eContent Integration
eBooks, eAudiobooks, and eVideos appear grouped alongside physical titles in Pika, so patrons can decide which format best suits their needs from a single web page. Pika is integrated with Overdrive and Hoopla APIs as well as offering the ability to ‘sideload’ MARC records for other eContent collections for direct access to electronic collections from the catalog.
Overdrive APIs
Pika is fully integrated with Overdrive APIs that allow patrons to checkout and place holds on Overdrive titles directly from search results or full records. Overdrive checkouts and holds will display in patrons’ account pages and past titles will display in reading history. Items can be downloaded from Pika onto patrons’ devices and checkouts and holds in Pika are reflected immediately in the Overdrive Libby application. Or, if patrons prefer, they can use the read online or listen online options which direct out to the OverDrive web application. Returning items is an easy process from patrons’ account pages in Pika. Because Pika offers complete support for the OverDrive APIs, catalog search results reflect availability changes in real-time. Full support for OverDrive Advantage is also included for consortia.
Hoopla APIs
Pika is integrated with Hoopla APIs, which support checkout of Hoopla titles directly from Pika search results. Hoopla checkouts display in patrons’ account pages in Pika, including current checkouts and reading history. Pika will alert patrons how many Hoopla titles they can checkout and when they have reached their checkout limit. Patrons can easily return Hoopla titles directly from Pika. Hoopla titles are updated on a monthly basis through an automatic process and librarians have the ability to limit titles by price, kind, and audience, so Hoopla holdings always reflect what your library offers.
Easy integration with eContent providers
Pika allows for seamless eContent integration with the ‘sideloading’ process, where MARC records for electronic collections are loaded directly into Pika instead of your ILS. Sideloading saves technical services time since they don’t need to load records into the ILS and can typically use MARC records provided by the vendor without having to make cataloging changes. In some cases, eContent files can be fetched directly from the provider via FTP site or similar which allows technical services to set up the collection once and receive regular automatic updates without additional intervention.
We have sideloaded content from several popular vendors including :
- RBdigital Magazines and Audiobooks
- Cloud Library
- Kanopy
- Axis360
- More Options
