Skip to content

Authentication

There are three types of authentication for OverDrive APIs, depending on which APIs you plan to use.

Client authentication

Client authentication allows you to authenticate your integration with the OverDrive APIs. Client authentication is used to display information about a library or school's digital collection, such as title metadata and availability, and doesn’t allow users to borrow titles or place holds.

You’ll use client authentication if:

  • Your integration only has access to the Discovery APIs. Discovery APIs include:
    • Library Account
    • Search
    • Metadata
    • Library Availability
    • Magazine Issues
    • Digital Inventory
  • An end user isn't signed into your product (via patron authentication, more below).
  • Your integration is accessing the Title Link API or the Reporting API.

You can optionally use client authentication to access our integration environment to build and test your discovery-only implementation.

Patron authentication

Patron authentication authenticates an end user with your product and your integration with the OverDrive APIs. To use patron authentication, you will need to have access to users' OverDrive credentials (such as a library card number and PIN).

Once authenticated, users can take specific actions, like borrowing and placing holds. Patron authentication also lets authenticated users browse and search for the complete set of titles they're eligible to borrow in a library or school’s collection.

You’ll use patron authentication with the Circulation APIs (always) and the Discovery APIs (once the user is authenticated):

  • Circulation APIs:
    • Patron Information
    • Holds
    • Checkouts
  • Discovery APIs (once authenticated):
    • Library Account
    • Search
    • Metadata
    • Library Availability
    • Magazine Issues
    • Digital Inventory

Best practice: Before a user is authenticated, you can use client authentication to display a library or school's entire collection via the Discovery APIs. Once a user is authenticated, we highly recommend using the resulting patron collection token for all calls to the OverDrive APIs. Using the patron collection token ensures that the user sees all the content their login has access to. This is important because some libraries and schools purchase additional copies of titles that are specific to their users, so not all users have access to the entire collection.

You can also use patron authentication to access our integration environment to build and test your implementation. Once you've integrated your product with the OverDrive APIs, you’ll need to submit your implementation to OverDrive to be approved for production access.

QR code authentication

With QR code authentication, you can use the same APIs and functionality as patron authentication. However, you don't need to have access to your users' OverDrive credentials. Instead, users can scan a QR code (or use a link alternative) to sign into OverDrive services.

See the "Patron authentication" section above for more details about what you can do with QR code authentication.