Yes | Keyword to search for — matches title, author, subject, and publisher fields (e.g. "Darwin birds Galapagos") |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| error | No | Present only when the call failed. Includes error code, message, request_id, and any provider-specific extras. | |
| result | No | Tool response payload. Shape varies per tool — consult the tool description and inputSchema. May be an object, array, string, or number depending on the upstream provider response. |