Latest News

Talis launches a series of podcasts with Online Information Conference 2008

20 November 2008

In the run up to the upcoming Online Information 2008 Conference, as series of ‘Talking with Talis’ podcasts with key speakers at the event are now available. Led by Richard Wallis, Technology Evangelist at Talis, information industry leaders talk about the most pressing issues facing information professionals today and their visions for the future.

Industry experts featured in the podcasts include:

Keynote speaker: Clay Shirky, Writer and Consultant
Stephen Arnold, Information Technologies
Jenny Levine, American Library Association
JP Rangaswami, MD – Design BT

The first to be interviewed was Conference Chairman, Adrian Dale. Adrian describes how this year’s programme builds on last year’s conference and how the conference committee was impressed with the large number of case studies that were submitted for practical implementations of the subjects talked about a year earlier. With those case study presentations supporting a quality list of informative, inspirational and entertaining keynote speakers, the 2008 conference looks like being a high point in the information industry calendar.

Technology Evangelist, Richard Wallis comments, "As demonstrated by the first in the series with Conference Chairman, Adrian Dale, these podcasts provide a great opportunity to gain an understanding of the themes of the conference and an insight into the thoughts and personalities of those presenting. I believe that the interviews are equally useful and informative for listeners who are lucky enough to make it to the conference and for those unfortunately unable to attend."

The podcasts are available at http://blogs.talis.com/panlibus/ or www.online-information.co.uk/podcasts.html. For more information, or to view the conference programme in full, please visit:

www.online-information.co.uk/conference.

3M renews membership in Talis Additions Partner Programme

13 November 2008

Talis are pleased to announce that 3M has renewed its membership in the Talis Additions Partner Programme once again. Extensive collaboration and shared technical expertise between Talis, our customers, 3M and all partners is essential to ensure that the standards-based interfaces required for integrating all products remain compatible now, and for the future.

This partnership provides mutual customers with the confidence that integrated solutions will both operate seamlessly and evolve together, as an increasing choice of applications and library-centred services enters the market.

David Fletcher, Marketing at 3M commented “Effective partnerships are essential in bringing Next Generation 3M library system solutions and services to all ‘new’ and ‘existing’ customers. Talis is one of the largest technology suppliers in the UK public and academic library market space, so it makes absolute sense that we continue to build upon on historically strong relationship, to deliver further value to our customers.”

Dave Errington, CEO at Talis commented “We are pleased 3M has renewed their participation in the Talis Additions Partner Programme as it continues to grow. This valuable relationship will enable libraries across the UK and Ireland to continue benefitting from greater efficiencies in their services.

The Talis Additions Partnership Programme is intended to support greater customer choice, to help our mutual customers’ gain more value from their applications. It also provides assurance that our solutions will work together.

To find out how you could benefit from the Talis Additions Partner Programme, or how you could become a certified partner, please visit www.talis.com/partners, or call Grant White on 0870 400 5425.

Council partnership provides community information for over 500,000 residents via Talis Engage

10 November 2008

Talis is delighted to announce that Bolton Council and Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust have united to adopt the new community information solution, Talis Engage. Together, the councils will provide over 500,000 residents with the latest information about local and national clubs, societies and organisations in the Bolton and Wigan area.

As the first cross border authority adoption of the solution, this project enables citizens to access an even wider range of information at a higher quality, as a larger number of users upload, update and manage their own community information. As the user participation increases, there will be a significant transfer in ownership of information from librarian to user, whilst retaining robust and flexible notification channels.

Talis Engage is available to all libraries and local authorities regardless of your existing library management system. It facilitates the joining of community information databases, such as clubs and societies, local history, health information; whilst promoting one central point of access. Talis Engage is centrally hosted and therefore there are no hidden hardware, maintenance or licence costs for users, lowering the total cost of ownership and minimising staff administration.

To find out more information, visit www.talis.com/engage for a webinar or a free trial, or contact sales at sales@talis.com or 0870 400 5090.

Talis launches Talis Engage, a web based community information solution

29 October 2008

Talis is delighted to announce the launch of a new, dramatically different community information application called Talis Engage. Driven by government and customer initiatives to strengthen communities through joined-up services and community engagement, Talis Engage is available to all libraries and local authorities, regardless of your library management system.

Talis Engage is a web based community information application that allows citizens to publish details of their organisations, groups and events and then allow that to be easily browsed and searched. The solution enables other systems to be enriched as the data can be reused in otherweb sites or portals to deliver a connected, joined-up experience.

A number of public authorities have already adopted the solution including Lancashire County Council, North Yorkshire County Council and The Moray Council. The Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust and Bolton Council are the first cross border authority to adopt the solution, providing community information for over 500,000 citizens in their locality. Other councils currently implementing Talis Engage include Wolverhampton City Council, Southwark Council, Coventry City Council and Camden Council.

Sheila Campbell, Principal Librarian at Moray Libraries and Information Service commented “We easily customised our version of Talis Engage called MORINFO, to reflect our existing Web site and corporate branding without needing to learn new skills or techniques. Our users now benefit from instant access to information, whilst enjoying serendipitous learning and knowledge discovery through its fresh, modern interface and intuitive search tools.”

Glyn Sinar, Information Systems Manager at Lancashire County Library and Information Service commented “The Lancashire Lantern WiCI has already proved to be a big hit with local sports groups, community centres and social groups, transforming the way we access local information. We plan to develop the solution further to include an events and local resources database and a further enhancement on searching options to include local newspapers, obituaries, genealogical resources and much more.”

David Tanner, Manager: Stock and Systems, North Yorkshire County Council, commented "The skills to achieve a very clean and professional look and feel to our Talis Engage application this were not available to us via our County Web team, so we looked to Talis to provide us with the web design skills to produce a bespoke template. It was a very painless and quick process and we would not hesitate to use the Talis in-house team again for future web design projects."

Dave Errington, CEO at Talis commented “Talis Engage is the first of our products designed and built using the Talis Platform, allowing us to closely collaborate with customers and putting them at the heart of the project. As a hosted solution, the total cost of ownership is lowered, representing one of our most innovative applications and one of the first to be built on the Talis Platform.”

For more information visit www.talis.com/engage, where you can access videos, demonstrations, participate in the debate in the blogs and apply for a free trial. Or contact sales@talis.com, 0870 400 5090.

Integration application enables single sign on, portal integration, identity management and e-payment facilities for Manchester Metropolitan University

15 October 2008

Talis is delighted to announce that Manchester Metropolitan University has chosen the integration application, Talis Keystone, to enable single sign, integrate their library management system with their university portal, manage user identity throughout the university and facilitate integration with the university's online payment engine.

As one of the largest and most diverse Universities in the UK, Manchester Metropolitan University's 34,000 students and 4,400 staff will now benefit from a more 'joined up' institution, as a part of the 'Change Agenda' at the University. The agenda identifies the need to increase integration of services and build administrative capacity.

Angela Warlow, Library Services Manager at Manchester Metropolitan University Library commented "We have chosen to implement Talis Keystone to enhance the whole user experience for our students and staff whoever and wherever they are and not just inside libraries."

Dave Errington, CEO at Talis commented "We are delighted Manchester Metropolitan University has chosen to implement the integration solution across their campus. They join a total of 29 institutions across the UK and Ireland that utilise Talis Keystone to achieve greater efficiencies."

Talis Keystone communicates in simple, open standards that all machines can understand. Via these four modules, Talis Keystone delivers significant benefits to libraries seeking a robust and easy way to deploy an integration solution to help raise the visibility of your library services. Each project is managed closely by the consultancy team, working together to meet individual requirements, unique to your institutions needs.

For more information about Talis Keystone, please visit www.talis.com/integration or contact 0870 400 5090 to discuss your integration requirements.

The tools to empower communities- a reality - Panlibus Issue 10 now available

9 October 2008

We are delighted to announce that the latest issue of Panlibus Magazine has now been published online. In this issue, we share some early adopter examples of the community engagement solution, Talis Engage (page 14-15), whist Christine Rooney Brown measures the social value of public libraries (page10-11). Roy Clare, CEO of the MLA kicks off the first of the leadership columns sharing the determined vision behind the ‘new MLA’ on page 5 whilst Blogger Owen Stephens challenges the recent claims of “the hidden costs of Open Access” on page 7.

Following some encouraging feedback from a recent readership survey, we’ve introduce a number of new features to our magazine including news pages, book and podcast reviews and a regular leaders column. As we transform our publication to become more open to reader participation, we would like to invite you to contribute to our new features and feedback your opinions by emailing marketing@talis.com. Subscribe for free at www.talis.com/panlibus.

Integration solution, Talis Keystone continues to grow

9 October 2008

Talis is delighted to announce that the integration solution, Talis keystone has continued to grow, as a further 11 organisations have chosen the solution in the last six months, demonstrating the importance of integration of the library management system (LMS) with wider organisational systems.

Focused on generating back-office efficiencies and transforming end-user services, Talis Keystone enables integration of the LMS with other university or council-wide systems such as portals, web sites, online payment engines, finance and CRM systems via four modules.

Leeds Library and Information Service and the University of Central Lancashire are just a few of those who have recently chosen the Finance Integration module. Via this module, the libraries’ ordering and invoicing operationsare linked to the finance system to deliver significant process efficiencies and benefitting from greater accuracy, due to the seamless transfer of data.

By integrating the university portal or VLE with the LMS via the Portal Integration module, the students at The University of Plymouth and Birmingham City University can soon view all of their borrower account details in one place. These transactions include loans, reservations, inter-library loans, bookings, fines and charges alongside their course related materials.

Birmingham City University, University of Wolverhampton amongst others have recently chosen to enable users to make fines payments online, without investing in costly extended operating hours via the ePayments module. This enables a true 24 hour service to be given to students whilst also offering alternative payment channels to the traditional cash over the counter method.

Working with any system in the institution that manages identity for both staff and student (student registries, HR databases etc) the Identity Management module will enable the University of Salford and Manchester Metropolitan University to create, read, update and delete borrower records in real-time to realise significant efficiency savings.

Via these four modules, Talis Keystone delivers significant business benefits to libraries seeking a robust and easy to deploy integration solution helping to promote and make their library services more visible. Working closely with the Consultancy Team at Talis, Talis Keystone is implemented to meet individual requirements, unique to your institutions needs.

For more information about Talis Keystone please visitwww.talis.com/integration or contact 0870 400 5090 to discuss your integration requirements.

Conference Chairman Adrian Dale looks forward to Online Information 2008

25 September 2008

As Conference Chairman, there is no better person than Adrian Dale to kick off this short series of Talking with Talis podcasts produced in association with Online Information Conference 2008.

The three day conference held at Olympia in London from 2nd - 4th December will have a wide range of speakers of broad interest to all information professionals from all sectors - libraries, academia, government, and commerce.

Adrian describes how this year's programme builds on last year's conference and how the conference committee were impressed with the large number of case studies that were submitted for practical implementations of the subjects talked about a year earlier. With those case study presentations supporting a quality list of informative, inspirational, and entertaining keynote speakers, the 2008 conference looks like being a high spot. Listen now

John Blyberg Talks with Talis about SOPAC 2.0

1st September 2008

September 1st was launch day for the new library web site and catalogue for Darien Public Library – John Blyberg has been working hard over the last few months to get things ready. It is more than just the launch of another good looking library web site and catalogue though. John has been working on a total rewrite of his SOPAC (Social OPAC) that had it’s first outing at Ann Arbour, one of the poster children of Library 2.0 OPACs.

As John explains in this Talking with Talis podcast, SOPAC 2.0 has been produced so that he can release it’s component parts under an Open Source license so that others can take advantage of it. The components, as he describes in his blog ‘SOPAC 2.0: What to Expect’ post on the subject, includes a separate social repository layer (Insurge) which not only could be used in most any OPAC, but also enables the sharing of social data between libraries.

This conversation was recorded a few days before the launch. Listen now

Ex Libris CSO Talks with Talis about their Open Platform Strategy

21st August 2008

Library 2.0 Gang Member and Ex Libris Chief Strategy Officer, Oren Beit-Arie joins Richard Wallis in conversation about the recently announced Ex Libris Open Platform Strategy.

In the first part of this Talking with Talis conversation, they discuss the ramifications of the recent change of ownership when Francisco Partners sold their investment in Ex Libris to Leeds Equity Partners. This sets the background for he rest of the podcast in which they go on to discus the motivation behind, and the details of the Open Platform Strategy.

In this revealing interview Oren describes how the strategy will influence the way Ex Libris develops and delivers its products in the future. Listen now

Semantic Future for Libraries - Martin Malmsten Talks with Talis

19th August 2008

In this latest podcast from Talis, Richard Wallis talks to Martin Malmsten.

Martin Malmsten is from the LIBRIS department of the Royal Library of Sweden – LIBRIS being the discovery interface for the library.

Since joining as a software developer has been absorbed in to the world of library search and discovery. He played a major part in the build and launch of the latest LIBRIS search interface which has introduced under the surface some Semantic Web and Linked Data features.

We discuss his career, the use of User Centered Design & Iterative Development methodologies, the Semantic Web techniques and technologies he used, and their future applicability to the library domain. Listen now

The (Conservative) Future of Libraries – Ed Vaizey Talks with Talis

14 July 2008

Ed Vaizey, Conservative MP for Wantage & Didcot and Shadow Minister for Culture shares his thoughts and future policy with respect to libraries in the latest podcast from Talis.

Recorded in Ed Vaizey’s office in the Houses of Parliament, this podcast explores Ed’s views on the way Government should influence library services provided by local authorities; is the MLA as an organisation the appropriate way to promote libraries at a national level; and even, is the Department of Culture the right place for libraries to be represented.

PTFS joins the Talis Additions Partner Programme

3 July 2008

Talis are delighted to welcome PTFS Europe Limited to the Talis Additions Partner Programme. Specialising in digital archiving solutions, this new relationship enables the Talis community to gain more value from existing library management solutions.

PTFS is the leading provider of digital archiving solutions in North America and will be working with Talis to offer the Talis community access to ArchivalWare. The web-based full-text search and retrieval system, ArchivalWare, can handle many digital collections including technical reports, audiovisual material, official publications and photographs.

Dave Errington, CEO at Talis commented “We are looking forward to establishing our relationship with PTFS via our partnership programme to optimise the possibilities of greater efficiencies for our customers.”

Nick Dimant, Managing Director of PTFS Europe commented “We are very excited to have joined the Talis Additions Partner Programme, as Talis’ wide range of products and services can be complemented by the integration capabilities of ArchivalWare.”

The Talis Additions Partnership Programme continues to provide our academic and public library customers with best of breed applications with the confidence that our software and services remain seamlessly integrated. To find out how the Talis Additions Partnership Programme can benefit your library visit www.talis.com/additions.

Talis launches Talis Bridge Pro, the offline self-service solution

23 June 2008

Talis are delighted to announce the launch of a new self-service solution, Talis Bridge Pro. In addition to the self-issue, self-payment, self-reservation and self-return capabilities of Talis Bridge, Talis Bridge Pro provides users with the ability to service their own simple transactions, even if network connectivity is lost.

As libraries increase their service offerings and extend opening hours, providing a quick and efficient service has become more important than ever. Fulfilling such services via traditional channels can cost valuable staff time and money which could be better spent with customers.

As the first to adopt the solution, Cornwall Libraries mission to channel 90% of their 3.5 million visitors via self-service was significantly strengthened by the adoption of Talis Bridge Pro. Following the launch, the solution has been adopted by Edinburgh City Library, Bradford College and the University of Brighton.

Phil Kerridge, Area Strategic Manager at Cornwall County Council commented “Our service plan highlights a number of milestones we aim to achieve in 2008. A key part is to improve our services and to achieve a higher rate of book loans and library visits. By improving our self-service facilities with Talis Bridge Pro, our visitors are able to receive a quicker, more efficient service.”

Dave Errington, CEO at Talis commented “Over 23 libraries are now using Talis Bridge in conjunction with many self-service devices to increase opening hours and improve their services for end users. Via Talis Bridge Pro that service can be enhanced further by optimising its offline, enhanced configuration, management information and service monitoring capabilities.”

Via the Talis Additions Partner Programme, Talis Bridge Pro works in conjunction with a number of self-service devices including those from 2CQR, 3M, Plescon Security Products, D-Tech and Intellident.

To find out more about this new release of Talis Bridge Pro or the Talis Additions Partner Programme visit www.talis.com/bridge or www.talis.com/additions. Alternatively contact us on +44 (0) 870 400 5090 or email sales@talis.com.

A Programme for Change - Panlibus Issue 9 is now available

19 June 2008

We are delighted to announce that Panlibus Issue 9 is now published online. With the theme of ‘change’, this issue we feature Richard Steel, the newly appointed President of SOCITM as he shares his ambition and agenda for SOCITM in 2008, Peter Murray of OhioLink as he explores the changing waves of technology on the shores of our libraries and Bridget McConnell, Chief Executive of Culture and Sport Glasgow expresses how we must change to capitalise on the commonwealth games.

A wide range of case studies are also included in this issue, embracing change as it happens. We hope you enjoy this issue. If you would like to contribute or provide us with any feedback, we would like to hear from you, email marketing@talis.com. To download Panlibus click here.

JISC & SCONUL Talk with Talis about Library Management System Study

12 May 2008

Rachel Bruce of JISC and Anne Bell of SCONUL join me in the latest Talking with Talis podcast to discuss the recently published JISC & SCONUL Library Management Systems Study - An Evaluation and horizon scan of the current library management systems and related systems landscape for UK higher education.

We discuss the report, the reasons for commissioning it, how it will inform the on going debate about the future of academic libraries, and how libraries could use it.

Bradford Libraries win the CILIP / LiS Libraries Change Lives Award

28 April 2008

Talis would like to congratulate Bradford Libraries as the winner of the CILIP / LiS Libraries Change Lives Award. Shortlisted from 37 library-based projects across the UK, their project aim was to bring people with learning disabilities closer to the wider community. Awarded on the first day of the LiS Show, their tremendous work has now been recognised with this national award with a prize fund of £5,000.

This prestigious award recognised the work done in Bradford Libraries to improve services to disabled people. Launched in August 2006, the Bradford District Care Trust and Libraries Partnership Project made extensive use of their library facilities to help improve the IT skills and educational opportunities of those with learning disabilities. The ability to access information online and become more integrated within the community has been greatly improved as a result. To fulfil their mission, the library was adapted into key zones for those with severe disabilities, including classrooms, changing and feeding facilities.

Jane Glaister, Strategic Director of Culture, Tourism & Sport comments on winning this year’s award “This project has been a wonderfully positive experience for everyone concerned – a real ‘win-win’ for the partner organisations, the service users, library staff and customers. We often take access to library services for granted and it has been very moving for all of us to see the joy of the students as they discover the world of books, reading and adult learning opportunities – some for the first time in their lives.”

Dave Errington, CEO at Talis commented “Having recently become a Talis customer and a member of our user community, we were delighted to hear that Bradford Libraries received this award.”

For more information about Bradford Libraries and the Bradford District Care Trust please visit www.bradford.gov.uk For information about the Libraries Change Lives Award, please visit www.cilip.co.uk. For information about Talis please visit www.talis.com/library.

The University of Bolton selects the Talis Library Management System

23 April 2008

Talis is delighted to announce that The University of Bolton has chosen the Talis Library Management System, joining a community of over 50 Universities in the UK.

Ranked top in the north-west (UK) for student satisfaction according to The Times Good University Guide 2008, this new contract award for the library is part of a broader £8 million, two year, strategic development programme for the University.

In August 2007, The University of Bolton announced plans to invest £2.5 million in creating a new students’ union and student social learning facilities. Set to open in September 2008, the library facilities will include a partially refurbished library building, the introduction of self-service and a new library management system for staff and students across campuses.

To support their 9,000 students and 700 staff, The University of Bolton will implement the UK’s leading library management system (Talis Alto), together with Talis’ electronic supply chain management solution to streamline their procurement. In addition, Talis’ specialised reading list management service (Talis List), new library search interface (Talis Prism) and self-service integration software (Talis Bridge) will be implemented to further improve the student learning experience.

With their contribution to education spanning over 150 years, The University of Bolton joins The University of Manchester, The University of Salford, Manchester Metropolitan University and The University of Central Lancashire, as well as Bolton MBC in using leading edge technology from Talis to deliver excellent student services.

Karen Senior, Head of Library said “The library is at the forefront of new and exciting developments at the University, which is committed to delivering academic excellence by placing the student at the heart of the learning experience.

Graham Stone, Senior Information Officer at The University of Bolton commented “The Talis library management system stood out as the most innovative solution not only for our students, but also our staff.”

Dave Errington, Chief Executive at Talis commented "We welcome The University of Bolton to our user community.The coming months will be an exciting time as the shared ambition and commitment from both the University and Talis will result in a great transformation for the library and their students.”

For more information about The University of Bolton visit their Web site www.bolton.ac.uk or library blog http://libraryrefurb.wordpress.com/. Alternatively, if you would like further information about any of Talis’ library solutions visit www.talis.com/library or contact sales@talis.com.

Talis talks with the New Media Consortium about Horizon Report 2008

1 April 2008

In this latest podcast Paul Miller talks with Larry Johnson, Alan Levine and Rachel Smith of the New Media Consortium. They discuss the 2008 edition of their Horizon Report, exploring both their methods and the wide-ranging implications for Higher Education of their findings.

Talis to present at CILIP Cataloguing & Indexing Group Annual Conference

31 March 2008

Terry Willan, Business Development Manager at Talis will be delivering a presentation on the topic of 'emerging approaches to subject information'. The Conference, entitled ‘Classification and subject retrieval in the 21st Century’, will offer a number of themes intended to explore current developments in classification and subject retrieval. More information.

Panlibus Issue 8 is now available

27 March 2008

We are delighted to announce that Panlibus Issue 8 is now published online. In this issue we feature Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library who explains how a new open approach is engaging their users worldwide. This is mirrored by Paul Manners, Interim Project Leader, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, who discusses the Beacons for Public Engagement initiative which aims to break down the barriers between universities and the public.

In Panlibus Issue 8 you will find a wide range of case studies that demonstrate how an open, collaborative approach to working can make a dramatic difference. We hope you enjoy this issue. If you would like to contribute or provide us with any feedback, we would like to hear from you, email marketing@talis.com. To download Panlibus click here.

Aberdeenshire libraries streamline their income management with Talis Income Manager

26 March 2008

Library services at Aberdeenshire Council now benefit from streamlined payment handling via Income Manager. It is planned to roll out across their 36 library branches, 75 licences of Talis' accounting and payment handling solution will be implemented to network all of the libraries payment points together.

Seamlessly integrating into their Talis Alto workflows, Income Manager provides Aberdeenshire Libraries with discrete till drawers and receipt printers in their larger branch libraries to create space at their circulation desk and make stand-alone tills obsolete. Smaller libraries will use cash boxes but retain all the benefits of the new work-flow system. There is no need to re-key payment information from the LMS into the till as Income Manager does this automatically, greatly improving front line efficiencies.

As Aberdeenshire handles substantial sums, Income Manager provides the ability to quickly, easily and accurately report on data. In fact, the library's Audit Department were fundamental in the adoption of Income Manager across Aberdeenshire Libraries.

Since its launch in early 2007, Income Manager has been successfully adopted across both public and academic libraries across the UK. Aberdeenshire Libraries joins Southwark Libraries, Portsmouth University and Birmingham University amongst many others in the existing Income Manager Community.

In common with many libraries, Aberdeenshire Libraries handles an increasing amount of money from a variety of sources including payments of penalties, services and products.

Anne Harrison, Central Support Services Manager at Aberdeenshire Libraries commented "Income Manager has undoubtedly improved our front desk cash management. Auditing and financial control of our services has been the biggest improvement, freeing valuable time to concentrate on other library services and ultimately providing the public with a more efficient and professional service."

For more information about Income Manager or any of Talis' solutions, please call our sales team on 0870 400 5090, visit www.talis.com/income or send an email to sales@talis.com.

Talis Launches Library 2.0 Gang Podcast Series

26 March 2008

Talis, in association with Library Journal, are pleased to announce the launch of The Library 2.0 Gang.

Hosted by Richard Wallis, Talis' Technology Evangelist, The Library 2.0 Gang brings together leading voices in the world of libraries. Regular gang members include John Blyberg from Darien Library, Char Booth from Ohio University, Nicole C. Engard from LibLime and Carl Grant from Care Affilates. Each month the gang will be joined by a relevant guest to discuss the latest topics and developments.

For the first show in the series, the Library 2.0 Gang welcomed our first guest Aaron Swartz from the Open Library. Picking up the themes from the recent Code4lib 2008 Conference, topics discussed include the Open Library, Integrated Library Systems, API's and New Cataloguing Influences.

Richard Wallis, Talis' Evangelist and host of The Library 2.0 Gang commented "It is great to launch this regular series of podcasts for people to tune in to the hot topics in the world of libraries, technology, and the people that influence them. We are bringing together an excellent panel of regular contributors, some well known and some soon to be so. If the first show is anything to go by, this is going to be a lively and interesting series."

Josh Hadro Library Journal Technology Editor commented "The community of librarian technologists is a connected bunch with bold opinions, and they're not shy about sharing them. Their focus is always on what's best for the user, and they're constantly bouncing ideas off each other online and at conferences to get that done. I think the Library 2.0 Gang podcast series, with its awesome cast of regulars, is a perfect venue for distilling and distributing the work that's being done in library technology, and a great format for generating some genuine discussion with experts from the field."

For our listeners, we have launched Library 2.0 Gang (librarygang.talis.com) web site where you can download all of our shows, view the profiles of gang members, our featured guests and engage with us to suggest new topics, members or simply ask questions for us to discuss and debate. This podcast series is produced in association with Library Journal who are syndicating the podcasts through LibraryJournal.com.

Talis and Intellident partnership helps Cornwall Libraries realise over £150,000 annual savings through self-service

17 March 2008

Cornwall County Council Libraries’ mission to channel 90% of their 3.35 million visitors through their self-service facilities has been strengthened by the adoption of the offline capabilities of Talis Bridge Pro.

As a part of Cornwall’s Library Service Plan 2008, the £1.25 million Invest to Save grant has been funded by Cornwall County Council, to deliver more than £150,000 annual savings during the pay back period, by implementing RFID based self-service facilities.

Together with Intellident, Talis have worked closely with Cornwall County Council to become a major RFID enabled public library service through the Talis Additions Partner Programme. Using Talis’ integration software Talis Bridge, Intellident and Talis have seamlessly integrated their self-service devices with the UK’s leading library management system.

In addition to the self-issue, self-payment and self-return capabilities of Talis Bridge, the 19 RFID based self-service points across Cornwall Libraries now provide users with the ability to service their own simple transactions, even if network connectivity is lost via Talis Bridge Pro.

Phil Kerridge, Area Strategic Manager at Cornwall County Council commented “Our Service Plan highlights a number of milestones we aim to achieve in 2008. A key part is to improve our services and to achieve a higher rate of book loans and library visits. By improving our self-service facilities with Talis Bridge Pro, our visitors are able to receive a quicker, more efficient service.”

Ceri McCall, Senior Manager, Marketing at Talis commented “We are delighted to work with both Intellident and Cornwall Libraries as the first to successfully implement our new integration software Talis Bridge Pro. Over 23 libraries are now using Talis Bridge in conjunction with many self-service devices to increase opening hours and improve their services for end users. We wish Cornwall the best of luck in their aim to realise over £150,000 annual savings.”

Andy Chadbourne, Marketing Manager, Intellident added “The project delivery timetable was always ambitious for Cornwall, with the entire roll-out needing to be completed within a very short space of time. We have been delighted with the help and assistance that Cornwall has given us to allow this to happen. In addition, the aim to achieve over 90% of issues via self-service so quickly, is a real testament to how well the team is promoting the solution and encouraging their members to use it”.

Talis to host Irish Academic event on 24 June in Dublin

14 March 2008

Join us on Tuesday 24 June at O’Reilly Hall, University College Dublin.

The market for education is becoming ever-more global, and students are arriving at the institution with higher expectations and a wider range of capabilities for online interaction than ever before.

Bringing together independent leading speakers in the world of teaching, learning and research, this free conference will explore the wider trends impacting the world of education. Specifically focused on Irish Academic institutions, we will demonstrate our latest solutions for universities and colleges.

Under the theme of 'Joining Together' we will explore how technology can enable a coherent service for both students and staff.

To register your interest and secure your free place please email: events@talis.com.

Catching the next wave in Australia

05 March 2008

Richard Wallis, Talis Technology Evangelist will be travelling to Australia in April for a range of speaking engagements hosted by The National Library of Australia and CAVAL.

Web 2.0 – Where Next? For the library community Richard will examine the next wave of innovation, which some are already calling Web 3.0, and project how it will effect the way our systems interact with each other and the rest of the world. This will be presented on Tuesday 1st April at the State Library of Western Australia in Perth and again on 3rd April at RMIT University Library in Melbourne.
For more information and to register online, visit www.caval.edu.au/calendar-courses.html

Catching The Next Wave. Will Web 3.0 be the label on the next wave? For university information managers Richard, in a challenging and thought-provoking presentation, will explore questions such as Will Web 3.0 be the label on the next wave, and what will that mean for us, our organisations and clients? What are the drivers behind all this change? This will also be presented on 3rd April at RMIT University Library in Melbourne.
For more information and to register online, visit www.caval.edu.au/calendar-courses.html

National Library of Australia Innovative Ideas Forum April 10th. Richard will be delivering a presentation entitled Beyond Web 2.0 - The Continuing Journey looking at the way Web 2.0 technologies are leading to the use of Semantic Web and other technological influences for libraries in the 21st century

The University of Manchester shares its portal developments with all Talis Keystone customers

28 February 2008

Following on from their successful integration of library services with their campus portal, The University of Manchester has released, under an open source licence, the code that enabled them to embed library functionality into their uPortal based campus portal. More than 35,000 students now have live access to their library account information within the campus portal, and with single sign-on, directly access their library management system.

As with all integration solutions some local development is required to use Web Services and tailor the use of those services to meet specific local requirements. Using the tools and support available within the Talis Developer Network (TDN) (www.talis.com/tdn/keystone), The University of Manchester developed the code required to successfully integrate library Web Services supplied by Talis Keystone into their uPortal campus portal. The toolkits available in the TDN enable developers to consume Talis Keystone Web Services without having to understand lower level details, and rapidly integrate their library system with other applications with minimum effort.

A Talis Keystone sandbox provides a live and accessible instance of Talis Keystone on the Internet for developers to experiment with the Application Programming Interface (API) and try out innovative ideas and real integration solutions within a safe environment.

The University of Manchester is now sharing this work, as open source code, for other institutions to reuse in their Talis Keystone implementations. The modules that they have made available have been published on the Talis Developer Network.

Lorraine Beard, Head of Information Services at The University of Manchester commented "The integration with Talis Keystone has enabled us to deliver a seamless service to staff and students visiting us via the University's portal. We are delighted that our efforts are available on the Talis Developer Network to help other libraries, and look forward to benefiting from their contributions to this open community in the future."

Andy Latham, Programme Manager at Talis commented “We are delighted that The University of Manchester are freely sharing their source code on the Talis Developer Network. Talis has a clear objective to establish and support a developer community around Talis Keystone, and this recent implementation is testament to our approach. We hope that this will be the first of many instances of customers openly sharing information within the Talis Keystone community.”

Eleven academic libraries have purchased Talis Keystone to seamlessly integrate their Library Management System with diverse institution-wide systems. Successful implementation examples include The University of Greenwich and The University College Dublin, who have both integrated rich library functionality into the SunGard Luminis portals.

Talis Keystone delivers significant business benefits to libraries seeking a robust and easy to deploy integration solution that helps to promote and make their library services more visible throughout the institution. For more information about Talis Keystone please visit www.talis.com/keystone or contact 0870 400 5090.

Talis explored in interview with SemanticWeb.com

26 February 2008

Writing for technology news site SemanticWeb.com, Jennifer Zaino reports on an interview with 'respected maker of enterprise-level library management suites,' Talis.

Jennifer's interview, conducted with Ian Davis and Paul Miller of Talis, explores the company's heritage before going on to address the ways in which our continued investment in a robust Semantic Web Platform is ensuring that new products for our public and academic library customers will meet their future needs.

For more information about the Talis Platform please visit www.talis.com/platform

Semantic Library Metadata Paper to be presented at WWW2008 in Beijing

26 February 2008

The paper Semantic MARC, MARC21 and the Semantic Web will be presented by two of its authors, Rob Styles and Nadeem Shabir at the Linked Data on the Web workshop at the WWW2008 conference on April 22nd. This paper, co-authored by the presenters and Danny Ayers, describes the evolution from MARC bibliographic metadata through to simple RDF and on into the real value of building semantic relationships between subjects, authors, publishers, etc. This paper bridges a divide, showing librarians the possibilities and benefits of Semantic Web technologies whilst giving the Semantic Web community an insight in to the value, richness and relationships inherent to richly structured bibliographic metadata.

The paper describes development work at Talis to realise the value of Semantic Web technologies in a library context. This is part of a wider initiative to apply Semantic Web technologies and formats to many domains so that they can actively co-exist in a linked web of data instead of being locked in domain specific silos.

Talis, thought leaders in this sphere of introducing Semantic Web technologies to the library world, see great benefits in the practical implementation of these techniques for libraries. as is demonstrated in this video presentation from Talis Technology Evangelist Richard Wallis.

The paper introduces concepts and proposes options for further progress, about which both the Library and Semantic Web community will naturally have opinions and discuss in their normal forums. To facilitate bridging these communities and to encourage wider discussion around the paper and related issues, you are invited to joint a newly created Google Group SemanticMARC and join in.

Brad Lajeunesse Talks with Talis about Evergreen

22 February 2008

This Talking with Talis podcast is with Brad Lajeunesse, President of Equinox Software. Equinox was founded by the software team that developed Evergreen, the open source integrated library system (ILS).

Richard Wallis and Brad talk about the origins and development of Evergreen, and the setting up of Equinox. They then go on to discuss some of the issues associated with Open Source Library Systems in general.

Candy Zemon from Polaris Library Systems, Talks with Talis about NCIP

15 February 2008

Joining Richard Wallis for this Talking with Talis podcast show is Candy Zemon. Candy from Polaris Library Systems is Chair of the NCIP Implementers Group.

In the show they discuss NCIP (NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol) which was first published in 2002. We discuss the standard, its evolution, why it has not been as broadly adopted as some have hoped, and its future in the Library System Environment.

They then move on to talk about the wider library standards process and how it is evolving, changing and new initiatives, such as the DLF ILS and Discovery Systems Group.

Managing borrower payment transactions gets more effective with Talis Income Manager

13 February 2008

As libraries handle an increasing number of borrower payments including cash, cheques, credit and debit cards, it becomes necessary to effectively manage the accounting of these transactions. Almost 100 branch libraries in the UK now use Income Manager which is a new module of Talis Alto, to deliver the benefits of flexible payment handling, daily banking, accounting, and reporting. The latest to join the growing customer list include Aberdeenshire Libraries, The Glasgow School of Art, The University of Portsmouth and Southwark Libraries.

Income Manager networks all of the library payment points together, providing accurate, auditable, comparative and automated reports about payment transactions. Additional till drawers and receipt printers work directly with Talis Alto, creating space at the circulation desk and making stand alone tills obsolete.

Jude Boyd, IT Librarian at The Glasgow School of Art commented “We no longer have to re-key payment information from our LMS into a stand-alone till. Income Manager does this for us by calculating the transactions, the change we need to give and prints the receipts, as well as processing refunds – all within our LMS.”

Pam Usher, Library Service Manager at Southwark Libraries commented “We are running Income Manager from all of our frontline service point PCs across 12 sites. Already we have seen a significant reduction in the time and effort we once used to invest to managing our income. Today, our processes have been tightened through Income Manager and our staff are able to focus on providing a more efficient library service.”

For more information about Talis Income Manager please contact our sales team on 0870 400 5090, visit www.talis.com/income or send an email to sales@talis.com.

Talis and LibraryThing partnership brings more open bibliographic data to the library community

7 February 2008

With combined expertise in managing bibliographic data, Talis and LibraryThing have partnered to make available invaluable bibliographic data for the library community.

Launched in August 2005, LibraryThing, is a bibliographic social software service that has attracted over 330,000 book lovers and cataloguers worldwide. Described as the destination site for cataloguing and tagging your personal library, members have catalogued more than 22 million books. In a mission to help users to catalogue their books, LibraryThing has partnered with Talis to provide access to Talis Base, the primary source of UK bibliographic data.

Thanks to this partnership, LibraryThing users can now search an additional 16 million records from Talis Base. This includes The British Library catalogue and a union catalogue of over 6 million records, catalogued by public and academic libraries in the UK over the last 30 years. Talis Base is a treasure trove of rare, old and out-of-print items which will complement the existing data sources available in LibraryThing, including the Library of Congress and over 78 other libraries worldwide.

Tim Spalding, Founder of LibraryThing commented “This marks the first venture with Talis. We have been keen to work together on an initiative such as this for some time. Talis have been tireless proponents of Library 2.0 innovations and open data. In return for access to Talis Base, Talis customers will gain access to LibraryThing book jackets and ratings data. We look forward to partnering with Talis on bigger projects in the future.”

Richard Wallis, Technology Evangelist at Talis stated “At Talis we’ve been arguing for a more permissive culture around the use and reuse of data for a long time. Our data partnership with LibraryThing represents one in a series of initiatives aimed at opening up rich bibliographic data sources for the global library community.”

To give rise to improved end-user services, Talis works with individuals, commercial and non-commercial organisations to liberate data silos to merge and remix rich data in new, interesting ways. In support of this open data movement and in recognition of data licencing issues, Talis and Creative Commons partnered to create a new open data licence. Entitled The Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence, this represents a milestone for sharing data on the Internet, supporting other innovative projects such as this.

For additional information about this licence, visit www.opendatacommons.org.

Open Source Evangelist Nicole Engard Talks with Talis

4 February 2008

2007 Library Journal Mover & Shaker, Nicole C. Engard known for her work at Jenkins Law Library and more recently Princeton Theological Seminary Library, is on the move in to a new and interesting role.

Nicole is joining LibLime, the open software company behind Koha, as their Open Software Evangelist.

In this Talking with Talis show, Richard Wallis talks with Nicole about her career so far, the challenge of her new role, and her view of the library systems landscape.

Paul Miller shares Talis' view on the future of Higher Education with research institutions in Norway

31 January 2008

Talis Technology Evangelist Paul Miller will be travelling to the Norwegian capital next week, at the invitation of local software provider BIBSYS. This invitational event, 'The Future of Libraries', sees stakeholders from across the Norwegian research landscape gather to consider the ways in which research institutions must adapt to the changing environment around them. Alongside senior speakers from Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway, Paul will share Talis' view of the shifting economic, social and technical trends that face us all, and paint our picture of the approaching convergence of trends that the Talis Platform is being built to capitalise upon.

For more information on Talis' perspective, watch Richard Wallis present on The Semantic Web and Libraries at last year's Talis Insight Conference, or contact Paul Miller at paul.miller@talis.com.

Bill Schickling, CEO of Polaris Library Systems Talks with Talis

30 January 2008

In this Talking with Talis episode, Richard Wallis is in conversation with President and CEO of Polaris Library Systems, Bill Schickling.

Polaris scored well in the recent International Survey of Library Automation, Perceptions 2007, published in Library Technology Guides by Marshall Breeding. The survey was the subject of a previous Talking with Talis podcast with Marshall Breeding.

As well as discussing what may lie behind Polaris' strong results in the survey, we open out the conversation to Bill's view of the ILS sector in general.

Terry Reece shares his Top Tech Trends on Talking with Talis

24 January 2008

Oregon State University's Terry Reese could not easily get in to the LITA Top Tech Trends session at ALA Midwinter, so he drafted his own non-LITA Top Tech Trends and posted them on his blog Terry's Worklog.

Terry joins us on this Talking with Talis podcast to describe and expand upon his five top tech trends.

Bob McKee, Chief Executive of CILIP (UK) Talks with Talis

23 January 2008

In this Talking with Talis podcast episode Richard Wallis is in conversation with Bob McKee, Chief Executive of CILIP - the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK.

Bob, a librarian with a long career in public libraries and local government, shares his interesting and entertaining views and opinions about the challenges faced by his organisation and the professionals it supports. He also discusses his experience of blogging From the Chief Executive's Desk.

Marshall Breeding talks about his International Survey of Library Automation

22 January 2008

Perceptions 2007 - Marshall Breeding from Vanderbilt University Talks with Talis about his International Survey of Library Automation

The subject of this Talking with Talis podcast is Marshall Breeding, of Vanderbilt University. He is well known in the world of library automation for his conference presentations, writings and the Library Technology Guides site.

In the latter part of 2007 he conducted surveyed the opinions of libraries, which was published just a few days ago.

Richard Wallis discusses the survey with him, which attracted some 1,700 responses from 47 countries, the results and what they may be telling us about the current state of library automation.

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council chooses the Talis Library Management System

21 January 2008

Talis is delighted to announce that City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council has chosen the Talis Library Management System to manage their 31 libraries, 3 mobile libraries and a service for housebound customers.

Over 60,000 active borrowers will now enjoy borrowing from a catalogue of over 600,000 items via the UK's market leading LMS - Talis Alto. The next generation OPAC Talis Prism 3.0, and the performance management solution Talis Decisions, will also be implemented across the city. As part of this new contract, Bradford also plans to seamlessly integrate Talis Alto with their Council-wide SAP finance system through Talis Keystone, further enhancing efficiencies for the 280 staff.

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council joins other Talis customers in Yorkshire including Bradford College, Rotherham Library and Information Service, Leeds Library and Information Service, The University of Sheffield and North Yorkshire Libraries.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth,Portfolio holder for Environment and Culture at City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council commented "The Talis Library Management System best fit our requirements as we continue to fulfil our aim of offering the best service possible to everyone who lives, works or studies in Bradford."

Dave Errington, Chief Executive at Talis commented "We welcome The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council to Talis community of over 110 libraries. We are confident that the Talis Library Management System has the capabilities to ensure City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is able to commit to great success in the future."

At the heart of the Talis Library Management Suite are Talis Alto and Talis Prism. Building on top of the core Talis LMS, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council will be taking advantage of additional solutions for procurement, management information and system integration with broader Council services.

For more information about Talis Alto or any of Talis' library solutions visit www.talis.com/library.

Coleg Menai is the latest college to join the TalNet Consortium

14 January 2008

Coleg Menai becomes the latest library to join TalNet, a library consortium whereby users share their library catalogues, enabling wider access to resources for its visitors. Having recently switched to Talis from a Heritage system, the TalNet consortium was the next logical move for Coleg Menai- to increase efficiencies and customer satisfaction across the library.

As one of the largest FE Colleges in North Wales, Coleg Menai serves over 10,000 students. Coleg Menai are one of the first further education colleges in Wales to provide a bilingual online catalogue. As a result of the college joining TalNet, users can simultaneously search the library catalogues of Coleg Menai, Coleg Llandrillo, Anglesey, Conwy and Gwynedd Libraries.

Established in 1996, TalNet acts as a joint procurement and acquisition unit, although selection remains the responsibility of the authorities, and an inter-library loans service. In 2004, the TalNet co-operative agreed to extend their services to host the library management systems for two FE libraries as part of “LINC y Gogledd” (Libraries IN Co-operation). Coleg Menai provides education and training opportunities at its sites on Anglesey and in Gwynedd, and attracts some 10,000 learners to its programmes. Those learners now have access to an integrated library and learning resource service.

Aled Rees, Learning Resources Manager at Coleg Menai commented “TalNET membership for us means that we can better contribute as a full member of the LINC scheme. It will substantially open up access to locally-based resources for the wider community, derive benefits from closer co-operation with partners in other sectors, and raise the profile of library and information services in the region.”

Talis Alto is the UK’s market leading library management system, designed to support all aspects of a modern library service. Used extensively by over 110 public and academic libraries, the Talis LMS helps libraries stock over 58 million books, issue 118 million items and acquire £65 million worth of new books every year.

If you would like to find out more about TalNet visit http://talisweb.talnet.gov.uk/. Alternatively, if you would like additional information about the Talis library management system visit www.talis.com/products or contact sales@talis.com

Students at Queen’s University Belfast can now pay their library fines online with debit and credit cards

10 January 2008

Talis is delighted to announce that Queen’s University Belfast is now live with e-payments through Talis Keystone.

The 25,000 students at one of the largest Universities in the UK are now able to pay their library charges online using either debit or credit cards, enabling further efficiency savings for library staff and improving student services. As an increasing number of Queen’s students access library resources and services off campus, delivering e-payment services was a high priority, and Talis Keystone was just the solution.

The Library has worked closely with Talis in recent months to be the first to integrate its library management system with the internet payment solution WorldPay, having already worked with Talis to successfully integrate library services into their campus portal.

Jane O’Neill, Library Systems Manager at Queen’s University Belfast commented “Talis Keystone was easy to implement giving both the library and IT staff the confidence to explore further integration projects such as e-payments. Students now have real choice going beyond cheques, cash and Smartcards at the service desk. We had no hesitation in working with Talis to support this venture.”

Paddy Daly, Portal Development Manager at Queen’s University Belfast described the integration work with Talis as “Seamless and painless and it will no doubt be of great value to our students.”

Focused on generating back-office efficiencies and transforming end-user services, Talis Keystone enables you to integrate library management systems with other systems such as portals, Web sites, payment engines, finance and CRM systems. Today, over 15 Universities and Councils have dramatically improved their service delivery and staff workflows by implementing Talis Keystone.

Visit www.talis.com/keystone to find out more or contact us on +44 (0) 870 400 5090 to discuss your integration requirements.