Declarative search the hard way: Building an SRU-powered Next.js tool for the National Library of the Netherlands

In this talk I’ll share the story of building a modern web tool for the Royal Library of the Netherlands – a frontend built in Next.js that communicates directly with the SRU (Search/Retrieve via URL) endpoint of the national catalog.

When I started, I had no experience with Next.js and only a vague idea of how SRU and CQL queries worked. What followed was a learning journey full of trial and error – and a lot of help from AI assistants.

I’ll show how I turned a legacy search protocol into a responsive web experience that lets users browse journals and articles declaratively, without a dedicated API layer. Along the way, I’ll discuss:

• how declarative protocols like SRU behave in modern web environments;
• how small changes in endpoint behaviour (like the disappearance of wildcard support) can break a fragile integration;
• and how building with AI support can accelerate, but also complicate, real-world development.

This session is both technical and reflective – a practical look at declarative search in the age of AI-assisted development.