Here is a hit of the responses I received. The request was for reports on
how things went as libraries converted from Spectrum to Destiny automation
systems.
> By contrast we are an 83 site district. Phase I was completed in September
> with 10 schools being converted. No circulation data was converted, just
> holdings. The process went smoothly. Our LMTs love the web-based program and
> automatic patron updates. The interface is very user-friendly. There are a
> few glitches - for example if you need to print a single barcode from a
> record, the program will print barcodes for every holding on the record (a
> nightmare for periodicals!). The reports menu is, in my opinion, the weakest
> part of the program.
>
> We are preparing to move to Phase II which involves converting the circulation
> data as well and are fervently hoping that it will be as seamless as Phase I.
We are at the end of the process. Training is next week. There have
been several phone conferences, talking to the head of our data
conversion, lots of emails and faxing info. I feel the process has been
very thorough and time consuming, but I am hoping that when we are
finished we have a first rate library software. I have been a Follett
user for years and liked it very much. Came into a mess with Sagebrush
and not sure where the fault lies, except that when talking with Follett
reps they would ask if we had experienced problems with...Usually I had
to say yes.
We are in the process of the conversion right now and it is not going as
smoothly as promised. We have 18 schools and some have gone with only a
few glitches but my data did not all transfer so I am still in the middle
of a disaster. They seem to be working hard at correcting our problems
but it is very frustrating. We were advised by other districts not to
make the change over while we were circulating but our tech department
would not do it during the summer since they have so many other issues to
deal with then. When, and if, we make it through all this I will let you
know how we feel about it.
We are also a one site district (4 schools) and we converted to Destiny
last summer. It was a great deal of work to prepare for it during the
summer, but we had a great account manager. He had several conference calls
and was very helpful as we planned for the conversion. I would suggest that
if possible try to get in on the conversion from the beginning because you
will know more about what is going on. Our tech person would defer to the
HS librarian and myself because we were involved in all steps. The one
thing that I regret that we did not do was convert with past history (it was
going to take more time and work than we had time to do) but we kept printed
copies of all outstanding circs and it hasn't been too bad. I would say
print every report you can think you might need for the future just in case
you don't convert with transactions or if they are lost. They were very
helpful about cleaning up some of the cataloging, but we think we have had a
problem with some of the AR records in cataloging, not all just some. I
like the circ and cat and it is great to be able to look at all library
collections at one time. The training was excellent and the trainer was a
media professional herself. The best extra that we purchased was Webpath
Express and the Standards, they are wonderful and my teachers love that
aspect. I don't regret the conversion at all.
We converted from Sagebrush's Athena to Destiny after Thanksgiving. We
have central office staff who carefully worked through the details with
Follett. The Follett trainer did a two day inservice for us. Our
records were enhanced and our catalog is better than ever. It was a
breeze for us and we are loving Destiny. Cataloging has never been
easier. We also got the Webpath Express service which adds safe
reliable website results to the book search results. The students and
teachers are LOVING that. Destiny is user friendly and intuitive. I
think you'll be pleased.
(One school district, 1500 students) converted this year. Destiny is
wonderful. I am not as dependent on the school tech coordinator, Destiny has
more features, it can be accessed anywhere, it doesn't crash like Sagebrush,
and cataloging is much easier. I love the daily auto backups!
I am very happy we converted.
My only complaint is Follett's Service Rep system. Since the day I started
shopping I have had 4 different reps. The first one knew the product and
came to my library to evaluate my needs. And that was the last. All help is
over the phone now, and they do not know the product was well.
We are in the process of the conversion right now and it is not going as
smoothly as promised. We have 18 schools and some have gone with only a
few glitches but my data did not all transfer so I am still in the middle
of a disaster. They seem to be working hard at correcting our problems
but it is very frustrating. We were advised by other districts not to
make the change over while we were circulating but our tech department
would not do it during the summer since they have so many other issues to
deal with then. When, and if, we make it through all this I will let you
know how we feel about it.
We converted over this last summer. Our school has 3 individual libraries
and we previously had a union catalog. They correctly allocated the
materials to the respective library during the record conversion with about
175 records to be changed out of over 69,000. We had the clean-up service
down. We have been very pleased with the product. It's very stable. The
period working up to the actual conversion is a little tense. I didn't feel
like the communication was as good as it could have been. But the time
difference is 14 hours ahead here & so much of our communication was via
email.At the start of school we had a trainer (Larry Gilbert) come out to
train all the librarians and assistants for 3 days. Not sure how they are
doing training now. Larry was very helpful---and was able to clear up a
couple of items while he was here.
We love having the catalog online --- our address is
http://library.sfs.or.kr
& TitlePeek is very popular.
--
"What a school thinks about its library, is a measure of what it thinks
about education." Harold Howe, former U.S. Commissioner of Education
Beverly Nelson
Media Generalist
Spring Grove Public School
113 2nd Ave NW
Spring Grove, Minnesota 55974
507-498-3223
bev.nelson@springgrove.k12.mn.us
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