News from Talis
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News from Talis
Talis and TDNet in keynote presentation at IFLA 2002
Talis Information Ltd and TDNet co-operated in a programme of meetings and presentations at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Annual Conference (held in 2002 in Glasgow) to celebrate the launch of their joint venture to supply an advanced e-journals service.
The centre-piece of the programme was a briefing presenting TDNet within an overall context of the Talis Information Environment – launched to significant acclaim in June 2002.
The Talis TDNet is a customised solution for the access and management of e-journals. It provides libraries with a single point of entry to their e-journal collections, with active links to approximately 42,000 journals,irrespective of journal location or means of authentication. Talis TDNet offers weekly data maintenance of URL links, removing the perennial problem of redundant URLs. In addition, it supplies detailed usage statistics for the serials librarian and fully searchable electronic tables of content with e-mail alerts for students and researchers.
Ken Chad, Sales and Marketing Director at Talis, comments: "Managing print and e-journals is a time-consuming and expensive task that faces all HE(higher education) and FE (further education) institutions. Talis now has the market-leading solution that is proven world-wide. It will integrate with TalisPrism, our new portal, and the wider Talis Information Environment to enable libraries to enhance services to users in an economic and effective way."
Features of TDNet include:
active links to approximately 43,000 e-journals irrespective of journal location;
access to e-journals collections in oneplace;
mirrored access arrangements, meaning authentication remains undisrupted;
customisable user interface – tailored to reflect overall branding of library Web pages and to introduce (or exclude) data fields deemed appropriate;
weekly maintenance of URL links;
good statistical data for usage analysis;
fully searchable electronic tables of content;
"My TDNet" profiling – users can set up a unique profile consisting of specific journal titles within the collection and/or specified search terms, reflecting the user's research interests;
weekly e-mail alerts – notifying users of newly-published articles falling within their research interests.
New version of TalisList launched at IFLA
As more teaching and learning in universities take place online (through virtual learning environments (VLEs)), the demand for a smooth, automated process of drawing up and publishing the recommended resources is more pressing than ever.
At IFLA in Glasgow, Talis Information Ltd launched the new version of TalisList, the Web-based system designed to compile and manage collections of resources for courses or subjects. TalisList makes the whole process of creating, publishing and updating reader lists easier for the library and academics. It creates attractive links and references which direct the student straight through to the OPAC (library catalogue), or to any Web-accessible electronic resource. TalisList also helps the library to co-ordinate the resources to deliver better course support.
TalisList is already used by 17 universities across the UK, many of which provided detailed input to the new version. TalisList Version 2 includes many new features which benefit the student, the academic staff and the library.
Stephen Gray, Managing Director of Talis Information, comments: "In TalisList Version 2 we have made it easier and more intuitive for course leaders and library staff to build up the lists of resources and publish them when ready. We have also improved the support for students, with better searching to help them find resources, and by extending the notes and commentary which the course tutor can add to entries in the list. That's important when it comes to suggesting alternative sources of information, or pointers to the most relevant parts of articles or Web sites, for instance. These, and the other innovations in TalisList 2, will encourage uptake by the learners, and add to the educational effectiveness of TalisList."
TalisList forms part of the Talis Information Environment, an advanced architecture for an evolving suite of products which can integrate with external systems and services.
Key features of TalisList 2 include:
TalisList enables links to OPAC records, Web sites, e-journals and other Web-based systems to be easily aggregated, positioning the library as the portal to wider information.
Reference "harvesting" facility means standardised references can be taken from the Talis WebOPAC or the Web without the need to manually input the citation.
User-friendly Web interface can be extensively customised.
Staff control, whether some, or all, of the resources are visible to the public.
Courses are "time released" – only current content is shown to students.
Distributed management of resource lists.
Tutors and library staff can create, edit and manage resource lists from their desktop, entering TalisList via OPAC, VLE, campus portal or a simple browser bookmark.
Lists can be created and/or edited by tutors, positioning the library as the manager rather than the creator of resource lists.
Desktop editing helps promote increased currency of content.
Added value for Talis OPAC.
Cross-references in the Talis WebOPAC indicate which items are cited on reading lists, and provide a link to those reading lists in TalisList.
Integration with the OPAC means "one-click" access to bibliographic records.
Value-added content.
Citations can be supplemented by notes, comments and page/chapter annotations.
For further information please contact: Talis Information Ltd, Birmingham Research Park, Vincent Drive, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2SQ, UK. Tel: +44 (0)121 471 1179. Fax: +44 (0) 121 472 0298. E-mail: info@talis.com;URL: www.talis.com
