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To start connecting your library's Overdrive account to your Library Simplified circulation manager, go to the Member Center and apply for API access. You will need to create an Overdrive developer account.
Info title Overdrive API Types Overdrive distinguishes between "Discovery" and "Circulation" APIs.
To quote the glossary:Discovery APIs: Discovery APIs are designed to allow your users to browse and explore OverDrive digital collections. You can search for titles, check availability, and get details on specific titles.
Circulation APIs: These APIs are designed to allow you to circulate content from an OverDrive digital collection. You can borrow and place holds on titles, see what a specific user has borrowed or placed on hold, and get download links for content that a user has borrowed.
Library Simplified uses the Discovery APIs to keep track of the items in your Overdrive collection, and the Circulation APIs to conduct transactions on behalf of your patrons. Library Simplified needs access to both.
You'll be asked which API (actually which authentication techniqueauthentication type (Client, Granted, Patron) you want access to. Ask for access to all three.
Note title Ask for All Three You will probably only need two of the three, but the approval process is slow, it doesn't cost anything extra to get all three, and you won't have to go back and re-apply if your authentication situation changes.
Info title Authentication Types When the Library Simplified circulation manager makes a call to the Overdrive API, Overdrive needs to verify that the circulation manager is authorized to act on behalf of your library. If the circulation manager is acting on behalf of a specific patron (e.g. creating a loan), Overdrive also needs to know that the circulation manager is authorized to act on behalf of that patron.
Overdrive offers three types of authentication:
- Client authentication verifies that the circulation manager is authorized to act on behalf of the library. It's used by scripts that run in the background to maintain an accurate picture of your library's Overdrive collection.
- Patron authentication and
- Granted authentication
2 and 3 are used when the circulation manager is carrying out the wishes of a specific patron.
In all three cases, the goal is to get an access token. An access token is a string that you can present to the Overdrive API to get it to actually do something. An Overdrive access token is generally good for one hour. Once it expires, you need to get a new one.
Note title Apply for Access Early! It can take a week or more to get approved for API access, so don't put this off!
Under "Planned API usage", mention the name of your library and that you are integrating your Overdrive collection into the SimplyE system.
Wait for Overdrive to send you an email with production IDs needed to configure your Circulation Manager Overdrive Collection.
Note title Sandbox vs Production IDs When Overdrive gets back to you, they may give you a website ID of 100300 and a library ID of 4425. Those are the IDs for the Overdrive test library. If this happens to you, go back to them and tell them that you need the production IDs to integrate your library into the SimplyE system.
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