Talis is delighted to announce the launch of the first competition intended to encourage innovation in the display, use, and reuse of data from and about libraries - Mashing Up The Library.

For all those users of libraries who have ever wished they could bring information from their library to life outside the virtual walls of its web site, this competition presents the ideal opportunity for those who have contemplated enriching their OPAC with maps, reviews, jacket images, or folksonomies.

From Jon Udell's early work with LibraryLookup to the current spate of Greasemonkey plug-ins and the structured exposure of Web Services by Talis, Amazon, Google and others, there are significant advances being made in the ways in which libraries offer their services to the outside world. At least as important is the revolution occurring outside the library, as those beyond the walls take and manipulate library data on their own.

This competition is for anyone in the community that has harboured a yearning to see information from or about libraries put to best use and displayed to best effect alongside information or services from other sources. The Mashing Up The Library competition is open to all, and includes a first prize of £1,000 for the best entry.

This competition is intended to celebrate and showcase all that is best in these efforts to push library information out to existing audiences in new ways, or to reach totally new audiences with compelling and captivating applications.

The Mashing Up The Library competition has already generated great enthusiasm amongst diverse groups across the world. Tim Spalding of LibraryThing commented "LibraryThing draws on libraries for its data, so I'm well aware how rich this is, and how relatively unexploited by programmers in general. I'm looking forward to seeing what creative mashers do".

Helene Blowers, Public Service Technology Director, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County Charlotte, North Carolina commented, "I think it's exciting to see a major library automation company like Talis take the lead in encouraging and rewarding library innovation from the user community. What really sets this competition apart in my mind is that Talis has defined the user community as anybody, not just their customer base. And to raise the innovation bar even higher, potential developers or contest participants don't even have to use or interface with Talis' products to create an entry. That speaks volumes in my book! I'm looking forward to see the entries - and winner too! Thanks again for taking the lead here. It truly is exciting".

For those with ideas about ways in which they would like to see library information used, but who lack the technical skills to make their vision a reality, share your thoughts through discussion forms. Here, these ideas will contribute to a growing understanding of the innovative ways in which libraries should open up, and it is also possible for teams to form around forum posts, assembling the necessary mix of ideas and execution.

At Talis, we have recently announced our first set of Talis Platform Web Services, and these are perfectly suited to building applications such as those expected from entrants to this competition.

As Darlene Fichter, Data Library Co-ordinator for the University of Saskatchewan encourages, "Love books? Love libraries? Love programming? Here's your chance to dive in and make a mashup with library stuff. It's sure to kick start the creation of several mashups using library data which will benefit everyone".

The competition closes on 18th August 2006 with a decision being announced in September 2006.

Talis is assembling an expert panel of judges to select the winning entries in this competition. Newly appointed members include, Andrew Pace (North Carolina State University Libraries), Chris Pirillo (Lockergnome), Ed Vielmetti (Superpatron), Gary Price (Director of Online Information Resources, Ask.com & Publisher, ResourceShelf.com), Jenny Levine (The Shifted Librarian), Jon Udell (InfoWorld), Tim Spalding (LibraryThing) and Paul Miller (Talis). For more information, visit: www.talis.com/tdn/competition_judges

If you require additional information about the competition, please visit the web site at www.talis.com/tdn/competition or contact Paul Miller at: paul.miller@talis.com