Today we’re pleased to announce the release of some new features as part of the continuous development of Prism 3. Read the full blog post here.

University of Bolton library

As we all strive to do the best job possible, the importance of getting feedback from customers is really important. The validation of knowing what we are doing has an impact; and more importantly makes a difference is gratifying for all of us.  That’s why surveying users has always been an important aspect of any library service.  The need to ensure that what is being provided for users of the service is meeting their expectations is an integral part of checking relevancy and satisfaction. Its a way of learning what people want and how things can be improved.

The University of Bolton have recently undergone an extensive refurbishment (and blogged about it) including a new entrance area, self service and they also implemented a new library Catalogue, Talis Prism.  They have asked their users for comments regarding the catalogue, which they have shared with us:-

“The library catalogue is much easier to use now”

“ the new library catalogue is a very welcome improvement making navigation far easier.”

” Library catalogue – is excellent, easily navigated and accurate”
It’s great to see this type of response from users of Talis Prism, have a look at the University of Bolton’s implementation and see for yourself. Also come along to our Talis Prism days to see how Prism can make difference to your users; and to your catalogue.  Of course, not all the comments are completely positive, as the old adage goes, you can’t please all of the people all of the time; but as  Hugh Prather said:-

“Negative feedback is better that none. I would rather have a man hate me than overlook me. As long as he hates me I make a difference.”

An extreme reaction, but I’m sure you get the point.

Today we’re pleased to announce the release of some new features as part of the continuous development of Prism 3.

As usual, live customers have been able to preview these new features – this gave them a fully functioning view of their own catalogue and data but using this new version of the software.  Since Prism 3 is Software as a Service, the new features are now available to all Prism 3 customers without having to do anything.

You can see the features that do not require a user login in our demonstrator.

Spelling Suggestions
Spelling suggestions are a familiar and valuable part of the search experience on the Web. This first step in spelling suggestion functionality in Prism gives English language suggestions when there are no results for the user’s query. It gives suggestions for single and multi-word queries. As a starter, try ‘digitl photograpy’. The suggestions in this version come from a dictionary, so it may suggest a word that retrieves no results.

Change PIN
As a library user, you can sign in to your account and select an option to change PIN, near the top of the page. On the change PIN form page, you can confirm your current PIN and enter your new PIN twice to confirm it. Your input is checked and error messages are given as appropriate. Your new PIN is effective the next time you sign in.

Advanced Search Clear Form Button
On the Advanced Search page (also known as Search Options), there is a new button labelled ‘Clear Form’. This clears all the fields on the form.

In addition, as  normal, this release includes enhancements that consolidate the robustness, reliability, scalability, and flexibility of the Prism service for the benefit of all current and future customers.

We’d love to hear what you think of Prism 3, either in comments to this blog post or in the Prism forum.

Visit the OPAC of Broadminster University – the fictional University used to demonstrate the possibilities achievable in our new OPAC, Talis Prism. Additional features including an instant messaging service, a book jacket carousel and calendar integration, demonstrate the extendibility of Talis Prism. Find out how you can optimise such features in your OPAC by attending an upcoming Talis Prism Day.

The latest to go live with Talis Prism, is the University of Bolton. You can view their new OPAC here. Do you like its interface? Its features? Find out how you could achieve something similar at your organisation by attending an upcoming webinar.

The Talis Prism rollout programme has started in earnest with us working with initial customers to launch their new Library Catalogue. To find out how you can start to plan for your new catalogue you can register for a Talis Prism Day.

In the ongoing series of Prism Days I have been demonstrating how the application has been designed to make it easy to extend it’s functionality.  One of the example extensions I have been showing is a tool for the translation of the text displayed on any of the Prism screens in to speech to aid access for users with visual problems.  With this extension Prism talks to you.

The extension is based upon a service from Textic Ltd, a UK based software company.

Check out the demonstration in one of the Broadminster demonstration Prism tenancies – click on the ‘Click to Show Text Reader’ icon in the page footer.   There is a page in the Prism Developer Wiki that describes the simple steps taken to install it.