Library Bookshelves

The Library Bookshelves plugin allows you to curate virtual bookshelves just like you would a shelf around a theme in your library. Bookshelves are displayed as customizable Slick carousels, using cover art from and links to your library catalog. The plugin creates a Bookshelves post type, shortcode, and custom taxonomy.

This plugin currently supports these catalog system OPACs:
– Alexandria
– Aspen
– Atriuum
– BiblioCommons
– Bibliotheca cloudLibrary
– Calibre and COPS
– Civica Spydus
– DB/Textworks
– EBSCOHost Discovery Service
– Evergreen
– Ex Libris Primo
– Hoopla
– III Encore, WebPAC PRO, Polaris, Vega
– Insignia
– Koha
– Marmot Pika
– OPAC SBN
– OpenLibrary.org
– Overdrive
– SirsiDynix Enterprise and Horizon
– Surpass Cloud
– TLC
– WorldCat

It supports retrieval of images from these third-party CDNs:
– Amazon
– ChiliFresh
– Baker & Taylor
– EBSCO
– OpenLibrary.org
– Syndetics
– TLC

Bookshelves can be populated using:
– Aspen API
– Calibre OPDS (and HTML) PHP Server API
– Evergreen SuperCat feeds
– JSON data from any web address
– Koha Reports Web Service
– Koha RSS feeds
– New York Times Books API
– OpenLibrary API
– Pika API
– Sierra API
– SirsiDynix RSS feeds
– SirsiDynix Symphony Web Service
– TLC LS2 PAC API

You can set the plugin to use catalogs or image servers not specifially listed in the plugin settings. Select ‘Other’ catalog system or image server on the Catalog Settings tab, paste a URL from your catalog or server, and replace the item identifier with {ID}. If you think your catalog should be listed as a choice in the settings let us know on the support forum.

You may need to whitelist your web server IP in your ILS in order for this plugin to access APIs. When using an API you can set a Bookshelf to update items on a regular schedule using the WordPress cron system.

Originally developed by and for staff at the Guilderland Public Library.

Thanks to Gregory Testa of Chesapeake Public Library and Josh Stompro of Lake Agassiz Regional Library for feature suggestions and code contributions. Thanks to Emric Taylor for the admin menu icon.

Configuration

1. Go to Bookshelves>Settings to configure the plugin.
2. On the Catalog tab enter the domain name of your catalog (default is OpenLibrary.org).
3. Select your catalog system and image server.
   • If you have Polaris 6.3 or higher you may need to choose the Polaris 6.3+ catalog option if your item links fail.
   • ChiliFresh users may need to add their website domain to “Covered hosts” in the ChiliFresh Admin Panel for images to display.
   • TLC users will need to enter a Customer ID which can be found in your catalog’s item cover art URLs.
   • If your catalog is not on the list you can select the Other option and enter an item or image URL, replacing the item ID with {ID}.
4. Enter your Overdrive or cloudLibrary catalog URL if you wish to have Bookshelves link to that catalog. You can then set individual Bookshelves to link to your ebook catalog instead of your main catalog.
5. On the Slider Settings tab you can customize Bookshelf behavior. Defaults have been set to get you started.
6. On the CSS Settings tab you can customize some Bookshelf element styles.

Getting Started

Create a new Bookshelf using ISBNs or UPCs from items in your catalog. You can input items manually, from an exported list, or from a web service API. Paste the Bookshelf shortcode into a post, page, or widget area. You can add location tags to your Bookshelves to keep them organized and remember where you have them displayed on your site.

You can make a Bookshelf that links to an ebook catalog while having other Bookshelves link to your main catalog. To do this, enter your ebook catalog URL(s) in addition to your main catalog URL in the plugin settings. Create a new Bookshelf and choose an option in the eBook Catalog box.

Captions can be displayed below the item images or overlaid on hover. See the new options in Bookshelves > Settings > Slider Settings. There are customizable options for captions on the Customize CSS tab.

EBSCOHost users must enter Accession Numbers, and Calibre/COPS users must enter book ID numbers instead of ISBNs or UPCs.

REST API

You can modify Bookshelf items and alt text using the WP REST API. The API endpoint for Bookshelf posts is https://{your.library.url}/wp-json/wp/v2/bookshelves/. This plugin only supports the REST API in WordPress 5.3 and higher.