What's an Advantage Accounts Link?

With an "advantageAccount" link, you can search a consortium for Advantage Accounts. From there, you can use a specific library's products link to get a list of Advantage titles that have been purchased to supplement a collection, or a list that includes both Advantage and consortium titles.

For example, if a consortium member decides to purchase five extra copies of 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,' patrons of that library would have access to them in addition to the consortium copies. To see these extra copies in a search response, you need to use the advantageAccount link for a specific library when accessing the Search API.

Note: If a library doesn't have an Advantage Account, it won't show up at the advantageAccount endpoint.

How to get an Advantage products link for an entire library collection

1. Access the Library Account API to get the advantageAccounts link.
2. Use the advantageAccounts link to get a list of all Advantage accounts belonging to that consortium.

   GET https://api.overdrive.com/v1/libraries/1225/advantageAccounts
   User-Agent: {Your application}
   Authorization: Bearer {OAuth access token}
   Host: api.overdrive.com
   

3. Find the library you need in the list of results.

   {
   	"id": 1225,
   	"links": {
   		"self": {
   			"href": "https://api.overdrive.com/v1/libraries/1225/advantageAccounts",
   			"type": "application/vnd.overdrive.api+json"
   		}
   	},
   	"advantageAccounts": [{
   		"id": 3,
   		"name": "The Other Side of Town Library",
   		"type": "Library Advantage Account",
                   "collectionToken": "v1L2B2gAAAK8BAAA1x",
   		"links": {
   			"self": {
   				"href": "https://api.overdrive.com/v1/libraries/1225/advantageAccounts/3",
   				"type": "application/vnd.overdrive.api+json"
   			},
   			"products": {
   				"href": "https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L2B2gAAAK8BAAA1x/products",
   				"type": "application/vnd.overdrive.api+json"
   			}
   		},
   		"formats": [{
   			"id": "ebook-overdrive",
   			"name": "OverDrive Read"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "audiobook-overdrive",
   			"name": "OverDrive Listen"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "magazine-overdrive",
   			"name": "OverDrive Magazine"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "ebook-pdf-adobe",
   			"name": "Adobe PDF eBook"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "ebook-epub-adobe",
   			"name": "Adobe EPUB eBook"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "ebook-kindle",
   			"name": "Kindle Book"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "audiobook-mp3",
   			"name": "OverDrive MP3 Audiobook"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "ebook-pdf-open",
   			"name": "Open PDF eBook"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "ebook-epub-open",
   			"name": "Open EPUB eBook"
   		}]
   	},
   	{
   		"id": 9,
   		"name": "The Common Community Library",
   		"type": "Library Advantage Account",
                   "collectionToken": "v1L2B2gAAAKoBAAA1B",
   		"links": {
   			"self": {
   				"href": "https://api.overdrive.com/v1/libraries/1225/advantageAccounts/9",
   				"type": "application/vnd.overdrive.api+json"
   			},
   			"products": {
   				"href": "https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L2B2gAAAKoBAAA1B/products",
   				"type": "application/vnd.overdrive.api+json"
   			}
   		},
   		"formats": [{
   			"id": "ebook-overdrive",
   			"name": "OverDrive Read"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "audiobook-overdrive",
   			"name": "OverDrive Listen"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "magazine-overdrive",
   			"name": "OverDrive Magazine"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "ebook-pdf-adobe",
   			"name": "Adobe PDF eBook"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "ebook-epub-adobe",
   			"name": "Adobe EPUB eBook"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "ebook-kindle",
   			"name": "Kindle Book"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "audiobook-mp3",
   			"name": "OverDrive MP3 Audiobook"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "ebook-pdf-open",
   			"name": "Open PDF eBook"
   		},
   		{
   			"id": "ebook-epub-open",
   			"name": "Open EPUB eBook"
   		}]
   	}],
   	"totalItems": 2
   }
   

4. Use the products URL as the starting point for any OverDrive API to get the entire digital collection including Advantage titles.

How to list Advantage titles only

If you only want to see the Advantage titles a library has purchased, you can use the library id under 'advantageAccounts' to discover products specific to the Advantage account. Remember, this excludes consortium titles.

GET https://api.overdrive.com/v1/libraries/1225/advantageAccounts/9
User-Agent: {Your application}
Authorization: Bearer {OAuth access token}
Host: api.overdrive.com

From that endpoint, you will get a response like this:

{
	"id": 9,
	"name": "The Common Community Library",
	"type": "Library Advantage Account",
        "collectionToken": "v1L1BddEAAA2p",
	"links": {
		"self": {
			"href": "https://api.overdrive.com/v1/libraries/1225/advantageAccounts/9",
			"type": "application/vnd.overdrive.api+json"
		},
		"products": {
			"href": "https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BddEAAA2p/products",
			"type": "application/vnd.overdrive.api+json"
		}
	},
	"formats": [{
		"id": "ebook-overdrive",
		"name": "OverDrive Read"
	},
	{
		"id": "audiobook-overdrive",
		"name": "OverDrive Listen"
	},
	{
		"id": "magazine-overdrive",
		"name": "OverDrive Magazine"
	},
	{
		"id": "ebook-pdf-adobe",
		"name": "Adobe PDF eBook"
	},
	{
		"id": "ebook-epub-adobe",
		"name": "Adobe EPUB eBook"
	},
	{
		"id": "ebook-kindle",
		"name": "Kindle Book"
	},
	{
		"id": "audiobook-mp3",
		"name": "OverDrive MP3 Audiobook"
	},
	{
		"id": "ebook-pdf-open",
		"name": "Open PDF eBook"
	},
	{
		"id": "ebook-epub-open",
		"name": "Open EPUB eBook"
	}]
}

As you can see, this is just like a standard Library Account API response, but the products link will only return Advantage titles in a search. In other words, the Search API will only return titles that the library has purchased on its own to supplement the consortium collection.