Posted January 25, 2019
By Rebekah Friedman, communications manager
Future librarians who train at the South Carolina Center for Community Literacy will now gain even more real-world experience. That’s because the center has struck a deal with Follett Corporation to acquire Destiny Library Manager, the most popular K-12 library management system worldwide.
SCCCL, part of UofSC’s College of Information and Communications, provides everything from professional development for educators to community engagement for children. It also serves as a clinical environment for students in the School of Library and Information Science’s nationally ranked school library media program.
Here, future librarians work with the center’s 11,000+ book collection to learn skills such as cataloging, storytelling, collection development, acquisitions and literacy promotion. The transition to Destiny means students will do all of this while mastering the software used most often by potential employers.
“This will be a great experiential learning opportunity for our students,” says SCCCL Executive Director Christine Shelek. “Follett is the industry leader in school library management tools, so this really takes our efforts to the next level.”
The software upgrade will also improve the center’s collection management practices. The center’s staff can now create specialized book lists and pull reports of patrons with overdue books, among other features. Destiny will also identify errors or issues in the catalog during the transition process.
“Destiny is not just a learning tool for our students,” says SLIS Instructor Valerie Byrd Fort, who teaches aspiring school librarians in the center. “This software is really going to enhance what we’re able to do with our collection.”
SLIS students aren’t the only ones who can benefit from the new system — SCCCL is open to the public, which means members of the university community, teachers, parents and others can check out books from the state’s examination collection, which was designated by the Library of Congress. The center also houses several special collections, including award-winning books and books for and about children with disabilities.
Read more about SCCCL and Follett Destiny.