TALIS Plus help: FAQ

1. What is TALIS Plus?
2. How do I search?
3. What is My Library?
4. How do I place a hold?
5. How do I see where I am in the queue?
6. How do I place a hold on a magazine or journal?
7. How do I find items which are in my local library?
8. Searching for an author, subject, etc
9. Find everything for a particular author, subject or series
10. How can I find items for children?
11. How do I find foreign language items?
12. How do I find service manuals?
13. How do I find music scores?
14. Can I print a list?
15. Can I email results?
16. What do I do if I see incorrect picture or description information on an item?
17. What is LibraryThing?
18. Unable to access renewals, overdues or place/cancel holds

1. What is TALIS Plus?

TALIS Plus is the new State Library catalogue for searching, placing holds, checking your loans and making renewals.

2. How do I search?

See Search help.

3. What is My Library?

My Library lets you see what you have on hold, see your current loans, renew your loans, cancel holds or see any outstanding fees. Other features:

• Wish list for storing details of anything you want to put a hold on either now or sometime in the future. You can have up to 15 items at a time on your Wish list. Unless you place a hold on them or remove them, things remain on your Wish list even when you logout.
• Create a bibliography. You can keep up to 100 items in this list and then print or email when required
• See where you are in the hold queue and estimates how long till you get the item
• Suspend your holds and reactivate them as required
• Set an expiration date for the hold - e.g. if the item is only useful if it arrives within a certain time period
• Change your library pickup location

4. How do I place a hold?

Placing a hold from the catalogue

• Find an item you want to place a hold on
• Click on its Place hold now button
• You will be prompted to login if not already logged in
• Check the pick up location details are correct
• Click on Commit hold

Placing holds from your Wish list

• Log into My Library
• Locate the item you want to place on hold in your Wish list
• Click on its Place hold button
• Click on Commit hold
• Return to place another hold from your Wish list or to see all holds.

5. How do I see where I am in the queue?

Click on the tab for My Library and login. Your queue position and estimated wait time are under the hold details in your holds list.

6. How do I place a hold on a magazine or journal?

• Find an item you want to place a hold on
• Click on its Place hold now button
• You will be prompted to login if not already logged in
• Check the pick up location details are correct
• Tick the issues(s) you require
• Click on Commit hold

7. How do I find items which are in my local library?

• Click on Search either with or without a word in the search box
• Scroll down till you see the folder for Library location on the left
• Choose your library from that folder
• You can continue to refine your search by clicking on the links in the other folders.

8. Searching for an author, subject, etc

If you wish to search on specific fields like author, subject etc, there are several options that you can use:

1. Use the Refine options

The Refine options are the easiest and most powerful way to use TALIS Plus. Just enter any words from your chosen author, subject, and/or title into the search box. Once your search results have appeared, use the 'Refine your search' options in the left-hand menu to narrow your results down to the author, topic, etc that you want. For example, you can search for rowling, then click on Author in the left-hand refinement menu, and choose Rowling, J. K. If your author does not appear in the initial list, the 'More' button will let you move through all available options alphabetically.

2. Use the advanced syntax

If the Refine options do not meet your needs, the Searching Help page explains how you can use special syntax to perform advanced searches, including searching for words in particular fields, like author, title, subject, format and so on.

3. Contact us

We are happy to offer assistance with any search problems. Use the TALIS Plus feedback form or Ask Us.

9. Find everything for a particular author, subject or series

1. In search results (for Authors and Series)

Find any item with your chosen author or series in your results list. The Author and Series are shown as links in the item - click on a link to get everything by that author or in that series.

2. In the Full Record

Find any item with your chosen author, subject or series. Go into the Full Record. The Authors, Subjects and Series for that item will be listed there as links. Click on a link to get everything for that author, subject or series.

3. Use the Remove buttons

As you search and use the Refine options in TALIS Plus you build up a breadcrumb trail of your pathway through the site. This appears in the upper left corner of the page as 'Your search so far'. You can use the Remove buttons (the red crosses) to take out any part of your search in any order, thus broadening your search out again. For example, you may have searched for 'wexford', then Refined by Author 'Rendell, Ruth, 1930-'. Removing 'wexford' from 'Your search so far' will give you everything by Ruth Rendell.

If you have a favourite author or subject that you will want to check again in future, you can use your Browser to bookmark your search results page. Sorting your results by date will give you the latest additions to the catalogue.

10. How can I find items for children?

• Click on Search either with or without a word in the search box
• Scroll down till you see the folder for Audience on the left
• Choose Children or Youth from that folder
• You can continue to refine your search by clicking on the links in the other folders.

11. How do I find foreign language items?

• Click on Search either with or without a word in the search box
• Scroll down till you see the folder for Language on the left
• Choose a language from that folder
• You can continue to refine your search by clicking on the links in the other folders.

12. How do I find service manuals?

• Type the vehicle or machine name and model into the search box
• From the folder on the left for Topic select Service manuals
• If there is a combination of numbers and letters in the model try searching with a space between the numbers and letters, e.g. yamaha v star 650
• If that doesn't work try excluding the year and/or model number when you first search and then refine your search.

13. How do I find music scores?

• Click on Search either with or without a word in the search box
• From the folder on the left for Format click on Text
• From that folder again click on Musical score
• You can continue to refine your search by clicking on the links in the other folders.

14. How do I print a list?

• Find an item in the catalogue
• Click on its Add to my list button
• If you are a library member click on the I have a library card link. You will be prompted to log in. Return to your search to add items
• If you are not a member click on the I am a guest link. Return to your search to add items
• When you are ready to print, click on the My Library tab and select the Wish list or Bibliography list
• Click the print/email icon
• Select the format required and click on Continue
• Use the Browser's print function

15. Can I email results?

Yes you can email results from the My Library Wish list and Bibliography list, following the directions for printing.

16. What do I do if I see incorrect picture or description information on an item?

Send details of the item via our feedback form or email state.library@education.tas.gov.au

17. What is LibraryThing?

LibraryThing (www.librarything.com) is an online service to help people catalogue their books easily and to add tags, reviews, and ratings to them. It has over 300,000 members, who have catalogued and tagged over 3 million titles. LibraryThing lets libraries access and use the tags that are contributed by their users. TALIS Plus shows these user-contributed tags etc in the Similar/Other/Tags tab on the Full Record screen for any titles that are available from LibraryThing.

Please note that the tags come from LibraryThing users and are NOT created or authorised by the State Library of Tasmania. If you would like to contribute to the tags you see in TALIS Plus, you might consider joining LibraryThing and adding your books and tags to it—membership is free for the first 200 items.

18. Unable to access renewals, overdues or place/cancel holds

Occasionally TALIS Plus fails to communicate with the underlying software, due to too much load on the system at that moment or general network issues, resulting in an error. If you try the action again and the problem continues:

• Log out of TALIS Plus, log in and try again
• Ask a staff member for help
• Come back at a later time