OverDrive APIs that were supposed to launch in April are now set to become available in July.
From the OverDrive Digital Library Blog:
OverDrive’s product and development teams have been hard at work developing a suite of APIs (application programming interfaces) that will enable approved vendors to deeply integrate OverDrive-hosted catalogs and nearly 1 million digital titles with their apps and platforms. In July, we’ll launch the OverDrive Developer Portal along with the first set of OverDrive APIs.
As part of the development process, we’ve been working with a group of booksellers, publishers, school, library, discovery platform and mobile technology partners to collect and define integration specifications in order to ensure that OverDrive APIs meet industry standards and support the expressed needs of vendors and developers from around the world.
The OverDrive Developer Portal will serve as the online gateway for developers to gain secure access to OverDrive APIs. To date, dozens of OverDrive partners—including ILS vendors, mobile app makers, library partners and others—have expressed interest in the new tools. Via the Developer Portal, interested vendors can apply for access. Once approved, they’ll find software, documentation, test scripts, and technical support information to enable rich integration with OverDrive digital content.
The initial group of OverDrive APIs will include:
- Metadata API: Access catalog information such as title, author, description and title samples.
- Availability API: Provides unique title-availability information from library holdings including number of units or copies, units available for lending, number of copies on hold, etc.
- Search API: Allows a variety of third-party platforms and applications to search OverDrive digital collections.
OverDrive is completing R&D and pilot testing of OverDrive APIs with select booksellers, library vendors, and discovery platforms. To receive notification when access to the OverDrive API Developer Portal becomes available, please email a request to API-update@overdrive.com.
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