Merging MARC record question from a customer

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

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 institution’s 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

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.

A New Experience from our eBooks and FollettShelf

August 22nd, 2012

On September 21, the new FollettShelf and eBook Reader will be coming out.  With these improvements, my previous posts about types of eBooks to purchase has expanded to include anything that supports your program.  Here are just a few of the features:

  • New support for reading on small devices (smartphones and smaller tablet devices)
  • Reflowable text
  • A simpler checkout process and new support for holds
  • New notebook functions that allow patrons to continue to access notes even after eBooks are
  • returned, take notes across books, and support project-based learning
  • Offline/download improvements that make it easier for students and staff to use your content
  • anywhere at any time
  • • Resource links will be available from each eBook to allow the student to easily discover other
  • related digital content

This all comes with no subscriptions or minimum purchase.

Ipad Digital Reader

August 3rd, 2012

Here is what I would currently recommend if your school has class sets of iPads (This may change in the future so please contact me)

For younger children, create usernames and logins for each of the iPads on the FollettShelf and log the iPad user into to the reader app.  This way when anyone opens the app, they can easily get more eBooks on the iPad.  The only issue for this is that they will not be able to create individual notes and bookmarks for each book since it is a general login.  If they wanted to do reviews they could but they would not have their name appear, which is probably a good thing.

Older children could access the books using the method above, but if they have their own login, they can log into the reader app and get books.  They could then take notes if they are reading the book in the reader online (not downloaded).  These notes will be available any time that they access the book again and the books that they checked out on the iPad online can be accessed by them on computers as well as their notes and bookmarks.

Suggestions for eBooks

August 3rd, 2012

 

 Here are some examples of eBooks for your school.  When the HTML reader comes out, this list can be expanded to include popular fiction titles.

eBook Materials Elementary with examples:

  • Picture Books (Raven by Gerald McDermott)
  •  Story Books (First Day Jitters and Last Day Blues both by Julie Denneberg)
  • Reference Materials (Sorting the Elements the Story of the Periodic Table by Ian Barber)
  • Nonfiction (What Do You Do With a Tail Like This by Steve Jenkins)
  • Poetry (Swirl Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman)
  • High Interest (Ex. Eew! Icky, Sticky, Gross Stuff in Your Body By Pam Rosenberg and Technically, It’s Not My Fault Concrete Poems by John Grandits)
  • Graphic Novels (The Salem Witch Trials by Joeming W Dunn and The Legend of Hong Kil Dong, the Robin Hood of Korea by Anne Sibley O’Brien and Attack of the mutant lunch lady by Scott Nickel)

 eBook Materials Secondary with examples:

  • Novels used in Classroom (Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (Yes you could access this in Gutenberg but our reader allows for individual notes/bookmarks.)
  • Support for Classroom Novels (Bloom’s How to Write About Shakespeare’s Comedies by Paul Gleed and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice by David Nicol)
  • Reference Materials (Atoms, Molecules, and Compounds by Phillip Manning and the Encyclopedia of World Religions)
  • Poetry  (My Own True Name New and Selected Poems for Young Adults by Pat Mora)
  • High Interest (Michael Jackson King of Pop by Pratt, Mary K and Monsters of Mystery by Hamilton, Sue L.)
  • Graphic Novels (Yummy the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by Neri, Greg and Shakespeare’s Hamlet the Manga Edition by Sexton, Adam)

Instructions for FollettShelf

April 13th, 2012

Here is a school that has created instructions for using FollettShelf.

FollettShelf Demo

March 21st, 2012

Here are some videos of my demonstration with a school in Victoria, Australia:

Reasons for a school librarian

March 8th, 2012

Full-time School Librarians Linked to Higher Student Reading Scores

www.schoollibraryjournal.com

Info on Follett eBooks

February 27th, 2012

1.       Because a school purchases eBooks and not leases them, there is no subscription fees, no cost to access them and the terms of use cannot change from year to year.  Just pay one time for only the books that you want.   As a librarian, I purchased eBooks from Follett over 5 years ago and now these can be access on more devices and have more features then when I originally bought them.  My former library gets all this, with no other fees since then.

2.    2.    We also have a free online school digital manager called FollettShelf for any school that purchases eBooks from us.  Students can login and access the ebooks from here.  You can also have the MARC records and access them through your library system.

3.       3. We now have over 100,000 eBooks, over 10,000 Unlimited Simultaneously Accessed eBooks and other items.  These can be accessed through our free FollettShelf Online Catalog or through your catalog via a MARC record. 

4.      3.  We have an app for both the iPad and Android.   Any books that you have purchased in the past as well as in the future can utilize this.* Users can move books from being checkout online that can be accessed anywhere to download on the tablet for offline use.

* The rights to the eBooks are determined by the publisher.  The good thing is that these rights are locked in when the eBook is ordered.  Speaking of that, make sure that you look at the title details on Titlewave to see if the rights/ways of access meet your needs.  Here are some comments on these

1.       Full-featured Online Reader: Our Follett Reader with advanced tools, including keyword search, dictionary, note taking, highlighting, and bookmarking (Adobe Flash® 10.0 plug-in required).

Pretty much all books have this.  If students log in with their account on FollettShelf and accesses the book, it will save all their notes, highlights and bookmarks so that when they accessed the book again, they can use these.

2.       Basic Online Reader: HTML Reader with all of the standard features, including keyword search and dictionary.

All books have this.  This is to deal with non-Flash products (iPad and iPhone specifically).  The link to the eBook will check for Flash and if not available will ask if one wants to read it with this non-Flash reader.  When the app comes out for the iPad, this will not be needed.  However, you would still need this on the iPhone. (This too will be addressed in the future.)

3.       Offline Reader: Download our stand-alone Follett Reader with advanced tools, including keyword search, dictionary, note taking, highlighting, and bookmarking (Adobe Flash® 10.0 plug-in required).

Most books have this (USA does not).  If reading offline is a need with the book, make sure this is listed.  A vast majority of users opt for reading online rather than downloading the book to a computer.

4.       Also, when you preview the eBook in Titlewave, please click on the Information button at the top.  This will tell you how much can be printed, copied and if read aloud is an option.   The copying will copy the text but the printing will print exactly how the page appears with graphics.  Even if copying is not available, if you select a section of text and right click to make a note, when you print the note, the selected text will print as well.

5.    4.    Individual titles can be ordered and you have a full preview of each.  We do have bundles of eBooks that is mostly as a help to librarians who want assistance in choosing eBooks and those titles can also be ordered individually.