Library Platform Examples

Where do you meet your users online?

For many libraries, it is only through the OPAC or possibly a Web site hosted by the University or Local Authority.  How many of your users ever find their way to your OPAC?  More importantly, how many are motivated to try? With the emergence of new technologies and new usage of old technologies, it is now possible to interact with your online users in different, innovative ways.  Not just through your OPAC, but reaching out to sites such as Amazon where your users actively engage. 

Simple open technology

Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 are terms that have been coined to describe the use of simple Web technologies to deliver library services that are geared towards the needs and expectations of today’s library users – making information available wherever and whenever the user requires it. The Talis Platform provides a set of Web Services that allow libraries to easily integrate key library functionality within any software.  From identifying libraries that hold a particular book, to providing deep OPAC linking to individual records – these Web Services can be easily used by non-programmers.

Try yourself

To experience the power of such Web Services, we welcome you to try it yourself. Here are some of the examples.

  • An active library map – Herefordshire Libraries have produced a map of their library branch locations by combining services from the Talis Platform and Google Maps.  Follow this link to see the effect. Using Google Maps, you can use your cursor to move the map, zoom in and out and switch to a satellite view.  By clicking on a map pin, it will open up a detailed map with associated branch details.
  • Amazon Library Lookup – Download a plug-in for your Firefox Web browser from this page in the TDN.  When looking at book details on Amazon.co.uk it will display a list of libraries that hold that book.  Clicking on a library will take you to the specific item in the OPAC.
  • LibraryThingThing – Users of the excellent personal cataloguing and bibliographic sharing site librarything.com can download a plug-in for their Firefox Web browser from this page in the TDN.  This will display a list of library OPAC’s that hold the book and enables deep linking.
  • Project Cenote – a next generation view onto information about books and the libraries that hold them. Unlike a traditional library OPAC, Project Cenote provides a visually compelling interface that includes access to online bookstores, various libraries holding copies of a book, and enhanced information such as tables of contents and reviews. The Project Cenote interface was rapidly assembled on top of the Talis Platform, leveraging a set of web services that are also available for third parties to work with.
  • @ Your Library Wales - A portal exploration project, commissioned by CyMAL to support their Strategic Library Development Programme. The Portal aims to provide unified access to both electronic reference resources and library book holdings throughout Wales over the next two years. The application is being created by CASIS, a specialist software development company who are making use of the new Talis Library Platform and its Web Services. Visit the library portal at www.library.wales.org.

These are just a few examples.  Other innovative examples can be viewed in the entries submitted to the successful Mashing Up the Library Competition, sponsored by Talis.  To find out what a Mashup is read Paul Miller’s blog posting, or listen to the Library 2.0 Gang podcast to hear what other librarians think about Mashups.  

Make your library visible

Check the Silkworm Directory to see if your library is on the map, with the correct address and supporting information.

Make your holdings Visible

To make your library holdings visible, contribute your holdings to the Talis Platform. Talis Source, the free resource discovery service built on the Talis Platform provides open access to UK library holdings.  To contribute your holdings to the Talis Platform contact holdings@talis.com.

Find out more

A community of developers are using the Talis Developer Network (TDN) to access advice, documentation, scripts, API’s, Web Services, SDK’s and other free resources to support innovators across the library domain. Join the TDN, it’s free. Think about what you could do and what your innovations might mean to your library.