Product: Talis Aspire
Implementation of a new reading list system to improve the user and staff experience
Replacing an outdated system
“Our library reserves system was outdated and pieced together. It was lacking an intuitive interface and discovery options. Ideally, a new reserves system would enable us to bring all the pieces together in a cohesive experience for users and library staff.”
CJ de Jong, Head, Access Services, University of Alberta Library.
The University of Alberta Library Team put together a Reserves Management System Working Group, assigned to determining how to replace the system. “It consisted of not much more than an awkward form for faculty to complete, and a back-end that wasn’t very intuitive to use.” It was built in-house, but its outdated framework meant that they couldn’t improve the system to fulfill their growing needs.
“Previously, it was a struggle for students to identify their course materials in our existing discovery system, so we wanted something that made it easy to identify their course materials. High on the list was also integration with eClass, our course management system built on the Moodle platform.”
“Interfaces needed to be intuitive and assist in the workflow. The system needed to be transparent, so that it would be easy to check on progress for various staff groups.”
“The aim was to reduce the requirement for re-keying information from one system into another.”
Criteria for a new system
Reserves Management System Working Group put together a list to help them narrow down their search:
- Personalized discoverability (e.g. finding Course Materials by student ID number)
- Potential for integration with eClass (Moodle)
- Improved interfaces for both users and library staff
- Ability to track progress on requests by faculty
- A robust back-end allowing various staff groups to clearly see where materials are within the process.
- Auto-search allowing for automatic population of bibliographic information.
Choosing Talis Aspire
“A faculty member pointed us in the direction of Talis Aspire. This system looked the part, was used at many institutions (although not in North America at the time) and seemed like a great candidate for what we were looking for.”
As well as ticking all the other criteria boxes, the University of Alberta (UAL) liked that Talis Aspire is a cloud-based system. For them, this meant less reliance on the IT department, nothing to install on users’ computers and no upgrades to manage. They wanted a product that could scale and adapt with them.
Another benefit that helped UAL select Talis Aspire is that it is Integrated Library System (ILS) agnostic. This means Talis Aspire is extremely flexible. We integrate seamlessly with a wide range of ILSs, but we are not tied to any system.
“Considering the options, our criteria, and additional points for consideration, the only system that would meet all criteria was Talis Aspire.”
The University of Alberta’s adoption experience
The University of Alberta was Talis’s first customer in Canada. Although we have worked in many new regions before, we wanted to work closely with UAL to ensure a smooth process. We worked carefully to ensure any regional nuances could be managed and adapted, to make the system work best for them.
“Before we knew it, we were sitting down face to face with Paul Dibble from Talis, whilst he was doing a tour of Canadian universities. As the first Canadian customer, Talis asked if we would be a development partner. We recognize the value of building a relationship as a development partner, as we have done this before and it’s always been a valuable experience.:
The implementation
Once the University of Alberta had decided how they were going to use Talis Aspire, and which roles library staff and faculty staff would be required to do, they were ready to launch.
“We’ve opted for faculty to own the lists. We’re a large institution, and aware that our library staff may not be able to keep up with demand. We also want to make the most of Talis Aspire as a pedagogical tool that can be fully integrated in the online course environment. So we felt it’s best when the faculty member takes advantage of developing a well-thought out reading list and embedding it in the online course environment.”
“We like that the creation and management of reading lists can be done by faculty staff or library staff - or both.”
By September, UAL had:
- Fully replaced the old reading list service
- Trained library staff and librarians on the Talis Aspire system
- Seen uptake from faculty of the Talis Aspire system
- Successfully integrated Talis Aspire with our Course Management System (Moodle)
- Gathered lots of feedback!
Positive Feedback
What the library think...
“Talis Aspire allows us to collaborate with the professors in a way that our other service could not provide. We can better understand what articles/books they’re seeking because of them using the bookmarklet tool, rather than sometimes being left to wonder what item they’re truly wanting due to lack of information they’ve given and the constant emailing back/forth.”
Heather Burnash, Course Materials Team
What the faculty said...
“The new Reading List Service Talis Aspire makes it so much easier for me to keep all of the required materials organized and clear for the students. It enables me to organize the links to all of the videos and readings, seamlessly allowing students direct access to the materials. They can even check off which materials they have accessed as they go.”
Dr. Heather M. Brown
Student feedback has been positive...
“My reading list has enabled me to find all my class readings easily in one place, reducing the amount of time I spent finding required readings.”
L. Vander Hoek, Rural Sociology
“I like the reading list because it allowed me to check off readings as I completed them and has enabled me to find articles easily and stay organized.”
J. Alba, Rural Sociology
Interested?
Find out more about Talis Aspire.
If you’d like to hear more or receive a product demo, get in touch.
About the University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is one of Canada’s top universities and among the world’s leading public research-intensive universities, with a reputation for excellence across the humanities, sciences, creative arts, business, engineering, and health sciences.
The University of Alberta has over 39,000 students, with over 7,000 of those being international students representing 151 countries. The university has 3,620 academic staff. The University of Alberta Library is one of the largest research library systems in North America. The library system ranks first in Canada in terms of the number of volumes per student, with print and electronic collections exceeding 5.4 million titles.
