Auto-suggest and the id.loc.gov LCSH web service

From: Ethan Gruber <ewg4xuva_at_nyob> Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 10:46:29 -0500 To: CODE4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU

Hi all,

I have a need to integrate the LCSH terms into a web form that uses
auto-suggest to control the vocabulary.  Is this technically possible with
the id.loc.gov service?  I can curl a specific id to view the rdf, but I
would need to know the specifics of the search index on the site to feed the
auto-suggest.  For example, when the user types "va" in the box, the results
should filter all subject headings that begin with "va."

I can certainly accomplish this by indexing the ~400 meg XML file into solr
and use TermsComponent to filter terms dynamically as the user types, but
I'd rather use the LOC's service if possible.

So my question is: has anyone successfully done this before in the way I
described?

Thanks,
Ethan Gruber
University of Virginia Library