Be Connected To Our Library Catalog Anywhere, Anytime With The Destiny Quest App!

Our students and teachers love coming to the library to look for the next great book to read.  They browse through the shelves, check out the new books we have displayed, and search our online library catalog, Follett's Destiny.  

I love seeing them reading and telling one another about their favorite books too....Just waiting to check them out after they are returned.  

But what about being at home or down the hall in their classroom.....even in the library?  

We are lucky because we can also see our collection in the Destiny Quest app which shows our library catalog and a lot more.  

To see all of the wonderful things you can do with the Destiny Quest app, please watch this short video from Follett Software.  

Next, you can go to the Follett website to download the Destiny Quest mobile app that you will need. 

Once you have the app downloaded, you will open it up and be asked to "Connect to Your Library. 

If you are inside of the school, you will enter "http://vmdestiny.vanmeter.k12.ia.us" into the window and then press "Connect" for our library.

  If you are outside of the school, you will enter "209.56.200.4" into the window and press "Connect".

You will first "Select Library" from the list.  At Van Meter, we have two collections....one for the elementary and one for the secondary. 

It will then tell you it is time to "Get Started" by either entering your User ID and Password (which Mrs. Miller will give you all of your new ones this week) or to "Explore As Guest" by clicking on "Try Destiny Quest.".  As a parent or other patron, you will just always "Explore As Guest".  There is no need to log in.  

If you ever need to log out of that server or change anything, this is where you would "Log in to a different server" at the bottom of the screen.  

The app shows I am logged in the Library Catalog for Van Meter Community School Elementary Library. The first screen gives you several options....you can view the "Top Ten Books" in the library and "New Arrivals" to the collection.  

In order to view "Resource Lists" or "My List" you must be logged into your Destiny Quest account. You can log in right from this page too. 

The students love seeing the Top Ten books and

New Arrivals in our library collection.  They use these features in Destiny Quest on the laptops too.

Once you find a book and click on that title, there are several things you can find out about the book.....the author, full title, description, call number, and even books that "You might also like."

Under "Additional Information" you will find when the book was published, page numbers, target audience, series information, the awards a book has been given, and much more.

Also, if you are logged into your account, you can "Add To My List" and even recommend and write reviews for books.

At the very top, there is a "Search" window.....Just type in the subject, title, author, etc...what you are looking for.  In this one I typed in "Iowa".  This screen shows all of the books that came up about Iowa.

Now notice there are two tabs at the top...."Library" and "WebPath".  The search above is in the library of course since we are looking at the books in our collection.

If I click on "WebPath" I get an awesome list of websites that Follett has pulled together.  We subscribe to "WebPath Express" at Van Meter.  It is described as, 

WebPath Express is an educational search tool that provides today’s K-12 students with a safe, fun and familiar search tool that integrates over 70,000 trustworthy, relevant websites into your library catalog while filtering out questionable content.

We love using WebPath on the laptops and will really love this feature on our devices as well! This is going to be especially helpful to our 4th and 5th graders who now have iPads with them throughout the day.  When I showed the students that the app included "WebPath" they were very excited they would be able to access that service on their iPad too.  

Within our collection we also have all of our eBooks from MackinVIA searchable in our online catalog.  If you want to search all of the eBooks, just type in "eBook" in the Search window like I did above.  All of the eBooks will come up.

With an eBook, you will find the same details as a print book.   

                                                 

In addition, you will be able to view the eBook by going to the "Additional Info" tab under "Electronic Resources". 

It will take you right into our MackinVIA once you click on that link.  From here you can read the eBook.  

I always like getting as much information to our students, teachers, and parents as I can when we start something new and at the beginning of the school year.  I want to get our library into their hands anywhere and at anytime.

You can find beautiful promotional materials on the Follett website to help with this too.

For the Destiny Quest app go to the Follett website. There are all kinds of choices in color and black & white. The ones below are a few of my favorites.

I added Van Meter's URL and printed off the "Your Library Has Gone Mobile" posters to put up in our library and classrooms.  

I really love the table tents too!  I just set these around on the library tables and circulation desks to get everyones attention and give them the information they needed for the app.        

                                        

Also, promote the Destiny Quest app on Twitter, Facebook, library and school websites, and other places your school and library are online.  

I have wrote about it several times on our library Twitter (@vmlibraryvoice) and the Van Meter Voice Facebook page over the last few weeks.  

By getting this information and the app into the hands of our students, teachers, and families we are connecting them in one more way to the library collection and the essential resources that they need.

And giving them one more way to connect to the authors, illustrators, and books that they all love.