At the end of August we will be releasing the Prism 3 mobile device interface to demo. It will then be released to live in mid-September. This new feature has been built specifically in the mobile device context – only a small screen area, and a need for immediate and quick answers.

Some of the front end features that will benefit users include touch-swipe paging and a home screen icon, allowing the mobile interface to be more app-like. The URL for your catalogue will also remain the same; Prism 3 will detect the device being used and automatically render in the mobile interface. Some new web browser features, including caching pre-loaded searches and use of HTML5, allow the interface to be much quicker and responsive for the user.

Our senior developer on Prism 3, Matt Machell, explains these and other features in more detail in this recording of the latest Prism 3 mobile interface webinar. To get this feature enabled on your catalogue when it goes into demo, please raise a support case.

[podcast format=”video”]http://talis-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/mobile_interface.mp4[/podcast]

I’m pleased to announce that the upgrade to BDS cover images is now live as the default in Prism catalogues. Today’s switch to BDS was enabled in the latest release of Prism last week and is the first step in implementing an agreement with BDS to provide Prism users with extended enrichments.

Details of the agreement for enhanced enrichments from BDS  were given in a webinar last month which is available as a video.

BDS images are now provided by default but you can opt for an alternative supplier.

With the switch to BDS you will see
– more cover images for books
– cover images for audio and video resources where your record includes the International Article Number (EAN) or Universal Product Code (UPC). This gives considerable extra scope to the coverage of images in your catalogue.

The BDS images are generally larger, giving greater clarity and detail, because the width is fixed to fill the space available, whereas previously the longest edge was a fixed length.

Some good examples of the extra coverage in Southwark Libraries’ catalogue:
– New acquisitions in the Music Catalogue
– New acquisitions in the Film Catalogue
– Lord of the rings (books, CD, Blu-ray …)

Smaller images will be coming in a future release for the mobile interface and for lists in the My Account area.

I’m pleased to announce the release of the latest version of Prism to the live service. This version has been available for preview since 25th July and was described in detail in the preview release notice. The main inclusions are:

– Improved display of formats in initial results display for Semantic Data Model records
– Support for Audio Visual (non-ISBN) cover images
– Addition of two new theme fragments

The improved display of formats is dependent on having implemented the new version of MarcGrab, which is currently being rolled out.

We announced in a  Prism blog post and elsewhere that we have formed an agreement with BDS to provide Prism users with extended enrichments. That is enabled by this release but the switch to BDS will be made separately later. As stated in recent newsletters, please let us know by 15th August if you wish to stay with Nielson Book Data. Please contact your account manager if you wish to discuss Prism enrichments further.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions on this release please get in touch; you can comment here on the blog, on the forums and Prism Ideas or contact your account manager or the Prism team directly.

Prior to the release of the Prism 3 mobile interface we are holding a webinar to preview this latest enhancement. The webinar will be held on 22 August at 11.00am. This introduction to the mobile interface will provide opportunity to understand how the mobile interface will work, how it will be used and give you the chance to ask any questions you may have. Register your free place now.