Automation System Tutorial 20 points
http://medt7478opacgroup5.weebly.com/
Name: (Leave your section below blank): Jessica Garris
Automation system and version: Destiny v14 and 14.5
Tutorial content
These following areas are for instructor scoring only.
1. Assessment piece of tutorial (1)
2. Creativity (1)
3. Section content (4)
(Accuracy/Comprehensiveness)
Section One: Set Up, Reserves, ILL
a. Setting up patron types (.5)
b. Creating/importing patron records (.5)
c. Updating/deleting patron records (.5)
d. Assigning passwords/patron numbers
(.5)
e. Reserving materials online (.5)
f. Doing ILL with automation system (.5)
What did you think of the assessment? (.5)
Section Two: Cataloging
a. Opening the cataloging module (.5)
b. Setting up material types (.5)
c. Deleting materials (individually or batch) .5
(.5)
d. Adding materials (manual or import) (.5) .5
Score Comments (Required for EACH GROUP MEMBER)
NAME of group member: Lisa Scholberg
.5 I definitely agree that holds should be a maximum of three days. I never
knew I could Block checkouts if a student has overdue materials or fines!
This is a game changer because instead of adding a note under the individual
patron, the computer will automatically block the checkout.
.5 Yes. Generally the district syncs with whatever data management system is
used. We used eSchools. Parents are the only records we create, but we put P
at the beginning of their barcode number, so we know its a parent barcode.
.5 One thing Ive learned with updating patron information is that whatever
information is entered at the district level will override whatever I enter, so if
I have a student that I need to move to a different homeroom, it will be like
that until Destiny syncs with eSchools. Im not sure if this is the case for all
districts
We do have to manually delete patrons at times because if the patron has
fines or overdue materials, the system will not automatically delete the
patrons account when the system sync is completed.
.5 Excellent idea to use the parent account to show how to create a password. I
make sure NOT to tell my students they can change their password because
that leads to a whole lot of trouble.
.5 I havent been doing reservations and holds because the previous media
specialist said it was too much trouble, but I think it is an important
component of any media center. Patrons being able to choose the date when
they need the book is a plus since teachers typically need a specific book
during a specific time frame.
.5 One thing to note when doing ILL is searching all schools in the catalog. The
default is to search books within the school only, so that would need to be
changed before searching the catalog. Most of our ILL is for teachers, but
that could be different at the middle and high school level.
.5 Good assessment, but I wish the results page would display all of the answer
choices for the multiple choice questions. Also, for interlibrary loan, I got
it marked incorrectly because I put ILL instead of spelling it out.
NAME of group member: Bonnie Goodheart
.5 A direct link is provided for each school within a district. To find this, access
the Destiny webpage appropriate for the district and find the school. There is
a window with a plus sign next to the school name. This is the direct link for
the schools catalog. Destiny Quest is a student friendly version of the
catalog. Students can easily search the catalog and create reading lists by
simply dragging and dropping a book.
.5 So true! Districts do not typically determine material types because it needs
to be tailored to the school. Media specialists must check with district
requirements for fines. In FCS elementary schools, no fines are administered
unless the book was lost or damaged. Overdue fines are only applicable to
middle and high.
What information is necessary in the batch delete file, and does it have to be
in a .txt format?
When we add titles using Title Match, we have to choose the District
version and are not allowed to change any of the title information. We have
run into all sorts of problems with people changing information on the
District Template for a specific title.

e. Correcting MARC records (.5)
f. Authority file for subjects (.5)
What did you think of the assessment? (.5)
Section Three: Circulation
a. Setting up for Student/Parent/Volunteer
Check In (.5)
b. Changing date & time (.5)
c. Entering fines, reserves, & messages for
patrons (.5)
d. Printing bills, fines, receipts (.5)
e. Using temporary barcodes (.5)
f. Looking up circ logs (.5)
What did you think of the assessment? (.5)
Section Four: Reports & Utilities
a. Backing up the system and rebuilding the
system (.5)
b. Running circ reports (.5)
c. Inventory (.5)
d. Collection age report (.5)
e. Bar codes/spine labels / unused bar code
report (.5)
Scanning the barcode saves so much time! I didnt realize I could search
using the ISBN barcode when I received my first un-processed Scholastic
order. That was tedious and time-consuming.
Import title is, indeed, the easiest way to update the system. MARC records
are a lifesaver.
Sidenote: Scholastic sends MARC records for processed books, but you have
to go in one by one to import them. Ugh.
.5 Very rarely do I have to correct MARC records; however, it does happen. I
realized that some of my titles had incorrect tags when I looked at other sites
that had MARC records available.
.5 I was unfamiliar with Authority Files but can see that some of the authority
headings in our current system should be updated, discarded, or replaced.
.5 Good assessment, but I wish the results page would display all of the answer
choices for the multiple choice questions.
Name of group member: Genevieve Stevens
.5 Setting up check-in accessibility is so important because patron records are
confidential. At the high-school level, students sometimes help check-in
materials in the media center. Many of the HS media specialists make it to
where the student cannot see any of the previous checkouts, circulation
history, fines, etc. They can simply check a book in or out. The same
restrictions can be put in place for volunteers.
.5 At the beginning of the year, its important to go in and set up the circulation
calendar. By marking out days when school is not in session, the system
automatically goes to the next day. So if Monday was day seven, and we
were out, it would automatically go to Tuesday as day seven. I can see
changing due dates for teachers, but Im pretty set in stone with the kiddos. ;)
.5 My favorite fine feature is being able to enter a fine immediately when
checking a book in. When checking in books, a blue link appears under the
title and says create fine. This is great when I come across books that have
mystery substances on them because I can immediately take care of the fine.
Fine notes are very important. I put the date the book was returned and a
detailed description of the damage done to the book. I print two copies
because one goes to the student and another goes in the file cabinet. Many
times, students will come in and say they didnt know they had a fine.
I definitely need to use holds and reserves more in my media center.
Messages are very important, too. I typically put notes such as what the
student prefers to be called or if there was an incident that happened with a
book, and I have waived fines.
.5 An excellent feature to note is the ability to print more than one notice per
paper. There are times when we have to print over 200 notices, so instead of
using 200 sheets of paper, I typically print two notices on each piece of paper
and only need to use 100. Ideally, I would be able to email these notices out,
but being at the elementary level, students still need to receive paper copies
to take home.
.5 Im not familiar with temporary barcodes either. I know that many media
specialists are moving towards digital magazines. We still receive hard
copies of magazines because believe it or not, students still check them out.
We use standard system barcodes when we enter the periodical and typically
weed magazines at the end of the year.
.5 It is important to note that patron circulation logs are confidential. I like
looking at the circulation logs because I feel like I get to know my students
better.
.5 Note the assessment is not published, so answers will not be logged. Good
assessment, but I wish the results page would display all of the answer
choices for the multiple choice questions.
Name of group member: Jessica Garris
f. Running custom indexes (.5)
What did you think of the assessment? (.5)