Upcoming changes for LibAnswers widget/API (Jan 2023)
If you have includeded libAnswers and libChat widgets in your libApps profile, in one of your libGuides, or in a webpage that you maintained before 2022, please read on.
What is happening?
As part of the continuous effort to ensure the highest level of security, SpringShare is sunsetting certain widgets and API endpoints. The libAnswers and LibChats widgets that created before January 2022, using the older, app-wide domain API endpoints will stop working at the end of January 2023.
How does this affect me?
If you have included the "Ask a Librarian" form widget, your libChat widget or your libCal appointment widget in your libApps profile, you need to review your libApps profile settings and replace the old API URLs to the Vanderbilt domain URL or delete/re-include the widget.
If your ResearchGuides or a web page you maintained have included "Ask a Librarian" button, displayed "LibAnswers FAQ" list, offering "libChat" service, or have a libCal "make an appointment" widget, you might be affected.
What do I need to do?
In most cases, the widget or API URL just needs to be updated to use Vanderbilt libAnswers site's domain instead of the app-wide domain in the URL.
So look for the followng text strings in the widget code:
- v2.libanswers.com
- api2.libanswers.com
- api2-xx.libanswers.com
- api3.libcal.com
To replace with:
- libanswers.library.vanderbilt.edu (for libanswers and libchats widgets)
- calendar.library.vanderbilt.edu (for libcal widgets)
Read on to see how to update you libAnswers widgets in libApps profile.
Update older API widgets in LibApps Profile
Go to your libApps account, click “My Profile” from the yellow navigation bar, in the “Widgets” section, look for the following URLs:
For example:
The old “Ask a Librarian” widget URL is: https://api2.libAnswers.com/1.0/widget/xxxx
The old “LibChat” widget URL is: https://v2.libAnswers.com/load_chat.php?hash=XXXXXX
The old libCal Appointment widget URL is: https://api3.libcal.com/
Replace the front part of the url with
- https://libAnswers.library.vanderbilt.edu/... (for libAnswers, libChats widgets)
- https://calendar.library.vanderbilt.edu/... (for libCal widgets)
Or you can simply delete the widget from your profile, re-include it again, that will update the widget with updated codes.
