ester

ESTER Library Catalog Search

Search the Estonian unified library catalog (ESTER) to find books and check their availability at specific branches. No public API — uses curl + HTML parsing.

Parser scripts are in this skill directory (relative to SKILL.md).

Workflow

1. Search for books

curl -s "https://www.ester.ee/search~S1*est/X?searchtype=X&searcharg=QUERY&searchscope=SCOPE&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBMIT=OTSI" \
  | python3 SKILL_DIR/parse_search.py

Replace QUERY with URL-encoded search terms (ä=%C3%A4, ö=%C3%B6, ü=%C3%BC, õ=%C3%B5, spaces=+).

Search types (replace X in both URL path and searchtype=):

Code	Field
X	Keyword (all fields) — default
i	ISBN/ISSN

Use keyword (X) for title and author queries too — it handles them well. Do not use searchtype=t (title) or searchtype=a (author): ESTER returns a browse-heading index page for those, not a results list, and the parser will report 0 results even when matches exist.

searchscope values:

Scope	Library
1	All libraries (default)
7	Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu (National Library)
8	Tallinna Raamatukogud / TlnRK (all Tallinn public library branches)
15	TLÜ Akadeemiline Raamatukogu
55	Tartu Linnaraamatukogu
58	Tartu Ülikooli raamatukogud

Output: JSON with total count and results array of {id, title}. If an ISBN search redirects directly to a record page, output includes "direct_record": true.

Pagination: 50 results per page. Add &startnum=51 for page 2.

2. Get holdings for a book

Step 1 — Fetch the record page and check for truncation:

curl -s "https://www.ester.ee/record=b{RECORD_ID}~S1*est" \
  | python3 SKILL_DIR/parse_record.py

Step 2 — If output contains "truncated": true, fetch the full holdings using the full_holdings_url from the output:

curl -s "FULL_HOLDINGS_URL" \
  | python3 SKILL_DIR/parse_record.py

The record page only shows the first 10 holdings. Always check for truncation — popular books often have 30-50+ copies across branches.

Output: JSON with title, author, published, isbn, holdings array of {location, call_number, status, notes}, and optionally truncated/full_holdings_url.

Status values:

• KOHAL — available on shelf
• TÄHTAEG DD.MM.YY — checked out, due date
• TÖÖTLUSES — being processed, not yet available
• KOHALKASUTUS — in-library use only
• ARHIIVEKSEMPLAR — archive copy
• EI LAENUTATA — non-circulating
• REMONDI AJAKS PAKITUD — packed away during renovation
• +N JÄRJEKORRAS — N people in queue (appended to due date)

3. Present results

For each book, show:

• Title, author, year
• Holdings filtered to user's preferred branch(es), with status and call number
• ESTER link: https://www.ester.ee/record=b{RECORD_ID}~S1*est

For multiple books, show a summary table of availability per branch.

Tallinn public library branches (TlnRK)

User says	ESTER location contains
Kalamaja	TlnRK Kalamaja
Keskraamatukogu / main	TlnRK Keskraamatukogu
Südalinn / city center	TlnRK Südalinna
Liivalaia	TlnRK Liivalaia
Pelgulinn / Pelguranna	TlnRK Pelguranna
Nõmme	TlnRK Nõmme
Mustamäe	TlnRK Mustamäe
Õismäe	TlnRK Väike-Õismäe
Pirita	TlnRK Pirita
Kadriorg	TlnRK Kadrioru
Pääsküla	TlnRK Pääsküla

Children's sections are listed separately with "lastekirjandus" suffix. Children's books have call numbers starting with L-.

Extra metadata (age group, description, price)

For info not in ESTER (age group, description, price, series), use WebSearch for the book title + author with allowed_domains: ["rahvaraamat.ee", "apollo.ee"]. Use title + author, not ISBN — ISBN search is unreliable on these stores.

Tips

• Keyword search (searchtype=X) is forgiving with word order — use it for all freetext queries.
• Boolean operators work: AND, OR, NOT.
• For multiple books, batch all searches first, then fetch records for matches.
• searchscope filters search results but the record/holdings page always shows ALL libraries' copies. Filter the holdings JSON by location to show only relevant branches.