McHENRY, IL – October 22, 2003 - From New York to Washington, from Texas to Wisconsin, school districts are finding new ways to improve their library technology services while cutting back on spending. Twenty-two districts nationwide have adopted Destiny, a new library management system from Follett Software Company. Destiny lets K-12 districts offer complete library management services to all schools from district servers via web browser.
Destiny makes it fast and easy for districts to centralize their library management services. Districts that have adopted Destiny are reporting a number of benefits from the program:
No additional budget burden while upgrading to state-of-the-art library technology.
- 98% reduction in tech staff time needed for servicing library management.
- Students, parents and staff get anytime, anywhere access to library information.
- More efficient integration with current district network infrastructure.
- Cataloging advice and resources from Follett's cataloging experts.
"Perfect" Use of No Child Left Behind Funds
Tyler Independent School District, in Tyler, Texas, was able to offer its students significantly better library access - and it funded its technology upgrade, as well as extensive staff training, entirely from No Child Left Behind funds. "For our Title II D funds, I was looking for a program that would touch every child in our district," said John Orbaugh, director of technology services for Tyler ISD. "Destiny was the perfect use of the No Child Left Behind funds."
According to Orbaugh, students at Tyler's 26 schools can now do in-classroom searches of the district's entire library collection, and have materials from other campuses shipped to their school. "That's a significant expansion of the amount of material available to each student," he said.
"This was the easiest, most pleasant transition I've ever made," said Al Chickerneo, systems administrator for Deerfield Public Schools District 109, a six-school district near Chicago. Deerfield installed Destiny in September of this year, after replacing an older, text-based library automation system. "Under our old system, we actually had to create a stipended position just to handle library system maintenance. Destiny has cut our maintenance requirements and it's much easier for our staff to learn and use."
Designed from the ground up to meet the specific needs of K-12 libraries, Destiny runs from district servers over a WAN, the Internet, or both. Users access a wide range of important library management and searching functions completely from their browser, making Destiny fast to install and easy to use for students, teachers, librarians and tech administrators alike.
The product reduces district staff time spent installing and maintaining library management functions and offers significant savings in district IT spending.
Chickerneo said that Destiny will reduce what his district spends on maintaining its library automation services. "Even for the first three years, with all of our startup costs amortized, we'll be spending no more than we would have if we retained our old system," he said. "After that, our maintenance costs will drop significantly."
Other districts that have recently adopted Destiny include:
- Lake Washington School District, Redmond, Wash. (46 schools)
- Providence Public Schools, Providence, R.I. (41 schools)
- Manatee County School District, Bradenton, Fla. (43 schools)
- Collier County Public Schools, Naples, Fla. (37 schools)
- Alamance-Burlington School System, Burlington, N.C. (32 schools)
- Vigo County School Corporation, Terre Haute, Ind. (29 schools)
- Rockingham County Schools, Eden, N.C. (24 schools)
- Bethel Public Schools, Spanaway, Wash. (22 schools)
- Bronx Community School District 8, Bronx, N.Y. (20 schools)
- St. Martin Parish, Beaux Bridge, La. (17 schools)
- Richmond Community Schools, Richmond, Ind. (13 schools)
- Orange County Schools, Hillsborough, North Carolina (11 schools)
- Noblesville Schools, Noblesville, Ind. (10 schools)
- Granbury Independent School District, Granbury, Texas (10 schools)
- Normandy School District, St. Louis, Mo. (10 schools)
- Gainesville City School System, Gainesville, Ga. (7 schools)
- Indian Prairie School District 204, Aurora, Ill. (5 schools)
- School Town of Munster, Munster, Ind. (5 schools)
- Lake Mills School District, Lake Mills, Wis. (3 schools)
- Southington Public Schools, Southington, Conn. (5 schools)
About Follett Software Company
For nearly two decades, Follett Software Company has led the way in district library technology. The company offers a range of proven software and service solutions to help districts and schools manage library assets more efficiently, increase students' access to information more easily and control the safety of Internet use more effectively.
More than 37,000 customers in almost half the nation's school districts have chosen Follett Software. Follett Software Company is part of Follett Corporation, whose mission is to be the leading provider of educational solutions, services and products that empower schools, libraries, colleges, students and life-long learners. Follett Software's newly updated web site is at www.fsc.follett.com.
