Talis Aspire is a shared UK-wide Resource List Management System that addresses the challenges currently facing higher education institutions by:

• enhancing the student’s learning experience
• improving collaboration between the library, faculty and students
• encouraging educators to take control of reading lists
  

Talis Aspire is hosted and run on your behalf by Talis. Each institution’s instance of Talis Aspire can be customised to govern local look and feel, systems integration, login, permissions and data access controls.

As a service-orientated approach, Talis can introduce shared features across the system to enhance the experience for the end users including shared feedback and recommendation features.

Yes. Talis Aspire complements your existing VLE, adding a valuable resource list dimension to the representation of learning modules in the VLE. We’re already working on rolling out integration with the BlackBoard Learn, Desire2Learn and Microsoft SharePoint solutions. As our customer base grows, we'll support other environments too.

Yes. Provided that data can be provided in a standard format, we can help you migrate data from any reading list tool (including Talis List) into Talis Aspire. Recently, we have created and enhanced data from RefWorks (exported in the standard RIS format) and from the Desire2Learn reading list module.

Because Talis Aspire is run on a Software as a Service basis, there are no hardware or installation requirements.

You will need to have in place a single sign-on identity provider that works to the SAML 2.0 standard. Most Universities already have such systems in place via their Shibboleth or Athens Identity Provider solutions (other options are available if you do not run either of these services at present).

Please contact us via aspire@talis.com for more details regarding compatibility with your specific arrangements.

We have already integrated Talis Aspire with:

• Ex Libris Voyager
• Ex Libris Aleph
• Innovative Millenium
• Talis Alto

Do not worry if your library management system is not listed yet. As we roll out Aspire, we will be looking to offer the broadest possible choice for all customers.

Yes. If you have your own in-house resources, they can configure the look and feel of Talis Aspire, which is built using CSS and other industry-wide web standards. Alternatively, you can use the services of the Talis Design Team, who will discuss and agree a design approach, then implement the look and feel of Talis Aspire on your behalf.

Throughout the development process, we have worked with library staff and educationalists to tailor Talis Aspire’s features and design to the specific workflows of academics.

We recognise adoption amongst educators is more than just providing the right features. Our staff - who work closely with a number of institutions to encourage adoption of Talis Aspire - are dedicated to helping you connect with your academic community.

To read about next-generation resource list management at the University of Portsmouth, please read the following case study (PDF). You can also read about success stories at Nottingham Trent University and the University of Manchester.

With Talis Aspire, you can browse the web and pull bibliographic resource metadata into Talis Aspire with just two clicks of a mouse – with no need to re-key. This process already works with literally millions of eJournal articles tagged with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and includes resources in:

• Library catalogues built with Talis Prism 2 and 3, Ex Libris Voyager or Alpeh and Innovative Millenium.
• IngentaConnect
• Oxford University Press
• All titles on the HighWire platform (over 1200 journals from 140 publishers)
• Elsevier Science Direct
• Wiley InterScience
• SpringerLink
• Taylor & Francis

Yes. You can choose to display purchase options from Amazon, Blackwell and John Smith’s campus bookstores. As customers request integration with their campus bookseller, the range of integration solutions will increase.

To find out about future developments in Talis Aspire, you can attend one of our open day events, or attend one of our regular introduction or quarterly update webinars. Or to find out how the product is evolving week to week, be sure to follow our Talis Aspire blog. Usually we release new features every couple of weeks, and on the day of release we will post a detailed showcase of new features on our blog.

The pricing model for the Talis Aspire annual subscription is based on the JISC banding of your university. We offer preferential terms for institutions able to commit to a three year initial term and also significant concessions for institutions able to open license their lists using Creative Commons licences. For more specific pricing information please contact aspire@talis.com.

If you're new to Talis Aspire, a "Take The Tour" video is now available from the Videos Page.