Hoover City Takes Library Services Online
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Hoover City Schools in Alabama is expanding access to library services with the adoption of a centralized, Web-based system that allows students to search for and reserve books online and have them delivered to their desks the next day using Follett's Destiny Library Manager. The district is also using the system to provide library enhancements, including providing previews of books.
Destiny Library Manager is a browser-based suite of tools that catalogs all library titles centrally and provides access through any computer via the Internet. It also includes a variety of options, such as TitlePeek, which provides online book previews; One Search, which combines library searches with Internet searches; and WebPath Express, a security service that blocks sites and content deemed inappropriate by the district and limits Web searches to grade-appropriate sites. Hoover City Schools adopted all of these starting at the beginning of this school year.
"We wanted to give students the advantage of being able to search from home for materials that they need for assignments, and we wanted get their parents involved and let them see what library resources are available," said Sonya Jordan, library media specialist for Hoover High School, part of Hoover City Schools. "We wanted to be on the Web, and Destiny gave us that option. Students especially love Destiny. They love the fact they can renew their own materials at home and reserve materials at home. We check for reservations in the morning and actually deliver the material to students in the classroom."
The district had previously used site-based tools for library access, but now all of the district's 16 libraries are linked through the Internet using the Destiny system.
Hoover City Schools serves about 12,000 students in three high schools, three middle schools, 10 elementary schools, and two other schools.
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About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at [email protected].
Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at [email protected].