# Features

55 supported · 44 not yet
Source: https://plasapi.com/features/

With PLAS, a service is built against one shared standard instead of one integration per library system. The features show what patrons and staff can do in your service, and which calls in the API carry it.

## Three areas

The features follow the shape of a library service: finding material, the patron's own account, and what the library offers beyond the collection.

- [Search and discovery](https://plasapi.com/features/search-and-discovery/) — Let patrons search, find a work and browse the collection. The calls are in the Provider API, and search also exists as the Search API — a subset with its own specification that can, for example, be handed to a third party.
- [The patron](https://plasapi.com/features/patron/) — Everything that belongs to the patron's own relationship with the library — from logging in to paying a fee. The calls are in the Provider API; for single sign-on and events they also go the other way, through the Vendor API the service implements itself.
- [Library and content](https://plasapi.com/features/library-and-content/) — What the library offers beyond the collection: its events, its people and information about the library itself. The events are in the Provider API and in the Content API — a subset with its own specification.

## Where to start

Four common starting points, each a handful of features that carry a first version of a service.

### A patron app

Log in, see loans and renew them, reserve material and follow the queue.

- 2.2.1 Log in
- 2.4.1 View loans
- 2.4.3 Renew loan
- 2.5.1 Reserve material
- 2.5.2 View reservations

### Search and discovery

Search with suggestions and filters, and show a work with its editions and availability.

- 1.1.1 Search
- 1.1.3 Search suggestions
- 1.1.4 Filter and sort search results
- 1.2.1 View work

### Check in and out

Check material out and in at a self-service machine or the staff desk, and let patrons pay outstanding fees.

- 2.16.1 Check out physical material
- 2.16.2 Check in physical material
- 2.7.2 Pay fees

### The library's events

Show what is happening at the library, and let patrons browse it.

- 3.2.1 View event
- 3.2.5 Browse events

## How to read a feature

Every feature has a purpose: one sentence on what it does for the patron or for staff. A supported feature also has up to four parts, always in the same order — what you can build (for whoever decides), a typical flow as a pattern you can reuse, what the API provides in rules, fields and states, and the calls in the API, each linking to the reference.

### Supported and not yet

- **Supported** — The feature list says yes, and the calls are in the specification in production. They are listed with the feature.
- **Not yet** — The feature is in the PLAS feature list but not marked as supported — or its calls are not in the specification in production. It is described so you can see how it fits with the rest.

PLAS grows gradually, guided by the needs of libraries and vendors rather than a fixed timeline. The feature list is maintained by the PLAS team, and a feature that becomes supported is listed under New features in the changelog, at the version where its calls arrived.

### How the calls are shown

Some features are one call. Most are several, and the shape of the list tells you how they fit together.

- **One call** — One call carries the feature. For example: 2.5.2 View reservations.
- **Sequence** — The calls are made in this order, each building on the one before. For example: 2.5.1 Reserve material.
- **Composition** — Several calls build one view. The first is the main call; the others add to it. For example: 1.1.1 Search.
- **Alternatives** — The feature can be built in more than one way — for example with a password or with single sign-on. Choose one. For example: 2.2.1 Log in.
- **Data only** — The API supplies the data, and your service performs the action — for example drawing a map. For example: 1.7.1 Find material, map.

Some features can be switched on or off by the library system. `GetConfiguration` — and for search and content `GetSearchConfiguration` and `GetContentConfiguration` — tells your service which ones are available, and a feature that depends on it says so.