Release Notes

The Release Notes page provides a reference of significant additions and fixes appearing in each Sierra API release.

RLS 6.0 - June 05, 2023

Production release of version 6.0.

New Features

• Add stat group parameter to Sierra API -- Several Sierra APIs have been updated to include a new optional data parameter to specify the statistical group that should be used when recording a transaction performed using the APIs. The relevant APIs perform checkouts, checkins, renewals, payments or fee waivers, and placing holds. If no stat group is specified, transactions are logged in stat group 0.
• Expose specific patron block messages through Sierra API -- This project was an extension of the development in Sierra 5.4 to expose specific patron block message in WebPAC. This enhancement in Sierra 6.0 adds the same patron block messages to Sierra API responses.
• Add primary ISBN, ISSN, and/or UPC to the Bib API -- Three new optional fields have been added to the GET /v6/bibs and the GET /v6/bibs/{id} request: ISBN, ISSN, and UPC. This will provide Sierra API users with a quick way to access the standard number for a title so that they can easily link to a cover image or other content in a public display.

RLS 5.6 - December 20, 2022

No new features this release.

RLS 5.5 - September 22, 2022

Production release of version 5.5.

New features include:

• Filter duplicate bibs in /bibs/marc endpoint -- The filter logic in the GET /v6/bibs/marc endpoint has been updated to dedupe the records returned if the API call is filtered by location and the results include bibs with items in multiple locations.
• REST API for item paging -- Two new REST APIs have been added to provide information about item holds in pageslips that exist in Sierra. The API will be available in the Sierra API Swagger documentation to users who have Item_Page_Lists permissions.
  • GET /v6/itempaging/reports – Returns a list of item paging reports
  • GET /v6/itempaging/reports/{id} – Returns a list of items belonging to an item paging report
• New homeLibrary element in patron endpoint -- The GET /v6/patrons/{id} endpoint now contains a new "homeLibrary" element, which includes the branch name and code for the patron's home library. This will make it easier for libraries to obtain this information as part of the patron information from the Sierra API.

RLS 5.4 - November 15, 2021

Sierra API 5.4 changes were limited to internal API updates needed to support feature development in Mobile Worklists 4.1 and 4.2.

RLS 5.3 - April 19, 2021

Production release of version 5.3.

New Endpoints

• GET /v6/patrons/{id}/checkouts/history/activationStatus - Get patron reading history status
• POST /v6/patrons/{id}/checkouts/history/activationStatus - Updates patron reading history status

Improvements

• GET /v6/patrons/{id}/checkouts/history - Added checkoutHistoryId field to the checkout history listing endpoint

RLS 5.2 - September 28, 2020

Production release of version 5.2.

New features

• Manage batch creation of bibs (from a MARC file):
  • POST /v6/bibs/marc/files/upload - Upload and import a MARC file in Sierra
  • GET /v6/bibs/marc/files/upload/status - Get MARC file import status
  • GET /v6/bibs/marc/files/uploaded - Get list of uploaded and prepared MARC files
  • DELETE /v6/bibs/marc/files/uploaded/{id} - Delete an uploaded MARC file
• New Volumes API:
  • GET /v6/volumes - Get volumes records with option to filter by bib ID
  • GET /v6/volumes/{id} - Get a single volumes record with bib and item links
• Patron self circulation (self check-in and self check-out of items):
  • POST /v6/patrons/checkout - Patron self-checks an item out (using barcodes)
  • DELETE /v6/items/checkouts/{barcode} - Item self check-in (no patron required)
• Circulation (tracking Sierra's checkouts and holds):
  • GET /v6/items/checkouts - Get checked-out item records in Sierra
  • GET /v6/items/{id}/checkouts - Get checkout data from an item record
  • GET /v6/patrons/holds - Get hold requests in Sierra
• Holdings records MARC extraction:
  • GET /v6/holdings/marc - Generate a binary MARC data file of holdings
  • GET /v6/holdings/marc/files/{id} - Get the generated binary MARC data file of holdings
  • DELETE /v6/holdings/marc/files/{id} - Delete a holdings MARC data file

Improvements

• Acquisitions (Blanket Purchase Order improvements):
  • POST /v6/acquisitions/orders - Enhanced with Blanket PO on the response payload
  • GET /v6/orders - enhanced with Blanket PO number filter and added to payload
• Record linking:
  • GET /v6/items - Enhanced with volume record links field
  • GET /v6/bibs - Enhanced with items and volumes record links field
  • GET /v6/orders - Enhanced with bib record links field

RLS 5.1 - February 4, 2020

Production release of version 5.1.

Announcements

• Introduction of Sierra API version 6.
• Sierra API Version 3 will be soon be discontinued and will no longer be supported by Innovative.
• Full CRUD now supported for both bibs and items.

New API endpoints

• Item CUD:
  • POST /v6/items - Create an item record (with appropriate MARC and non-MARC variable-length fields and non-MARC data fields)
  • PUT /v6/items/{id} - Update an item record (including the ability to suppress or unsuppress an item)
  • DELETE /v6/items/{id} - Delete an item by record ID
• Bib CUD:
  • POST /v6/bibs - Create a Bib record (with MARC-tagged variable-length fields and non-MARC data fields)
  • PUT /v6/bibs/{id} - Update a bib record (including the ability to suppress and unsuppress a bib)
  • DELETE /v6/bibs/{id} - Delete a bib by record ID
• Circulation:
  • GET /v6/patrons/{id}/holds/requests/form - Get the hold request form for a bib record (to assist with placing holds)

Improvements

• Place holds error messaging - Extended volume record selection message to include v-tagged content
• GET /v6/holdings - Variable-length fields response enhanced with checkin record soft-links
• GET /v6/items - Response enhanced with number of holds and copy number
• GET /v6/bibs - Response enhanced with bib call number

RLS 5.0 - September 30, 2019

Production release of version 5.0.

• New endpoints:
  • GET /v5/courses - Get a list of course reserves
  • POST /v5/invoices/validate - Validate the invoice data
  • POST /v5/invoices - Create an invoice record
  • PUT /v5/invoices/sessions/{id}/post - Post invoice records of a session
  • PUT /v5/invoices/{id} - Update an individual invoice record

• Improvements
  • Bibs Write Role - New API Role created to enable access to the "Delete MARC data file" and "Delete expired MARC data files" endpoints
  • GET /v5/invoices - Not consistently displaying the UseTax field
  • POST /patrons/{id}/holds/requests - Return the list of the items in response to placing an item-level hold on v-tagged items when hold is requested for the bib record

RLS 4.3 - April 23, 2019

Production release of version 4.3.

• New endpoints:
  • PUT /v5/fines/payment - Pay fines for multiple patrons
  • DELETE /v5/bibs/marc/files/{id} - Delete a MARC data file

• Improvements:
  • GET /v5/funds - Enhanced with fund type information
  • GET /v5/patrons/{id}/fines - Enhanced with invoice number information

RLS 4.2 - January 22, 2019

Production release of version 4.2.

• New endpoints:
  • POST /v5/patron/{id}/fines/charge - Add a manual fine to a patron

• Improvements:
  • GET /v5/invoices and GET /invoices/{id} - Enhanced with Fixed and Variable Fields
  • GET /v5/holdings - Enhanced with fixed and variable fields, and with a link to associated item records
  • GET /v5/fines - Enhanced with new filters for invoice number and patron ID, and with agency code information
  • PUT /v5/patron/{id} - Update Patron notification preference
  • All endpoints - Optional expanding information fields for linked records

RLS 4.1 - October 1, 2018

Production release of version 4.1.

• New endpoints:
  • GET /v5/vendors - Returns a list of vendor information.
  • GET /v5/currencies - Returns a list of foreign currency codes and rates.
  • GET /v5/holdings - Returns .a list of holding information.
  • PUT /v5/patrons/{id}/fines/payment - Pays a patron's fines partially, fully, or with a waiver, creating a new fine paid record for a specific patron.

  • DELETE /v5/patrons/<id>/checkouts/history - Delete a patron's reading history.

  • DELETE /v5/patrons/<id>/checkouts/history/<checkoutHistoryId> - Deletes one or more reading history items.

• Improvements:

  • GET /v5/orders - Added optional filter: Get order records by bibID.

  • GET /v5/bibs/marc - Added optional filters: bib created date range, bib updated date range, bib suppressed, and bib deleted filters.

  • GET /v5/bibs - Added number of holds and copies of bib to /bibs listing endpoint.

  • GET /v5/items - Added finding an item by a single createdDate without having to detail the timestamp.

  • GET /v5/patrons/{id}/checkouts/history - Added checkoutHistoryId to the checkout history listing endpoint.

  • POST /v5/patrons/<id> - Added the ability to add more than one fixedField during patron create..

RLS 4.0 - May 9, 2018

Production release of version 4.0.

• New endpoints:
  • GET /v5/invoices/metadata - Returns use tax rate.
  • GET /v5/bibs/metadata - Returns material types.
• Improvements:
  • GET /v5/patrons/{id}/holds and GET /v5/patrons/holds/{holdid} now returns pickupByDate, which is the date the hold must be picked up by the patron.
  • GET /v5/bibs/search now returns the same as WebPAC.

RLS 3.4 - November 30, 2017

Production release of version 3.4.

• New endpoints:
  • GET /v5/invoices/{id} - Returns invoice data for a specific invoice ID.
  • GET /v5/funds - Returns funds and can be filtered by internal fund name.
• Improvements:
  • Enhanced existing /v5/patrons/{id}/fines and /v5/patrons/fines/<fineId> endpoints to return the following additional fields:
    - initials
    - creationMethod
    - datePaid
    - originalPatron
    - printBill
    - terminalNumber
    - transferDate
    - returnDate

RLS 3.3 - October 27, 2017

Production release of version 3.3.

• New endpoints:
  • GET /v4/invoices - Get a list of invoices.
  • GET /v4/invoices/{id}/lneItems - Get the line item data for a single invoice record.
• Updated endpoints:
  • GET /v4/patrons/metadata - Added capability to filter results by agency code.

  • GET /v4/patrons/{id}/fines - Added capability to filter results by assessedDate date range.

RLS 3.2 - August 16, 2017

Production release of version 3.2.

• New endpoints:
  • GET /v4/patrons/find - Find a patron by varField Tag and varField content. Supports barcodes, uniqueID, and any other indexed patron varField tags. This endpoint is backwards compatible with previous /v4/patrons/find by barcode endpoint.
  • POST /v4/users/validate - Validate a Sierra user by username and password.
  • GET /v4/agencies - Get a list of agencies.
• Updated endpoints:
  • GET /v4/patrons/metadata - Returns the following fields:
    - pMessage
    - language preference
    - homeLibraryCode
  • POST /v4/patrons - Allows you to create the following additional fields:
    - pMessage
    - home library code
    - language preference
    - fixedFields
    - varFields
  • PUT /v4/patrons/{id} - Allows you to update the following fields:
    - pMessage
    - home library code
    - language preference
    - fixedFields
    - varFields

  • POST /v4/patrons/{id}/holds/requests - Allows you to add a [hold] note when requesting a hold.

RLS 3.1 - October 12, 2016

Production release of version 3.1.

• Keyword Search API - Perform keyword searches using Innovative's "RightResult" relevance ranking algorithm.
• Enhanced Patron API. New operations include:
  • Reading History - Access patron reading history if patron has opted in.
  • PIN Validation - Verify a patron’s barcode and PIN. Replaces legacy Patron API (URL) PIN test.
• Enhanced Acquisitions API - Converts dates and orders placed in a foreign currency with a vendor to the library’s native date and currency formats.

RLS 3.0 - July 11, 2016

Production release of version 3.0.

• Base URL incremented to "v6"
• New APIs:
  • Acquisitions
  • API Information
  • Orders
• New query operations (POST - filter the records by a query in JSON format).
• Integrated standardized MARC-JSON format.
• New Bib object property - available
• New Item object property - itemType
• ErrorCodes object is now ErrorCode object.
• New error codes.
• The PIN Verification Result object is no longer supported.

RLS 2.1.1 - March 31, 2016

Production release of version 2.1.1.

• Improved access key handling across release boundaries.
• Add patch version to version string.
• Bugfixes.

RLS 2.1 - December 17, 2015

Production release of version 2.1.

• New operations (endpoints):
  • GET - Generate a MARC data file of bibs
  • GET the generated MARC data file
  • GET a patron by barcode
  • POST - request to renew a checkout
  • POST - Verify a PIN
• New return objects:
  • ErrorCodes Object
  • Generated MARC Files
  • PIN Verification Result Object
• New PatronPatch property, pin.
• New Hold object properties:
  • priorityQueueLength
  • note
• New presentation parameter, Accept-Language (applied in the request header).
• Additional error messages.
• This document includes new information on TLS/SSL handling.

RLS 2.0 - June 30, 2015

Production release of version 2.0.

• Authority resource retrieval
• Branch resource retrieval
• Patron resource retrieval
  Includes checkouts, fines, and holds.
• Write access to select patron data:
  • POST, PUT, and DELETE operations for hold data.
  • PUT operation for patron names, addresses, phones, and emails.
• Authorization Code Grant
  Enable patrons to grant user consent for access to resources.
• API data access configuration
  In the Sierra Admin App, data access can be configured per client key. Access configurations include basic API data plus:
  • no patron data.
  • global patron data.
  • patron-specific data.
  • global patron data and patron-specific data.
• Various additions and improvements to bib and item objects, including:
  • bibs:
    • id is now a string
    • country is now an object
    • orders object replaces the orderInfo object
    • normTitle added
    • normAuthor added
    • locations added
  • items:
    • id is now a string

Sierra REST API Version 2 remains backward compatible with Version 1 URLs.

RLS 1.0 - April 28, 2014

First production release; includes bib and item resource retrieval.

• Client key/secret administration
  Client key/secret administration is implemented in the Sierra Administration application. Documentation for the admin app is found in the Sierra WebHelp.

• Varfields
  When presented as varfields, MARC control fields now correctly have a "content" string, and no subfields, rather than a single 'a' subfield with the content of the field itself.

• MARC
  Fixed an issue where some varfields containing semicolons would cause a 500 error when requested in MARC format.

• Error responses

  • Fixed an issue where error responses were not always returned as JSON objects.
  • OAuth2 error responses now follow the OAuth2 standard error format as documented in RFC 6749.

RLS 0.5 (beta) Maintenance 2 - March 12, 2014

Third beta release; for sandbox only.

• MARC format
  Bib MARC records are no longer returned in marc-in-json format by default; instead they are returned in a format that is more convenient for object mapping tools. Users can retrieve the /bibs/<id>/marc resource in marc-in-json format by specifying an "Accept: application/marc-in-json" request header.
• OAuth2
  The former authentication mechanism specifying an API key as a request parameter has been replaced by OAuth2 client-credentials authentication. Temporarily, beta partners can use their old API key as both the client key and client secret in the new scheme.
• Fixed fields
  Fixed fields are now serialized as an object keyed by fixnum, instead of as a list.
• Limits
  Result sets now can include up to 2,000 records. There are performance consequences to using a limit this large.
• Error messages
  Unauthenticated and SSL error messages are now in JSON format.
• Interactive docs
  • OAuth2
    The interactive docs now support OAuth2 authentication.
  • Varfields
    The interactive documentation now better reflects that varfields can have either a string value or a list of subfields. (Note however that they should always have one or the other -- not both, or neither. This is a limitation of the interactive doc system.)
  • Item status
    The interactive documentation now better reflects that an item status can have either a code and display string, or a due date.
  • MARC
    The interactive documentation supports selecting either application/json or application/marc-in-json when retrieving the /bibs/{id}/marc resource.

RLS 0.5 (beta) Maintenance - February 13, 2014

Second beta release; for sandbox only.

• API requests now require the version number. The current version number is "0.5" (https://sandbox.iii.com/iii/sierra-api/v0.5/).
• The base URL (https://sandbox.iii.com/iii/sierra-api/v0.5/) redirects to the "about" page (https://sandbox.iii.com/iii/sierra-api/v0.5/about).
• Added the ability to query for a range of record numbers.
• Queries now return the start/total numbers in a response only if the "offset" query parameter was specified.
• Added the "deletedDate" and "deleted" fields to record responses.
• Added the ability to filter by "deletedDate" or by deletion status.
• Deleted records are now included by default in list responses.
• Added more error codes for better troubleshooting.

RLS 0.5 (beta) - January 20, 2014

First beta release; for sandbox only.

Includes bib and item resource retrieval.