The circulation server

The circulation server is responsible for a consolidated view of every book in our catalog (whether we own that book through open-access, through a license, or both). For each book, this view includes:

• The bibliographic information we want to display to the user, e.g. title, author, language, audience.

• A numeric estimate of the book's quality.

• An assignment of the book to one (and only one) lane.

• Information about each active license for the book.

• Information about all current activity between Simplified patrons and the book.

The circulation server is not necessarily responsible for gathering, keeping, or processing raw data (e.g. OCLC Classify records, NYT bestseller information, or Amazon reviews), or the preliminary data used to build this view (rows in the 'workrecords' table).

Hoever, the circulation server is responsible for the search engine, which for now probably means storing that intermediate data. Search results are served as OPDS feeds. The only supported search is a combination title/author search.

The circulation server serves OPDS feeds of books written in various languages and found in various lanes. It can order these feeds by title and author. It can also generate 'recommended' feeds which include a random sampling of high-quality books for a given combination of language+lane.

The circulation server is responsible for knowing about and granting access to binary files such as cover images, open-access books, DRM-encrypted books, unencrypted previews, and license files. It is not responsible for hosting any of those files; it just knows where they are.

In particular, the circulation server is responsible for acting on behalf of a patron to orchestrate the process of obtaining a license file for a DRM-encrypted book, regardless of where the license server is located, who controls the license server, or which type of DRM has been applied to the book. The circulation server is responsible for telling the client where to go to get the license file and the DRM-encrypted book, but not necessarily responsible for hosting those files.

The circulation server is responsible for processing user requests for returning a book early, extending a license, or joining the hold queue for a book.

The circulation server is responsible for validating a patron's barcode and PIN with Millenium or with any successor SSO service. It is not responsible for storing a patron's barcode or PIN.