Talis Aspire is a new system being piloted at Murdoch University to integrate their various reading lists and digitized course materials. It aims to provide a single system for academic staff to easily create and manage reading lists, improve the experience for students and staff, and enable easier copyright compliance checking. An initial pilot group of 11 academics is testing the system for Semester 1 2015, with the goal of rolling it out to all first year units by Semester 2 2015 and full university-wide adoption by Semester 1 2016. Challenges include recruiting pilot participants and ensuring metadata and digitized content workflows function properly.

1. Talis Aspire at Murdoch
University
Helen Bronleigh
Talis Aspire Project Manager

2. Background
• Current model:
• eReserve: Repository for all digitized text-
based copyright materials required for
student course work
• Unit reserve list: items in Reserve or
eReserve
• LMS reading list: all other material, may
include links to Reserve and eReserve.

3. Problems
• Students have multiple reading lists with limited
integration
• Out-dated management system for Reserve and
eReserve
• Manual process for checking copyright compliance
• Manual submission of requests
• Limited options for sorting or grouping readings
• Time consuming and complex for academic staff
and library staff

4. Requirements
We want a system which provides:
• Easy way for academic staff to create and
manage their own reading lists
• Easier management of copyright compliance
• Improved experience for students and academic
staff.

5. Talis Aspire project status
• Approval to purchase Talis Aspire Reading Lists
and Digitised Content in late October 2014
• Base tenancy setup and configuration completed
December 2014
• Going live with a pilot group of academic staff for
Semester One 2015

6. Approach
• Get academic staff involved in creating reading
lists from the start.
• Create reading lists from scratch – no bulk
import
• Subject librarians to be the primary avenue of
support

7. The Pilot
• Targeted 2 academics from each school = 16
• 11 current participants covering most
schools
• Difficulties of recruiting at end of year just
prior to Christmas shutdown. Some not
available in January.
• Expectation: At least one unit from each
academic for Semester One 2015

8. Training
• 2 days on site training
• Half day training for academic staff
• Subject librarians involved in training
academics – one on one support.

9. Lessons and issues
• Metadata is a mystery to many
• Bookmarking from Summon doesn’t always work
• Keep teaching time periods broad
• Digitised Content workflows

10. Objectives for 2015
• Integrate Reading Lists with Moodle
• Original goal: roll out to all units for Semester 2
2015. Too optimistic!!!
• Now: All first year units live for Semester 2, with
full implementation for Semester 1 2016

11. Next challenge
Achieving University wide adoption of Talis
Aspire