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Developers
Key components of the Talis Platform are being deployed in the library sector. This specialisation includes the default data, protocol, indexing and other standards which library technologists will feel at home with. For instance, although the generic Talis Platform is capable of storing and indexing any metadata, core components have been tuned and configured to handle Marc, Dublin Core, and other similar ‘library’ standards by default.
Rob Styles at EUSIDIC 2007, on how the Talis Platform is promoting Open Data and sharing 27:58min
Liberating Data
Data shared via the Talis Platform is available for use in a wide range of contexts. Data can be accessed via a growing set of consistent and accessible Web Services, suitable both for enriching existing applications or constructing whole new user experiences that leverage the full potential of the Platform capabilities.
Data can be shared via the Talis Platform under the Talis Community Licence which is intended to guarantee your freedom to use, share and modify data and to preserve the availability and accessibility of such data for the wider community.
A Platform Approach
The Talis Platform is open to participation by any library, regardless of their library system. At its heart are principles of openness and shared innovation, underpinned by technology and licenses to enable you to build flexible, engaging and open systems that realise the full potential of data shared with the Platform.
The Web Services with which the Talis Platform makes its capabilities available, permit any third party to build applications of their own that realise some of this potential, in exactly the way that our own demonstrators such as Project Whisper and Project Cenote do.
A technology platform lowers the cost and complexity of building powerful applications capable of interacting with one another and with large collections of data.
Components of the Talis Platform
The major components of the Talis Platform being made available for use by libraries include:
Directory Services
The Directory Service is a community-maintained repository for metadata about collections, services, and the organisations that maintain them. Information contributed to the Directory is protected by an open licence and made available for use via a series of Web Services.
Large-Scale Content Stores
The Talis Platform is designed to smoothly handle enormous datasets, with its multiple content stores providing a zero-setup, multi-tenant content and metadata storage facility, capable of storing and querying across numerous large datasets. Internally, the technology behind these content stores is referred to as Bigfoot, and there is an early white paper on this technology.
Content Orchestration
The Platform also comprises a centrally provided orchestration service which enables serendipitous discovery and presentation of content related according to arbitrary metadata. This service makes it easy to combine data from across different Content Stores flexibly, quickly and efficiently.
Local Integration
The Talis Platform is complemented by Talis Keystone a locally deployed framework presenting uniform functional interfaces into data management systems. Talis Keystone provides an application server using a Service Oriented Architecture that encapsulates and exposes the existing functionality of the incumbent library automation solution as a set of Web Services.
As well as an Open Source toolkit, the Talis Developer Network provides access to a Sandbox in which developers can test their code against a full Keystone installation, linked to a Talis library system. Visit www.talis.com/tdn/keystone for additional information.
Data Analysis
Talis recently unveiled the vision behind Project Memphis – a research project which explores domain wide library reporting and the opportunities for libraries to easily benchmark individual performance against libraries across the UK, through aggregated management information.
Our Mission
Our mission is to make library data visible in many contexts, inside and outside of the library, making the data much more accessible and visible to a wider audience - benefiting current and potential users of these services wherever they may be.
Platform Advisory Group
As part of our plans to validate our strategy, we have introduced The Library Platform Advisory Group to complement the existing Talis Advisory Board. The group draws together an international list of influential individuals, including John Blyberg, Casey Bisson, Dr Jill Cousins, Juha Hakala, Prof Bruce Royan, Tim Spalding, Dr Ben Toth and Dr David Weinberger.
More than software
The Talis Developer Network (TDN) community is available to support and share the experiences and innovation of those integrating with and building upon the Talis Platform. Following the best traditions of the Open Software community, the TDN provides the documentation and mutual support environment that developers and implementers expect.
