Archive for the ‘Destiny’ Category

How to handle sets of materials in Destiny Library Manager

Friday, August 23rd, 2013

A customer asked me in a Google Hangout about how we would handle a set of materials in Destiny.
Although our Resource Manager are designed to handle sets of materials, the library is not normally used to distribute sets of items. Using a single barcode for multiple items brings up an issue of accountability as opposed to convenience.
Here are my ideas for handling this,
If the items are sometimes checked out individually as well as a group, then I would barcode them individually and add Volume section in the Copy information. The Description should have the name of the set and how many items are in the set. The number would be the individual item number. When you print out the spine label for this item, this information will be on it and you will see it in the copy information when searching. You could have a row of the barcodes either in inside of the first item in the set or in a folder at the circulation counter and just scan all of these rather than pulling out each book.
If the items are always together in a group, then create a single copy and print multiple barcodes for this item. (The newer versions of Destiny has the capability of printing multiple copies of a barcode.) Add a note and check the box for “Display this note whenever the copy’s information is accessed.” that says that this is a set of x amount of books. You may want to put all of these items in a container and have the barcode of it. There are some inexpensive plastic wheeled carts that can be used and the patron would appreciate having this rather than carrying all the items.
There may be a way to check out all the barcodes at once using a QR code but I am unsure since I do not have a QR scanner. The Destiny app does allow scanning of QR codes, but for only one item at a time. If you have a different way of handling please email me and I will add it to this post.

Destiny Promotion

Wednesday, May 29th, 2013

Here is a link to a company that looks has some instructional videos of Destiny as well as some promotional materials:

http://teachersites.schoolworld.com/webpages/SLS/library.cfm

 

Additional Site Access and Digital Content in Destiny

Monday, April 8th, 2013

A customer recently asked some questions that I thought would be relevant to others.  Please contact me if you need additional help on these or any other matters.

1.  How do I allow access to other libraries in my district for my patrons:

Adding additional sites requires a district user with Manage Patrons for the District rights.  Someone would need to go in as the destinyadmin and click on Setup in the right hand side.  They would then need to click on Users and create a district login for you.  After this is created, then you need to log in as this before clicking on a site by the District Users Login and then click on the District Link in the top right.

2. I am exploring using Destiny to catalog and access local resources – specifically, student created material, usually in digital format.  I have figured out that I can do so by creating a MARC record and then attaching an electronic resource file (jpg, etc.).  I notice that I can also add a URL to access those items that are web based (so we can do student web-based documents or works).

a)    Is this my best route?

It depends on the content.  If it is used for simply archival, then Destiny would be good choice.  You can also make these items hidden on Destiny, so only people who have the right to see hidden materials can view the content.  If it is something that you may need to edit, then I would have a link to the file in a place where you can access it instead of uploading it in digital content.  If it is something that will be removed at a specific time, then Destiny may be better since there is an expiration date.  Since the date is for informational purposes only, you would still need to maintain these by running reports on expiration date and then manually delete them.  If they are quite large or if another site can provide a better interface, then a link would be better.

b)    Are there limits to the size of the files that can be attached ?  (so would I be better off storing the resources on an external site and simply adding URL link?

Hosted customers have a default limitation of 1GB for digital content.  This can be increased if requested.

c)    Do I need to add a copy ? (I wouldn’t think so, because an electronic resource or URL would not need to be checked out, but then it says no local copies available 😉

This is a good point.  This is a good item to put into the digital resource tab in Destiny.  In order to identify what is moved to the digital content, a district user must be created with Manage Library Materials for the District rights.  They would then need to go into the district, click on Back Office – Configuration and identify a specific MARC tag that designates it is a digital resource. You will also need two icon for each.  This way they are not tied into a copy and people can click immediately from the search results to see it.

3. I am also exploring adding student reviews to library materials. Within your current system, it looks like I can only find a review if I know the book being reviewed.  Is there any way for a patron to search for …

a)    Books with reviews?

Written reviews, no, but you could send this in the request a feature section in the Contact us in Help.  However, a title report can be generated in report builder to identify what books have been reviewed.

b)    Books with review average of 4 stars or more?

Yes, in Destiny Quest, after searching, you can limit your results by rating of the titles.  These would more likely have a written review.

c)    books reviewed by a certain reviewer?

No, you could suggest this as a feature.  The reason that this was omitted might be because of privacy issues.  In Back Office – Site Configuration, you can adjust what is shown about the reviewer (No Name, Full Name, First Name-Last Initial, Initial Only).  Be sure that when you allow reviews that this setting reflects your school’s privacy policy.

Using MyQuest with Students

Friday, November 16th, 2012

Here is an article that talks about using MyQuest with a class.

http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2012/11/why-kids-need-goodreads.html

Unfortunately it doesn’t give the reasons to use MyQuest as oppose to Good Reads

1. It is a closed environment restricted to the school so no information needs to be given a third party to register (Good Reads requires an email) and no people outside the school community can contact the students.

2. The books being discussed are available at the school and students can find/hold them directly from Quest and they can also see other similar books in the You May Also Like section.

3.  The dialogue can be monitored and abuse can be reported to the librarian.

Merging MARC record question from a customer

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

Can you advise how to merge marc records?

If you think that your records could be better quality by comparing it to what we have, you can do an Alliance Recon.  Go to Catalog Tab, Update Titles, and Recon Subtab.  You can always do the default of only brief records since these do not have any subjects in the record.  However, if you do the All library records, any subjects that you have entered that are not in the 690s fields will be replaced be what we have on file.   Ours are usually better unless there is a dedicated cataloger that puts in special subjects for your curriculum.

Next create a resource list called duplicates.

After that you can see what records have duplicate standard numbers which is a good start. Go to Catalog Tab, Update Titles, and Recon Subtab to find the titles.  View the titles that were found and add them to the Duplicates resource list.  (You can go back and forth to the report easily be clicking on the Job Summary breadcrumb that is under the word Catalog in the Tab menu.)  

After you are done, go to the resource list and select Duplicated title for each entry of one of the titles.  Select View these Duplicates from the I want to dropdown menu.  Choose which is the best title and click merge.  You can then remove this title from the resource list and go to the next one.

 If you come across any titles that are duplicates that may have different standard numbers, just add them to the Duplicates resource list.

Destiny User’s ToDo List

Wednesday, September 5th, 2012

1.        Are you on the latest edition of Destiny?

  Follett-hosted Destiny users do not need to worry about this.  For others, you are not getting the most out of Destiny and it is free with current support. 

2. Is your Destiny syncing with your school network where you can email overdue notices using the schools SMTP server.

  You can automate the notification process so that you do not have to worry about making the time to send out overdues. 

3. Is your patron database being automatically updated from your institutions database using the LDAP server? 

 Why manage your patron’s login when the school’s network already does this? 

4. Do all your patrons have logins and can access the social media component of Destiny called MyQuest?

Let’s get the students focusing on the BOOK and not the FACE.

5. Have you set up your One Search with databases that support your program?

See my earlier post on some that I recommend.

6. Have you purchased any Follett eBooks that integrate directly into Destiny?

 If you like, I can see what eBooks that we have which match what you have in your collection.  Email me a list of your ISBNs of your books and I will get the list of eBooks to you.

7. Have you shared your records with other schools and accessed other schools records when adding titles using Z39.50 interface?

  Please feel free to contact me to get the names of the schools sharing and to tell you how you can do the same. 

8. Have you tied your Destiny with our Titlewave website which can give you a free collection analysis? 

 After you do your first analysis, the process is just a click of a button in Destiny and again it is free. 

9. Have you added any digital resources to your collection and placed them under the digital resource tab? 

Digital Resources can allow you to identify materials that should not come up in your  regular Title search tab, but have their own section.  If you do not have many that you think qualify for this tab, you may want to separate them and do not allow patrons to see this tab under access levels. 

10    Have you recently gone through all the access levels to make sure that all users can get access to what they need? 

With each update, there are new options for patrons in the access level.  The default may not suit the needs of your school

 

Must Haves in One Search

Thursday, August 23rd, 2012

Now that One Search is part of Destiny, make sure that you have some great resources for teachers to use.  When adding, I would preset these databases as a selected search but only allow teachers to search the databases:

The Orange Grove (Florida Digital Library)

Wisconsin Ideas

TED: Ideas Worth Spreading

California Learning Resource Network (CLRN)

These should be preset but allow both Teachers and Students to search it:

CK-12 FlexBooks Library Educational Resources for Teachers/Students

Khan Academy

If One Search is not current being shown as a tab in your Destiny Library Manager, please be sure to contact the rep in your region or me.

One Search Statistics

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Now that One Search is included in the price of Destiny, one should keep track of statistics.  Currently there are not a time frame for the search statistics, so you may want to run One Search Database Usage Report periodically and save the results.  Then you can subtract from previous results to get a time frame.

 Do not forget to run other reports such as WebPath Express Statistics and Search Statistics to see what the students are looking for and what searches do not retrieve any results.  You can use this to find material to meet these requests as well as learning how the students are using Destiny to help teach them proper search techniques.

Visual Search options

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Helpful Hints

Visual Search: 

1. To change the order of a search or items, add a spaces before the name of items that you want to appear first. (So <space>zebra will be before aardvark)

2. Ask me how to create a direct link to the visual search results

Share your database with Z39.50

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Destiny has the capability to share your database with other schools.  For schools sharing within a specific country, this can ease the process of cataloging books.  It is all done with a click of the button from the Destiny Administrator.  I will keep a list and continue to update on the list by comments.Singapore American School

  • Domain Name/IP Address: saseagles.follettdestiny.com
  • Port Number: 210
  • Database Name: saas14_8577650
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