The rincess and the pgrade A tale about creating kingdoms that work! By Barbara Kennedy for LBS 850 Emerging Technology for Libraries

nce there was a tech savvy librarian princess who worked for the schools in the kingdom of Have-A-Lot.

or many years, she made sure her libraries were the best at everything. They had the best books. They had the best resources.

hey even had the best OPAC! (Online Public Access Catalog) This made them the envy of many. School libraries in other kingdoms wanted to be just like them.

Of course, this made the librarian princess very happy. “Winnebago’s Spectrum catalog software was the right choice,” she said. “We are all set!”

Have-A-Lot Library And for ten long years, everyone was happy. But, the Internet began to offer new and cool interfaces everyone loved. There were faceted navigation schemes that helped users search more effectively, good relevance rankings, and the ability to cluster search.

Have-A-Lot Library The tech savvy librarian princess then realized, their once dynamic cataloging system was now lagging, not leading. Truly, the unthinkable had happened!

“Not that I didn’t warn you five years ago,” said her friend Rex. “Your system needs to match the workflow of the library. We now manage digital, print and all kinds of media packages. We need a new system designed around the jobs we do.”

“Ten years ago, this was what most of our library was: print. We need a system that will make cataloging easier for all our needs and our users.

“The trend in libraries is automation, going global, and cooperating with other libraries. That way we all get more services, broader collection access at less cost,” said Rex.

When our system was designed, it was meant for building to building use. How ridiculous is that now? Have you noticed how happy the system makes Arnold lately?

Clearly, something had to be done, she thought. “I need fairy godmother action!

“And since you asked, we could use a little speed too. People have little patience for slow responses. We need a more comprehensive search capability for our collection. Our users don’t care what we have as long as it works well.”

The savvy librarian princess knew Rex made sense. The shift in cataloging was toward a central system for the district. Spectrum, she discovered, for the past 8 years had huge sales declines. She also learned large numbers of users were switching from it.

This realization made the tech savvy princess librarian feel not very savvy. She needed advice from her fairy godmother.

But her fairy godmother had just been laid off. “I didn’t expect a godfather, but I’m desperate,” she said. “You’ll do.”

“Listen, I didn’t expect you either. I’ve had a lot of experience making things go my way. So, here’s my advice: “Spectrum was great but it’s over. The new power players come from Follett Software. Follett has been trying to phase out this underpowered, underachieving turkey for years--right after they bought the company. But school systems like to hang on to things even when they’re dead. Why is that?”

“The new toy, which would be perfect for your size school system, is Destiny. It’s designed to meet the demand in a system that wants (and this should be you) to centralize.

What Destiny has: Easier book processing Different access availability Before nothing was internal and you had to toggle between pages leaving room for error. That’s now gone. Other schools in district can be part of system and you now have access to their collections.

What Destiny has: Comprehensive reports for inventory, circulation stats. Importing MARC records you need from Bergen County Library like you do now, does not have to be done by hand. Search options are much better, although they’re working on improving them.

Cool Features: Wish lists you can create Visually smart appearance. Recommendations for patrons Catalog options: MARC view, reviews, title details. More flexibility to import and export titles. All transaction summaries available in the office section.

So, is that enough or do you need more convincing?

Hey, your catalog goals should be offering all the library stuff through a single interface. You’ll get self-sufficient users! This web-based management system has a more powerful search, greater cataloging and greater accessibility.

Any questions? I’m late for my next visit.

nd with a solution found, the tech savvy princess librarian was able to: offer better and quicker services while staying sane PLUS do more of what she really should be doing…

eaching her students. …

he nd.