diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/cocoa.m b/src/calibre/utils/cocoa.m
index 41f8fa4bd9..58d3b88b65 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/cocoa.m
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/cocoa.m
@@ -115,3 +115,8 @@ cocoa_cursor_blink_time(void) {
     }
     return ans > max_value ? 0.0 : ans;
 }
+
+int
+cocoa_transient_scroller(void) {
+    return [NSScroller preferredScrollerStyle] == NSScrollerStyleOverlay;
+}
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/cocoa_wrapper.c b/src/calibre/utils/cocoa_wrapper.c
index 34a69cb8e7..45927b781d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/cocoa_wrapper.c
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/cocoa_wrapper.c
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 #include <Python.h>
 
+extern int cocoa_transient_scroller(void);
 extern double cocoa_cursor_blink_time(void);
 extern void cocoa_send_notification(const char *identitifer, const char *title, const char *subtitle, const char *informativeText, const char* path_to_image);
 extern const char* cocoa_send2trash(const char *utf8_path);
@@ -16,6 +17,12 @@ extern void remove_cocoa_menu_items(void);
 
 static PyObject *notification_activated_callback = NULL;
 
+static PyObject*
+transient_scroller(PyObject *self) {
+    (void)self;
+    return PyBool_FromLong(cocoa_transient_scroller());
+}
+
 static PyObject*
 cursor_blink_time(PyObject *self) {
     (void)self;
@@ -84,6 +91,7 @@ disable_cocoa_ui_elements(PyObject *self, PyObject *args) {
 
 
 static PyMethodDef module_methods[] = {
+    {"transient_scroller", (PyCFunction)transient_scroller, METH_NOARGS, ""},
     {"cursor_blink_time", (PyCFunction)cursor_blink_time, METH_NOARGS, ""},
     {"enable_cocoa_multithreading", (PyCFunction)enable_cocoa_multithreading, METH_NOARGS, ""},
     {"set_notification_activated_callback", (PyCFunction)set_notification_activated_callback, METH_O, ""},