1. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
The Power of APIs and Web
Services
Chris Berry, Amanda Carlson
SirsiDynix

2. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
API’S WHAT ARE THEY?
• API stands for Application Programming Interface
• Symphony provides APIs for almost every piece of data in the
software
• Using APIs customers can easily modify data, extract data,
update data
• There is no competition for this sale, no other vendor
provides access to the Symphony data the way that the APIs
do!

3. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY API
Symphony API Subscription Package
Over the period of one year, this package includes:
• 4 hours of individual API consulting
• unlimited access to our online API Workshop series
• seat in an API class as refresher or new staff training
– a 4.5 day workshop providing system administrators
with access to the core components of the system.
• online access to API electronic software documentation
• subscription to web forums and discussion lists

4. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY API SUBSCRIPTION
Includes tools used for performing batch transactions as
well as utilities for gathering, editing, loading,
exporting and formatting data.
This gives system administrators a powerful tool to
help them quickly respond to the needs of their staff
and patrons.

5. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY API SUBSCRIPTION
• increase efficiency
– by integrating the ILS with other library software
• minimize staff time
– for data entry with global editing capabilities
• manage new branch openings
– or temporary closure, collection mergers or removal
• write custom reports and automate processes
– for smoother departmental operations

6. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY API – REQUEST
Selitem –tCD-ROM –oClB
Selcatalog –iC –oFVS
Outputs Title Control Number, Title, Location and Item ID

7. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY API – RESPONSE
GCfG33^U6143^UOALEX^Uk9808^UC^Q5^Uf^uFAlex^uM^uLBasa^UR^uS^uU^uV0^UABasa,Alex^PGMA
LE^PHINCITY^UZ12/12/1988^uY20^UMMAIN^UNSOFTWARE^PEPUBLICPLUS^Ib^UD28/8/2002^UQNEVE
R^Ut28/8/2002^UK9/11/2009^Up$4.10^dA^UH4^UG2^UI1^Ua1^UE1^UJDELINQUENT^aDDELINQUENT
^aC$<USTN_msg_delinquent>^USUNLIMITED^PMY^P7ALLCHARGES^UL1^LVnK^ND9^NP$<uadr_othr_st
reet>^NHSTREET^S1N^NE101 Washington Street
SE^^ZnK^ND4^NP$<uadr_othr_cityst>^NHCITY/STATE^S1N^NEHuntsville,
AL^^ZnKz^ND5^NP$<uadr_othr_zip>^NHZIP^S1Y^NE35801-4827^^Z^5Lk^5Ll^5LFIASayre, Woodrow
Wilson.^IBFour against Everest^tJ5563^IQDS485 H6 S2^I4DS485 H6
S2^IS1^NQ50000000037209^Jb$<ITYP_desc_book>^BJ2^DXMAIN^NSMAIN^BK9/12/2004^1K9/10/1935
^BDOVERDUE^YS$<BRSN_desc_overdue>^BF2^BI$20.00^BH$4.10^BL9/11/2009^3zMAIN^BB5/10/2002
,0:00^BC3/12/2002,23:59^BT2WEEK^BV14/9/2009,9:48^BW4^BXMAIN^LMBL6/7/2006^BA$14.75^BEC
HECK^3z^PY-111^^ZBL9/11/2009^BA$1.15^BECASH^3zMAIN^PY-
5767^^Z^5^Z^5BH$4.10^Uv1^LctJ11757^NQ34998001557425^JbVHS Videocassette^IS1^IQVIDEO
MASTER, PROGRAMS 1 - 4^ILMEDIA_CTR^NSAV_CENTER^IABritish Broadcasting Corporation. Television
Service.^IBáA vous la France! [Videorecording]^bwBKG1-515^bxBKG1-
516^bo31/8/2005,13:00^bp31/8/2005,13:30^bA31/8/2005^bB31/8/2005^bSNEVER^bk31/8/2005,12:4
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AV^bWVIDEO^btMAIN^bd1^^Z^5Ua1^LgtJ11137^IQGV699 .L26 VOL.3^NSHUNT^IAToski, Bob.^IBDriving
for distance [videorecording]^ [CUT]

8. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY WEB SERVICES 3.0
“The Web Services API is complementary to the existing
API and not a replacement. It provides an alternative
mechanism for accessing the data within Symphony, using
different technologies (SOAP, HTTP, XML, etc.) which
some people might find more appealing and easier to
use.”
Posted on the API listserv Wed. 11/25/2009
Paul Moxon
VP, Product Management

9. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
WEB SERVICES – WHAT ARE THEY?
• Standards-based API to access Symphony data and
functionality
– Independent of programming language or OS
• Standard technology (XML) to simplify access to data

10. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
WEB SERVICES – WHAT ARE THEY?

11. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY WEB SERVICES
SUBSCRIPTION
Includes a Software Developer Kit to allow customers
and 3rd party developers to integrate products and
reports to obtain information that is available in the
Symphony ILS.
This gives system administrators a powerful tool to
help them quickly respond to the needs of their staff
and patrons.

12. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY WEB SERVICES 3.0
 Standard services
– Provide access to the catalogue
• Searches
• Item information
 Security services
– Allow a user to login and logout of the Symphony system
 Patron services
– Perform patron operations
• Holds
• Lookup fines and fees
• Lookup personal information
 Admin services
– Retrieve system information from Symphony
• Policies

13. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY WEB SERVICES 3.0
Example from http://demo.sirsi.com

14. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY WEB SERVICES - IMPLEMENTATIONS
London Borough of Sutton – Open Government initiatives
Graham Dash from SUTT has funding for a project to open up and provide
easy access to as much of the data held by the council as possible. For the
library, this means the bibliographic data, holdings data, and availability data.
Implementation:
SirsiDynix Symphony Web Services provides the following set of operations for
open access to Symphony data
 Search catalogue (using searches by author, title, or subject)
 Lookup title information (title, author, ISBN, call number, availability)
 Lookup item information (item ID, location, due date)
 Lookup most popular titles, authors or subjects (Symphony data)

15. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY WEB SERVICES - IMPLEMENTATIONS
SWIFT – eBook integration and authentication with Symphony
Lloyd Brady from SWIFT wants to allow Bolinda, a 3rd party eBooks vendor, to
authenticate patrons against the Symphony ILS system for 4 libraries and
validate which library in the consortium is affiliated with the patron.
Implementation:
SirsiDynix Symphony Web Services provides the following set of operations to
allow authentication with 3rd party application
 Login (requires user ID and password)
 Lookup user information(authenticated call to return library ID)
 Logout (closes Symphony session)

16. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
SYMPHONY WEB SERVICES - IMPLEMENTATIONS
SHORELINK: Willoughby Library – integrate a Chinese writing tablet
Michelle Burtonof Willoughby Library wants to integrate a writing tablet that
translates the Chinese characters into English, then performs a catalogue
search against their SaaS hosted Symphony ILS server, and returns the results.
Implementation:
SirsiDynix Symphony Web Services provides the following set of operations to
3rd party applications
 Search catalogue (using searches by title)
 Lookup item information (item ID, location, due date)

17. 2010 COSA USER CONFERENCE | 26-27 OCTOBER | GOLD COAST
QUESTIONS?