OverDrive EContent Integration

Libraries using the Polaris ILS can catalog, display in PAC, manage access, and circulate eContent from OverDrive. Innovative Interfaces requires a license for each integrated eContent vendor. Once the library has a subscription with OverDrive and the required Polaris license, the library creates an item template, an integrated vendor account, and an import profile in Polaris. The Vendor Account is in Polaris Administration, not in Acquisitions, and it is used during automatic importing to create resource entities for the bibliographic records.

As a result of this integration, patrons can search for, place holds on, and check out OverDrive eContent directly from the PAC. All associated circulation processing and tracking for these integrated eContent occurs in Polaris. Holds placed in the PAC for OverDrive eContent are recorded, but since holds activity is managed exclusively in the vendor's database, it is not reflected in the Polaris staff client.

OverDrive eContent may be in one of the following formats:

Note:
This list is subject to change as OverDrive develops its offerings.

OverDrive Advantage Accounts

Libraries participating in OverDrive Advantage accounts share eContent collections under a state, county, or consortium contract. The group of libraries sharing the collection may include libraries running an ILS other than Polaris. Patrons from these non-Polaris libraries can still check out shared titles from the OverDrive application. However, unlike the synchronization process that runs every 5-15 minutes when patrons from a Polaris library check out eContent from the OverDrive application, the process to synchronize remote patron checkouts from the app runs every 24 hours–updating the Polaris item status to unavailable (rather than checked out) and then to in when they are available.

If your library uses OverDrive Advantage, you can set up the OverDrive Vendor Account so that PAC users who are connected at the system level and not logged in do not see the Advantage titles. See: Create an OverDrive integrated vendor account.

OverDrive and Polaris Synchronization

Availability and hold counts (total number of copies, number of available copies, and number of holds) for OverDrive eContent titles appear in the PAC based on the status of the items in the OverDrive repository, not on the status of the items in the Polaris database. Patrons can see the availability information whether they are logged into their library account or not.

The Polaris API consumer service queries the OverDrive database daily to find and fetch the metadata for titles identified as those the library has purchased. After fetching the OverDrive metadata, the API consumer service identifies duplicates by matching on the object identifier or title ID. If the title is new to the catalog, the OverDrive XML metadata is converted to MARC XML, and the file is automatically added to the Polaris import queue to be imported. OverDrive imports are done once daily, around midnight.

When a patron checks out or places a hold on a OverDrive title in Polaris, the data is immediately updated in the Polaris database and in the vendor's repository. However, when a patron uses the OverDrive app to initiate circulation, the synchronization process takes longer because the app uses the Polaris API to push the data to Polaris, and then the API consumer service completes the process. The API consumer service also performs a periodic "pull" query of the OverDrive database and then synchonizes the data if any circulation activity was detected.

The Polaris database and OverDrive are synchonized as follows:

To ensure that the API consumer service synchronizes transactions correctly when a server is rebooted, the API consumer service attempts to connect every 35 seconds for 20 minutes. If it fails to connect, the service stops.

See also: