I work in Burnaby and our school libraries use Destiny. Since I am not currently working in a library, I visited my friend’s library in Burnaby and searched through the Destiny program there. I know that I could search through some of Destiny at home by going through her school website under the ‘Library’ tab but I needed her login to access the administrator pages (the back office) and I wanted her close by in case I needed help.
When I was looking at the library homepage for my friend’s school, there were strengths and areas for improvement. I found the homepage very plain. There is just text there and no images or colors. I think that could be added to make it more student-friendly. On the plus side, there are many useful links on the page, i.e. a link to Fact Monster, Kids Click, VPL Kids Links, etc. Next I looked at the student search pages in Destiny under the Catalog tab, I found that there are great links like Destiny Quest where students can view the Top 10 books and New Arrivals. I also like that there is a Visual search choice under the Catalogue link which is great for primary students or for students who find it easier to read images than text.
On the whole, I find Destiny easy to navigate but I have been trained by our district teacher-librarian and from attending workshops on a few of the new changes to Destiny. I think it would be difficult for someone to use the administrator applications with only a minimum of training, i.e. run reports, because it is not necessarily straight forward when you are printing reports if you haven’t before, if you are trying to place a hold if you haven’t before, etc. The Destiny binder has lots of useful tips and step-by-step instructions but I think it is more helpful to have someone who is experienced to walk you through it a few times over a few different days.
“In the newer, integrated on-line catalogues, such as Follett Destiny, links will also be provided to resources on the Internet that support that specific search. This is an important function of the new catalogues and one which we are just now beginning to utilize” (UBC Vista). I visited a library in Burnaby as a TOC and that TL had a feature in her library catalogue that I didn’t know about. It was a page in Destiny where students and teachers could go to access resources for their class projects. The TL had linked them there. I thought that was really useful. I’m assuming that students can access that from home too, which is great idea because then they can do their research at home. “Another obvious advantage of the newer web-based catalogues is that searching is not limited to the number of computer stations in the school library. This is possible from any computer, at school, at home, or anywhere in the world with that access to the Internet” (UBC Vista).
I think Destiny is great for many reasons. One reason is the ability to run reports, i.e. overdue lists, and that you can choose to organize them in so many different ways, i.e. by division, by individual student. Also, it generates the report quickly, which is great if you are in a hurry to give it to a classroom teacher or want to print them off and put them in teacher’s boxes the day before their class comes into the library. That way teachers can have students write it in their planners if they need to remember their book for the next day.
My thoughts about the following: “The degree to which a library catalogue can be consulted easily by teachers and students is of great significance if teacher-librarians wish to encourage user-independence. A flexible catalogue will allow broader use of the school library” (UBC Vista). Yes, I agree with this statement. It is important for teachers and students to feel comfortable using the library catalogue. Although, as TL’s, it is our job to help them use it, it is important for them to learn to do it independently so that we can more time to spend on other things. Also, if students and teachers are able to search independently and find what they are looking for, then it is going to build their confidence in their library skills and hopefully the library will feel more like their library too instead of “Mrs. Sharma’s library”.
