2.23.2017

Cincinnati Public Library events calendar in iCal Format

I wrote up a howto on this a few years ago, but the Cincinnati Public Library has moved to a slightly different software to run their events calendar. Luckily it is still the same company (Evanced by Demco) and the process is somewhat similar. However, it required some investigation to arrive at the right URL.

The library used to use the Events feature of Evanced, but now they use the Signup feature instead. That is why my old way no longer works. To create your new URL, you'll basically need to put the pieces together to build the URL you want. Here's how to do it.

The main URL is:
http://cincinnatilibrary.evanced.info/signupadmin/eventsxml.aspx?

After the '?' you will be adding specific text that translates into specific options. To learn more about all the different options, check out this support article from Evanced, SignUp - Events XML Feed URL Variables. Here are the options I chose:

dm=ical
This means that the information will be returned in iCal format. I chose this format because it works with Google Calendar.

ongoing=1
The default is for ongoing events to be removed, but putting this in makes sure you see all events.

nd=30
This says just return the next 30 days worth of events. You can change this to whatever you like.

lib=14
This specifies that I only want events at Green Township branch of the Cincinnati Public Library. Each branch is given a number and Green Township branch is 14. The numbers match up with the numbers on the locations page (Main Library is 0).

So my final URL that I use with Google Calendar is:
http://cincinnatilibrary.evanced.info/signupadmin/eventsxml.aspx?dm=ical&ongoing=1&nd=30&lib=14

Notice that you have to enter '&' between each of the options you setup.

Once you've created your URL, go to Google Calendar and click on the menu next to Other Calendars (square with downward triangle in it). Choose "Add by URL". Enter your URL into the URL field and click Add. It will take a moment and then show up under Other Calendars

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