With the abundance of electronic resources available today, many schools prefer to access their educational assets in one place. Federated Search Engines and other Discovery Tools allow libraries to do just that - easily browse through multiple content sources in their catalog at the same time.

The Vault Search API provides a much needed “Communication Bridge” between our content and any Discovery Tool that our mutual customers may be using. Api.infobase.com quickly indexes search results from our Online Databases in a universal XML format. These customizable XML search results can then be parsed with search results from other outside sources by a Vault Discovery Tool partner.

In this Search API Integration Guide, you will find everything you need to know to get started as an Infobase Discovery Tool partner.

Available Products

The Infobase Database Search API is currently available for the following online products:

Career Services

• Vault: Campus Edition

More of our products will be continually added to the API and new connections are actively being developed now. This guide will be updated accordingly.

Search Query

In order to utilize the API, there are certain query parameters that must be added to the URL routing:

Api.infobase.com/search/accountID/vendorID/productID/searchterm/format

Account ID

This is the customer’s Infobase Account ID. If you are using the API to harvest meta-data, there is a specific Discovery Tool Partner Account ID that can be provided.

Vendor ID

This is the Discovery Tool Partner ID that will be provided once a connection has been established with Vault.

Product ID

This is the Product ID for what Vault products you would like to query. Here are the currently available product IDs:

Search Term

This is the key word(s) you are attempting to search by. In order to get all results, please leave this blank.

Format

This is the desired output format you would like the results to be returned in. The available formats are:

•          Xml
•          Xml-file (this will return a file stream)
•          Xml-zip (this will return a compressed file)
•          Json

Search Results

After you have submitted a search query to the API, you results will then be returned with the available meta-data for your requested records. Here are the currently included meta-data fields for the Vault API:

Please note: The Account ID in the Record URL will match the Account ID provided in the original Search Query. Using a customer’s correct account ID is the only way for any authentication settings and usage statistics recording to work properly.

Sample Search

Here is an example of a Search Query for the term “frogs”:

http://api.infobase.com/search/0/0/0/guides/xml

The Account ID and Vendor ID have been set to 0 for this example.

Once completed, the XML end result would look like this for the first record returned:

<Record json:id="2">

<Database>Vault: Campus Edition</Database>

<AssetType>IndexVaultGuides</AssetType>

<RecordType>Guide</RecordType>

<Title>Career Launcher: Food Services</Title>

<Description><p>Food is big business, offering a wide range of opportunities for anyone committed to high standards and creativity. The National Restaurant Association reports that in 2009&#160;restaurant sales could grow to reach a record $566 billion. Currently there are more than 13 million people employed at more than 945,000 restaurants in the United States, excluding food service suppliers, which is a $38 billion industry.</p>
<p><em>Food Services</em> looks at the ins and outs of the business and helps readers identify the skills, attitudes, and connections they need to launch a successful career. This new volume features a wealth of useful information, including&#160;an overview of the current state of the food services industry, a breakdown of key jobs, tips for success, a glossary of industry jargon, and much more.</p></Description>

<RecordURL>https://access.vault.com/recordurl.aspx?nid=9781438132051gp&wid=XXXXXX</RecordURL>

<ISBN>9781438132051</ISBN>

<Author>Kelly Kagamas Tomkies</Author>

<imageURL>https://www.vault.com/images/VaultGuideCovers/9781438132051.jpg</imageURL>

</Record>

Record URL Authentication

It is Discovery Tools partner responsibility to ensure that the customer’s Infobase Account ID is used in the provided Record URLs. When harvesting for meta-data, the Account ID returned in the results will be for the Discovery Tool Partners specific account. Using a customer’s correct account ID is the only way for any authentication settings and usage statistics recording to work properly. Please replace the account ID when being displayed for a mutual customer.

<RecordURL>

https://access.vault.com/recordurl.aspx?nid=9781438132051gp&wid=XXXXX

</RecordURL>

Additional Help

If you have any questions / concerns, or are looking to establish a Discovery Tools partnership with Vault, please contact our API Support Staff at support@vault.com.