Operations

With the Sierra REST API, you can retrieve, create, update, and delete various record types and related data in the Sierra system. You can retrieve responses in JSON, XML, or for some endpoints, MARC-in-JSON. Query parameters constrain the result sets. Most POST and PUT operations require request objects.

The base URL provides basic API information.

Sierra REST API resource URLs have the following structure:

https://<host name>/<path>/<version>/<resource>?<parameter1>&<parameter2>

https://

The scheme identifying the protocol to be used to access the resource.

<host name>

The host name identifying the server that holds the resources, such as "example-library.edu".

The host name for the Sierra REST API Developer's Sandbox server is:

sandbox.iii.com

<path>

Path components that point to Sierra REST API resources on the server. The path depends upon your server's configuration. The default configuration is:

iii/sierra-api

<version>

The API version to query for the resource, such as "v6".

The current version path component on the Sierra REST API Sandbox server is "v6".

<resource>

The resource type to retrieve, such as "bibs", "items", or "patrons". In some cases, the resource path can be compound, such as /patron/<ID>/checkin.

<parameters>

For GET requests, any of a variety of parameters used to constrain the result set. A question mark "?" always precedes the first parameter. An ampersand "&" precedes additional parameters.

Available Operations

The Sierra API consists of a series of smaller APIs grouped around functional areas. One or more roles control access to the endpoints available in each API. See Administering Sierra API Client Keys in the Sierra WebHelp for more information on roles.

To view the endpoints available in each API and the role(s) required to use them, see the following.

The Try it Out! links on the API pages open the interactive documentation, where you can view the model, model schema, and parameters for each available operation. If you have a client key and secret for the server, enter them into the boxes at the top of the interactive documentation page. Sample results include:

  • the request URL used to retrieve the data.
  • the response body, showing sample data from the system's database.
  • the response code.
  • the response headers.

Contact Innovative for access to an Innovative demonstration server.