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April 29, 2013 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today. For other up-to-the-minute news, check out ITI’s Twitter account: @ITINewsBreaks. CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.

OverDrive and III Announce Plans for Deep API Integration

The plans with III also include an option to take the integration beyond digital and into the physical collection. In addition to providing an enhanced user experience through a library’s online catalog, III and OverDrive will enable a seamless experience for OverDrive library partners in their collection portal, Content Reserve. Libraries will be able to see their physical and digital holdings side-by-side within Content Reserve so that collection development decisions can be based on physical holdings, circulation, and other criteria.

At the 2013 ALA Conference this summer, III and OverDrive plan to demonstrate III’s integration of OverDrive’s much anticipated Content API, which supports placing holds and checkouts on titles from a library’s digital catalog. To support this, the companies will also collaborate on a Patron Authentication API to ensure secure access to user accounts. The Content API release will follow soon after with a pilot available for partner libraries and approved vendors.

Included in the Content API will be direct access to both downloadable and browser-based (OverDrive Read) ebooks, as well as ebook samples in the OverDrive Read format. These will work the same way as the current Read and Download buttons do on OverDrive-powered Next Generation digital library collection websites, allowing users to directly read or download titles with integrated API calls. You can read more about APIs on the OverDrive developer portal.

Source: Innovative Interfaces, Inc.