Talpa

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What is Talpa Search?

Talpa Search is an AI-powered library search tool developed by LibraryThing. It allows users to find books and media using true and authoritative bibliographic data. It's currently an experimental project, which means it's in the development phase collecting user feedback to improve its performance.

How does Talpa Search work?

Talpa Search operates by querying large language models from Anthropic and OpenAI for books and other media. These search results are then validated against authoritative bibliographic data to ensure accuracy. Additionally, the AI uses natural-language abilities to parse and understand search queries. Search results are prioritized based on the library's holdings.

Can Talpa Search find any book or media?

Talpa Search can find any book or media that is validated against true and authoritative bibliographic data from sources such as Bowker, Syndetics Unbound, and LibraryThing. However, its performance may vary based on factors like the timeliness of the title.

What is the technology behind Talpa Search?

The technology behind Talpa Search includes large language models from Anthropic and OpenAI which performs the search for books and other media. These results are validated with authoritative bibliographic data sourced from Bowker, Syndetics Unbound, and LibraryThing.

How does Talpa Search validate its results?

Talpa Search validates its results against a massive storehouse of true and authoritative bibliographic data supplied by Bowker, Syndetics Unbound, and LibraryThing. This ensures the results are accurate and reliable.

How does Talpa prioritize search results?

Talpa Search prioritizes search results based on a library's holdings. Items in a library's collection are given precedence in the results, while items not in a library's collection may still appear lower down in the results.

Can Talpa Search be configured by the user?

Yes, Talpa Search provides the capability to users to configure it and get links and buttons for their site on the Syndetics Unbound Admin for free for a limited period.

What is unique about Talpa Search compared to other AI chatbots?

Unlike many other AI chatbots, Talpa Search does not 'hallucinate' books that do not exist. It checks every search result against a vast database of true and authoritative bibliographic data to ensure accuracy. This makes Talpa Search unique and reliable.

Does Talpa Search work better with older titles or recently-published ones?

Talpa Search currently works best for finding older titles. Its reliability for recently-published ones is not as robust.

What does the name 'Talpa' mean?

'Talpa' is a Latin word that translates as 'mole'.

Why does Talpa Search not 'hallucinate' books that don't exist?

Talpa Search does not 'hallucinate' books because it validates every item against true and authoritative bibliographic data. Therefore, it does not generate results for books that are not validated in its extensive bibliographic database.

How does Talpa Search apply large language models in its function?

Talpa Search applies large language models to parse and understand search queries. The AI involved utilizes the natural language abilities of these models to understand a variety of query forms and return relevant search results.

Can I use Talpa Search at any library?

For a limited period, Talpa Search is free to all libraries that use Syndetics Unbound from ProQuest and LibraryThing.

How are items not found in the library's collection represented in the search results?

Items that are not found in a library's collection do appear in the search results but are placed lower down. These items are represented with black-and-white covers to differentiate them.

What are the sources of the bibliographic data used by Talpa Search?

Talpa Search uses bibliographic data from three authoritative sources: Bowker, Syndetics Unbound from ProQuest, and LibraryThing.

Is there a fee for using Talpa Search?

Currently, there are no fees for using Talpa Search. It is free to all libraries that use Syndetics Unbound from ProQuest and LibraryThing for a limited time.

How do I provide feedback on Talpa Search?

Feedback on Talpa Search can be given by emailing [email protected] or through a designated 'What Do You Think?' section within Talpa Search.

Why is Talpa Search still considered to be an experiment?

Talpa Search is considered an experiment because it is in its development phase. The aim is to collect feedback and data to improve its functionality, performance, and reliability before being established as a final product.

Is it possible to find the books by their cover design using Talpa Search?

Yes, surprisingly Talpa's ability to find books by their cover design isn't powered by AI but by the effort of thousands of book lovers who have played LibraryThing's CoverGuess cover-tagging game since 2010.

Is there any training data involved in improving Talpa's search results?

Yes, the search results of Talpa are continually improved by user interactions and cover tagging data from LibraryThing's CoverGuess game played by thousands of book lovers since 2010.

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