For this activity I will be examining Follet Destiny, which is used in my district’s OPAC system.
I found the student search page was straightforward, logical and easy to use. The font is large enough to be seen clearly. There are icons for the different search headings, such as, title, author and subject. The advance search function can set limits and filters to focus search. In addition, Boolean operators can be used to search word combinations. All these advance functions can be accessed by clicking the tabs above the search box.
The administrative applications of Destiny took some time to figure out, but they were simple to use. The “How do I…” was helpful with the basic functions. I think a person could get by with some simple instructions. Overall I think the Destiny system is effective and flexible. It is accommodating to changes and straight forward to use.
Reflection:
I agree with the statement that, “the degree to which a library catalogue can
be consulted easily by teachers and students is of great significance if
teacher-librarians wish to encourage user-independence”. In general, the library catalogue needs to be
straightforward to use, navigate and understand. If it is not the case, user will not use the
catalogue and will resort to other means to use in their search, which means
requesting TL assistance. The greater
the ease of use, the less TL assistance; hence increase user independence.
I
interpreted the statement, “a flexible catalogue will allow broader use of the
school library”, as the flexibility of the catalogue to search through various
data maximizes more meaningful searches in the school library’s
collection. This also related to the
catalogue’s ease of use. Having the
ability to set parameters or filters for catalogue searches will produce more
useful results, which in turn will increase likelihood of students or teachers
using the catalogue search again and will lead to increased school library use.
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