Library Technology Guides

Statistical Report for Destiny

2013 Survey Results	2012 Survey Results	2011 Survey Results	2010 Survey Results	2009 Survey Results	2008 Survey Results	2007 Survey Results
Product: Destiny Response Distribution Statistics Category Responses 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mode Mean Median ILS Satisfaction 363 1 2 13 30 80 133 104 8 7.75 8 ILS Functionality 363 1 3 1 4 15 22 93 139 85 8 7.60 8 Print Functionality 362 1 2 6 13 58 120 162 9 8.13 8 Electronic Functionality 333 6 6 7 9 42 49 83 79 52 7 6.77 7 Company Satisfaction 362 1 3 3 4 8 18 67 133 125 8 7.84 8 Support Satisfaction 360 1 2 4 3 3 15 21 61 101 149 9 7.80 8 Support Improvement 346 5 4 2 3 12 121 25 36 71 67 5 6.48 7 Company Loyalty 355 8 3 1 2 4 19 18 48 89 163 9 7.73 8 Open Source Interest 346 154 33 28 20 25 60 13 5 4 4 0 2.11 1 Category Total Yes percent Considering new ILS 368 5 1.36% Considering new Interface 368 4 1.09% System Installed on time? 368 336 91.30% Average Collection size: 37635 Type Count Public 26 Academic 2 School 335 Consortia 0 Special 0 Size Category Count [1] Under 10,000 61 [2] 10,001-100,000 248 [3] 100,001-250,000 2 [4] 250,001-1,000,000 6 [5] 1,000,001-10,000,000 2 [6] over 10,000,001 0	Product: Destiny Response Distribution Statistics Category Responses 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mode Mean Median ILS Satisfaction 48 1 2 4 6 11 16 8 8 7.17 8 ILS Functionality 47 1 1 3 2 3 4 15 14 4 7 6.62 7 Print Functionality 0 0 6.62 Electronic Functionality 0 0 6.62 Company Satisfaction 48 2 2 2 10 20 12 8 7.67 8 Support Satisfaction 48 1 2 1 7 17 20 9 8.02 8 Support Improvement 46 1 14 3 10 12 6 5 6.78 7 Company Loyalty 48 1 2 3 1 3 4 3 6 8 17 9 6.67 8 Open Source Interest 48 18 6 7 3 6 3 2 1 2 0 2.19 2 Category Total Yes percent Considering new ILS 49 8 16.33% Considering new Interface 49 3 6.12% System Installed on time? 49 46 93.88% Average Collection size: 60496 Type Count Public 36 Academic 3 School 10 Consortia 0 Special 0 Size Category Count [1] Under 10,000 5 [2] 10,001-100,000 40 [3] 100,001-250,000 1 [4] 250,001-1,000,000 3 [5] 1,000,001-10,000,000 0 [6] over 10,000,001 0	Product: Destiny Response Distribution Statistics Category Responses 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mode Mean Median ILS Satisfaction 37 1 1 2 1 5 10 8 9 7 6.97 7 ILS Functionality 36 1 1 1 1 3 6 12 5 6 7 6.64 7 Print Functionality 0 0 6.64 Electronic Functionality 0 0 6.64 Company Satisfaction 37 1 3 6 10 8 9 7 7.24 7 Support Satisfaction 37 1 1 1 2 5 5 12 10 8 7.24 8 Support Improvement 35 1 1 2 14 2 4 4 7 5 6.17 5 Company Loyalty 37 3 2 2 3 3 9 4 11 9 6.46 7 Open Source Interest 37 7 6 7 5 1 3 1 3 1 3 0 3.14 2 Category Total Yes percent Considering new ILS 37 5 13.51% Considering new Interface 37 2 5.41% System Installed on time? 37 34 91.89% Average Collection size: 74155 Type Count Public 22 Academic 1 School 14 Consortia 0 Special 0 Size Category Count [1] Under 10,000 5 [2] 10,001-100,000 25 [3] 100,001-250,000 1 [4] 250,001-1,000,000 3 [5] 1,000,001-10,000,000 0 [6] over 10,000,001 0	Product: Destiny Response Distribution Statistics Category Responses 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mode Mean Median ILS Satisfaction 23 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 12 2 8 6.65 8 ILS Functionality 0 0 6.65 Print Functionality 0 0 6.65 Electronic Functionality 0 0 6.65 Company Satisfaction 23 1 3 1 2 6 6 4 7 6.35 7 Support Satisfaction 23 1 1 1 2 1 1 5 8 3 8 6.57 7 Support Improvement 23 2 2 1 7 1 1 6 3 5 5.96 5 Company Loyalty 23 3 1 1 1 2 3 8 4 8 6.09 8 Open Source Interest 23 6 5 3 1 1 3 1 3 0 3.04 2 Category Total Yes percent Considering new ILS 23 2 8.70% Considering new Interface 23 1 4.35% System Installed on time? 23 22 95.65% Average Collection size: 20091 Type Count Public 15 Academic 0 School 8 Consortia 0 Special 0 Size Category Count [1] Under 10,000 2 [2] 10,001-100,000 18 [3] 100,001-250,000 0 [4] 250,001-1,000,000 0 [5] 1,000,001-10,000,000 0 [6] over 10,000,001 0	Product: Destiny Response Distribution Statistics Category Responses 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mode Mean Median ILS Satisfaction 15 1 1 1 3 6 3 8 7.20 8 ILS Functionality 0 0 7.20 Print Functionality 0 0 7.20 Electronic Functionality 0 0 7.20 Company Satisfaction 15 1 1 1 2 5 5 8 7.40 8 Support Satisfaction 15 1 1 2 6 5 8 7.53 8 Support Improvement 14 1 1 5 3 4 5 6.21 8 Company Loyalty 15 2 5 3 5 7 6.93 8 Open Source Interest 15 7 1 3 1 2 1 0 2.53 1 Category Total Yes percent Considering new ILS 15 2 13.33% Considering new Interface 15 0 0.00% System Installed on time? 15 14 93.33%	Product: Destiny Response Distribution Statistics Category Responses 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mode Mean Median ILS Satisfaction 8 1 1 2 3 1 8 7.13 8 ILS Functionality 0 0 7.13 Print Functionality 0 0 7.13 Electronic Functionality 0 0 7.13 Company Satisfaction 8 1 3 4 9 8.25 9 Support Satisfaction 8 1 1 1 4 1 8 7.38 8 Support Improvement 0 not applicable Company Loyalty 8 1 1 1 2 3 9 7.25 8 Open Source Interest 7 1 2 1 1 2 2 4.14 4 Category Total Yes percent Considering new ILS 8 1 12.50% Considering new Interface 8 1 12.50% System Installed on time? 8 7 87.50%	Product: Destiny Response Distribution Statistics Category Responses 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mode Mean Median ILS Satisfaction 7 3 4 8 7.14 8 ILS Functionality 0 0 7.14 Print Functionality 0 0 7.14 Electronic Functionality 0 0 7.14 Company Satisfaction 10 1 2 1 4 2 8 7.20 8 Support Satisfaction 10 1 1 2 3 3 8 7.10 8 Support Improvement 0 not applicable Company Loyalty 10 3 1 2 1 3 5 7.00 7 Open Source Interest 10 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 4.10 5 Category Total Yes percent Considering new ILS 10 2 20.00% Considering new Interface 10 1 10.00% System Installed on time? 10 1 10.00%

Comments

Number of items is a district total found in 14 libraries K-12. (Type: School)

My dissatisfaction with this product mostly stems from the very limited reports and the process of trying to build reports that will give the required information. I also have problems with batch processing patron records. (Type: Public)

This particular program will do many things, but it's difficult to gauge the parameters for report creating. Most of the time I have to call tech support to talk me through the creation of the report I need. It's great for the patrons, but not overly user friendly for the staff. (Type: School)

What I dislike about this automation program is that many features such as "Title Peek", "Asset Manager" and "Web Path Express" are not included in the package and must be purchased as add ons. The cost for add ons is very expensive. As a result our library does not have add ons which makes visual searching pretty much useless. Adding iPads, Chrome Books, and iPods to the catalog without the "Asset Manager" option required creative cataloging. (Type: School)

We changed from Follett circ/cat+ in September to Follett Destiny due to upgrades of our servers in August. Then our tech department decided to have us let Follett host the program. That set us back about a week due to having to resubmit purchase orders for approval. We have been up and running sense October 3. I am still becoming acquainted with the new system. (Type: School)

We joined this ILS as a consortium and they gave a great discount. Destiny is a very user friendly ILS, and we are very happy with it. (Type: Public)

I left some of these blank, as we JUST moved from Winnebago Spectrum to Follett Destiny this year. So far, the interactions I have had with Follett support have been very positive, but I just haven't formed a complete opinion about some of these yet. (Type: School)

Due to hardware constraints within the district, we have not been able to upgrade the library automation system. We are stuck with version 9.9, but Destiny is up to 11.5. There is no funding for updated computers, especially in our elementary school libraries. (Type: School)

Being a rural library, and an existing Follett customer when we selected Destiny, our decision to stay with Follett was made when no other vendors gave us quotes that we could even consider. Even the closest quote was many times higher than our budget would allow. We have no interest in an open source ILS. (Type: Public)

In many school corporations, ILS choices are made at the school district level. Individual schools often have little say in the process. (Type: School)

We need the ILS to integrate with student system better. (Type: School)

We are very satisified with Follett Destiny Library, Textbook and Asset Manager. Our school district has 100+ sites, 50,000+ students, 8,000+ staff members. Destiny seamlessly handles our large volume of books and number of patrons. It is a fabulous K-12 library automation system. (Type: School)

We are migrating to Atriuum this spring. (Type: School)

Anything that makes our job easier and makes searching for patrons easier is always a benefit. If it's too complicated, it won't get used. (Type: School)

Our library does not currently have any electronic resources, but we will begin acquiring them in the very near future. (Type: School)

I don't know what an ILS is. (Type: School)

Like many school libraries, we are also responsible for textbooks, and having an integrated textbook and library database is critical for our needs; Follett Destiny is the best for this type of system. They have also recently greatly improved their e-books and added a downloadable reader ap. Their cataloging is far superior to other companies. We are very happy with Follett. (Type: School)

Have not purchased ebooks, yet. (Type: School)

I have problems with the Internet connectivity with this product. It often does not check books in correctly. (Type: School)

Destiny is the best K-12 ILS is the tops but of course with changing technology, it will have to adapt to stay number one. Our One Search doesn't work very well so you stand the chance of having other vendors swoop in and provide that service. Some report functions could improve--when trying to capture circ stats for a particular month, we have to take a snapshot on the last day of the month or it is hard to figure out how many circulated, how many ILLs, etc. One thing that Destiny will need to look at is having an access point for genre like they have for title and subject. You can type science fiction into the search but it doesn't pull up all of the science fiction books. It would be good for patrons if they could browse a science fiction shelf for example. (Type: School)

This is our first year using Destiny. I find it to be cumbersome, too many step to print out simple overdue notices or fines. (Desitny 10.4) (Type: School)

There is one library for all three of [...] ISD campuses--Elementary, Jr. High, and High School (Type: School)

Destiny Resource Manager (v11.0.4.2 (AU2) - 08/28/2013) (Type: School)

Destiny has a serious issue with checking in items. This problem is experienced by all Follett users and not just my district. Has been going on for at least two years and is only getting worse. Items do not check in when scanned. The campus librarians just do not have confidence in the system any more.(Follett Destiny 11.5) (Type: School)

The inter-library loan feature in Destiny is not as functional as I would like. Frequently ILLs are created and then mysteriously drop from the system despite having a long time before expiration. Many school librarians seem very frustrated with this one feature. This is the only thing that I dislike about the system. (Type: School)

We have the textbook manager attached to the ILS. It makes checking out and tracking textbooks much easier but because it is attached to the ILS the library staff are expected to handle all the transactions and issues affiliated. (Type: School)

printing of barcodes. this is a major hassle. (Type: School)

We are currently investigating adopting ebooks into our catalog. The only ebooks we can put into Destiny come from Follett. We have to find a way to integrate other vendors into our program. (Type: School)

It would be nice if the log page was the same for administrators as for patrons. Another thing we are a k-12 system and k-6 does not pay fines and we can't set our system up to not do this. (Type: School)

The district left Destiny for Alexandria and many of us were not happy with it. There are one or two things from Alexandria that I like would Destiny to offer, but on the whole, I'm VERY glad we went back to Destiny. (Type: School)

I don't find Destiny very user friendly. After a year with the product I am still trying to figure out or remember how to implement basic procedures I used to be able to do with Circulation plus. (Type: School)

Love the ability to add digital documents to records. This allows us to put student and teacher created tutorials customized to our school's needs into our catalog. (Type: School)

I don't think Follett/Destiny is the easiest or best product. From what I've heard..Companion is "friendlier". (Type: School)

Destiny Resource Manager v9.5 (Type: School)

Destiny is a GREAT product that is still in its infancy. There are a few quick fixes that I have suggested over the past 4 years (i.e. different colors for the check in and check out screens ala Alexandria) that I am waiting to see come to fruition. Overall, the upgrades that have been made are relevant to my needs and, I would suspect, the needs of the library community as a whole. I am quite certain that as the product continues to mature, many more wonderful enhancements will be added. Kudos, Follett Software! (Type: School)

Would like the system to allow two screens to be open at the same time, so I could have a catalog screen open and circulation screen at the same time. When I have opened another screen, it just says I don't have access or works for just a short time. (Type: School)

This survey information covers both of my school libraries in our district: (Type: School)

Follett Software has minimally responded to numerous suggestions for catalog technical upgrades -- for the ease of the professional cataloger to provide better service for users. It certainly appears that Follett is smugly satisfied with being the leader in school library software and prefers to spoon-feed librarians the records and functionality it selects, rather than listening and upgrading according to professional user input. (Type: School)

As part of the district's larger program, I am not part of the decision-making process for the automation system. However, a few years ago, in a different school district, I did hae that power and was very happy with the Follett Destiny system. It does everything that I would like it to be able to do. (Type: School)

I can only answer for my library specifically, the ILS is handled by our head librarian out of the high school. Any concerns I have go through her. (Type: School)

We are bound by the terms of the entire [...] . We can't choose a different ILS vendor or even consider a discovery interface or an open source ILS without the majority of schools on board. (Type: School)

We are unable to customize Destiny for our needs; furthermore, the ILS lacks many basic functions and features that we need to operate our library and textbook systems. We have meticulously described the missing features and have requested their immediate implementation but Follett has not implemented any of our requested "enhancements." We do not consider our requests to be enhancements, but rather basic features, for example, the ability to create separate textbook due dates for groups of students. The textbook module is by far the less-developed and less-functional part of this system. Another example from the library side is that patron nicknames, although captured in the patron records, are not displayed on the circulation screen, where we need to see them. This is an issue with our many foreign students who adopt American names. Overall, a giant disappointment. (Type: School)

Since we are just one of 8 school libraries in the district, anything we choose to do, must be agreed to and acted on in concert. (Type: School)

Need more efficient way to run reports by grab/select individual title using control or shift key to run overdue reports for individual classes. (Type: School)

They need better search criteria. They need to have a way to determine the use of ebooks - an equivalent to the circulation statistics. (Type: School)

[...] share one library. We now use Destiny. (Type: School)

While functionality is very high, some common tasks require multiple steps that are not necessarily interconnected which makes the efficiency lower (Type: School)

It's wonderful to be able to access our library collection from the internet and the app -- it's been very useful when on the go, and the students enjoy the ability to look up items before they've even arrived at school. Although user-friendly in most cases, there are several options that could be added to the system -- it feels like there are gaps in certain areas. ie, a check-box that allows an inventory list to be created -- when we delete a title -- that will enable us to select whether the title needs to be replaced. We could then look at this inventory list and place an order for all books that we've marked as LOST or deleted from our inventory, and know exactly which titles we need to order. Writing up requests for improvements or additions could be easier as well. A straight-forward method -- that is easily accessible would be great. (Type: School)

Follett is the go to electronic catalog for schools. So many use Follett that finding answers to questions is very uncomplicated. Needs some tweaks, but an excellent product. (Type: School)

We need an easy way to integrate student reading levels so we can help them make good choices about books that are "just right" for them. (Type: School)

Overall, Destiny works well for us, but there are a few changes I would like to see. (Type: School)

Destiny 11.5.3.0 (Type: School)

The vendor is always available for questions. Our problem is the internal technology, updates are not installed when available. (Type: School)

Overall, I'm very pleased with our current ILS as compared to what we were using previously, which was Athena. (Type: School)

There are a few things that would make Destiny a bit easier to use...allowing names to be alphabetized by first names and not just last names. Looking up just one particular student to send notices (overdues, etc.). (Type: School)

District has textbook database of 149,645 items. District has bookroom database of 289,665 items. (Type: School)

I have always received great service from Follett. I think very highly of their products and follettshelf. From their Customer Service Reps to their CEO and Management team that I have met and communicated with have been great. (Type: School)

Part of the problem with Follett is that the system is very mouse-intensive, too many clicks and too many screens to navigate to get the info you need. Not all data for books or patrons are in one place, nor hyper-linked. After several customer satisfaction surveys, they still have not implemented any of the functional changes we have requested. I no longer fill out their forms. (Type: School)

Open Source ILS would be nice but have no time or staff to deal with this. I am currently a Single Certified Librarian Media Specialist/Certified Teacher with only one or two 30 hr support paraprofessionals serving a school library of 1000 students and being open for students 40 hours a week. We do all the A.V. and Library support and the Teacher/Librarian is required to do Teaching Student Learning Objectives plus run the Library. So while I looked into Open Source, I barely have time to train support staff and teach and manage the Library. (Type: School)

I would like to be able to choose how long the website stays active - for my purposes it times-out too quickly. (Type: School)

In addition to the Library side, we use Destiny Textbook Manager and handle over 90,000 circulating items (Type: School)

Would like Follett to be more responsive to costumer requests for enhancements. We fill out a form for an enhancement request and rarely does it actually happen. My district has made many request, to be able to mark a copy or title of a book "missing" rather than lost, to no avail. Books can go missing rather than lost. To us lost means a patron has lost the book. "Missing" means the book is suppose to be on the shelve and it is not. (Type: School)

This is a high school that just opened its doors this 2013/2014 school year. Since we just opened with Freshman, the plan is to add significantly to the collection over the next 3 years as the student population grows. Currently, we have 300 in attendance, projected 1200-1500 at build out. (Type: School)

We would like to see a way of integrating our current reading comprehension program, Accelerated Reader and Lexile, with our students Accelerated Reader and Lexile reading levels. Currently our copy records are able to show their Accelerated Reader and Lexile levels however our patron records can't. We would also like more option for creating records. The report manager is not open ended enough and the types of records for copies and patrons is too limited. (Type: School)

Can't get any customer service unless we pay for it. Very limited ability to run necessary reports. (Type: School)

All questions about migrating to a new ILS should be answered by district personnel, but as far as I know no one is talking about changing. I certainly would be unhappy with any change. (Type: School)

Other than a couple of minor tweaks that I would like to see, I am very satisfied with the Follett Destiny Library Program. (Type: School)

The Destiny product is decent and I don't have any huge complaints, but the documentation is terrible and relying on calling the help desk for everything is unrealistic. Also, the reports feature is not as flexible or robust as I would like. (Type: School)

I wish Destiny would allow me to search by publisher. I wish Destiny would allow me to manipulate reports in an easier and free-design way. (Type: School)

We are one of over 100 schools in our district. The district "provides" Destiny as well as our level of support. I am sure that our district employee has contact with Follett for us. (Type: School)

Follett needs to make some of their reports more school friendly (Type: School)

Just moved to Follett's hosted site. Will stay with Follett. (Type: School)

We are a small school library in [...] . (Type: School)

Joint use with [...] (Type: School)

We recently switched from the SirsiDynix system, which we "shared" with a local public library, to Follett Destiny "Library Manager" -- an automation system we are now using on our own. In general, I am very happy with the conversion and the decision to change providers. The Destiny system is intuitive, user-friendly and much more towards schools as their target audience than Sisri was. Sirsi was powerful and had a lot of funtionalities, but it was "too much". It felt overwhelming and complicated. Destiny has a lot of similar functions, but the difference is that it has our school and student needs in mind, not that of a public library. So even though I am using it for the same things (cataloging, circulation, reports, etc.), it is much easier to use and navigate. The one area I am disappointed with Follett is thier "Textbook Manager" (another module we also purchased at the time). TM could be greatly improved, and needs updates. Follett doesn't seem to have put as much time & effort into making it work as well as their Library Manager module. However, they are good about accepting feedback and asking for suggestions, so I'm sure changes will be coming in the future. Follett has been very good to work with, and I would recommend Library Manager to other school libraries looking into new automation systems. (Type: School)

The Destiny program works very well. However it takes too many steps to get a report for overdue items and notices. That is very inconvenient. (Type: School)

Great Company to work with. I like the program but it could use some changes - i.e. more than a lost option for removing books from the system. Needs a damaged option, maybe others. helps track the difference. (Type: School)

Truthfully, I'm not positive what you mean by open source. Does that mean available to all internet users? If this is the case, our is available to all clients who access our district web page. They can access basic information but they can not login unless they are staff or students in our distriict. (Type: School)

Much of what is available to this school for the circulation system is controlled by the district office. Some of the things that I need available for my job are not available because they have been "locked" to me. (Type: School)

Help sections of the ILS are not user friendly for librarians with average technology knowledge. Directions for using new features of the program are vague and require lots of links to different pages rather than arranged step-by-step with the information in one spot. (Type: School)

Nothing at this time. (Type: School)

Custom reports are limited. It would be nice to just find the titles without copies and not have to do a fifty page report. (Type: School)

Destiny has been very good. I wish it had the capability to do inter-library loan and that the hold function were better. Also, complete student schedules would be helpful so I could run overdue notices for a specific class (right now it's by homeroom or grade level only). (Type: School)

I checked No to whether I am exploring a Discovery Interface. I am actually very interested in this concept, and have heard good reports about EBSCO Discoverer. Unfortunately, though, I don't have funding to subscribe to multiple databases and rely primarily on those from the public library system. So, I wouldn't be able to add those. (Type: School)

- (Type: School)

This response is submitted for [...] , a consortium of 155 K-12 schools in [...]. (Type: Consortium)

I only worry about migrating to open source ILS because of tech staffing fluctuations. I would fear going down a road that it manageable now, only to have funding dry up to maintain the service internally. Also, we just migrated to a new system, so there is hesitation to migrate yet again. (Type: School)

I run 9 different libraries... range from 10,000 - 17,000 (Type: School)

The ILS that I use is a union catalog that services all the schools in the Tracy Unified School District. The ILS is managed by district employees, who provide support to each individual school site. I am unable to answer many of your survey questions because these types of decisions are made at the district level, and not the site level. (Type: School)

Unsure of what a discovery interace or next-generation catalog is. In this rural community we are in what we have is under-used because of lack of internet access. (Type: School)

We are implementing the Lexile system to our catalog, updating our existing items, and adding any new purchases as they are added. (Type: School)

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Library Technology Guides is a service provided by Marshall Breeding, independent consultant, author, and speaker.