Thank you all for the great responses. Below is my original question with all of
the responses.
I think I am going to go with either Mackin or Mitinet to help with the F&P levels
in the MARC records and for data cleanup. I have been in touch with a Mitinet rep
and still need to contact Mackin to see what they can offer.
As far as Follett is concerned from the responses and research I have done it
seems like everyone is in the waiting stage. Follett is saying they can do this or
that but no on has actually had any results yet. Those that did have Follett do
their
MARC clean-up had to seek out additional services from companies like Mitinet. I
think they have many great features in Destiny but would much rather send my
business to a company that knows MARC records inside and out and who can deal with
our
specific needs and those needs only.
So we are still considering Destiny still researching other companies. But as
far as the data cleanup and F&P levels in the records I am going elsewhere. I am
still waiting to hear if other systems (not just Destiny) will support F&P levels
in the
MARC records with searchability. If its in the MARC records then will it come up in
a search, right? If Follett doesnt offer the data, then what makes them different
from any other system in terms of searching books for the F&P level if the levels
are
added by the librarian or an outside source? I am thinking out loud here please
let me know if you have any more experience or answers to add.
Thanks again everyone!
***************************************************
QUESTION:
This question goes out to all you Follett Destiny users. We just had an online
presentation today with Follett. I was excited to hear about the ability to list
the Fountas & Pinnell levels in the MARC records. But the rep told us they cannot
add that
information - that we would have to take care of it ourselves.
We have Athena now and hope to get our new system up and running over the summer.
Those of you that have Destiny and use the F&P levels - how did you get them in
your MARC records? Did you manually input them? I imagine that would take a very
long
time. If you did manually input them - where did you get the information? Do you
have a contract with Fountas & Pinnell? Did you input the levels before moving over
to Destiny or after?
Doesn't Follett have a company they work with for cleaning up and enhancing MARC
records before transferring everything over? For example, in our meeting with the
Alexandria rep he told us that a lot of our MARC record problems could be worked
out with
Mitinet through Alexandria. What did you do as far as cleaning up your records
before you switched to Destiny?
Thanks!
***************************************************
RESPONSES:
- We have decided to move to Destiny from InfoCentre as soon as we have money,
which should be next summer. My Follett rep assures me that Destiny will upload my
records to their system and update all my MARC records.We did a retrospective
conversion in
1995 from our paper shelf list to Winnebago. Then we moved to InfoCentre a few
years ago. Our MARC records are NOT right. It's awful. But I've been told once we
make the move everything will be resolved.
- The short answer is that Mackin will do it: I think it costs around $250-350. I
just uploaded our records to them this afternoon, and hopefully they will come back
to us with the F&P data. I can't help you with the cleanup issue: we've had Follett
for
decades now.Good luck!
- I don't know about the Fountas & Pinnell numbers, but I do know that Follett has
a large department that can clean up your MARC records when you transition to
Destiny. There is a multi-page questionnaire you have to fill out explaining some
of the
specifics of your current records, what you use some local tags for, if you want
those transferred over, etc. I'm not sure if there is an additional charge for
this, but I highly recommend it. With a bunch of different media people entering
records,
the catalog can get mucked up pretty quick.
- I found the same thing---my MS teachers love F&P so I was thrilled to find I
could now do searches only to realize --that information isn't in my MARC records!
Since I work a lot with Mackin, I contacted them, uploaded my records, and they are
going
to add that information to my records and then I will reupload them and ta-da!
It's going to cost around $250-300--we are small school, but it is worth it.
Mackin is GREAT, very helpful and I highly recommend them. Also, make sure to tell
them you use
Destiny because they way they usually enter F&P is not readable by the 8.5
version---Mackin has to enter the reading level inthe Mark Record with just the
letter versus the words "Level X" .
Also I had them print out identification labels for me that go in the front of all
the books--the labels have reading level and F&P so that every book is covered and
books that don't have F&P have some identification . . . Now I have to find a week
to
put all the labels in!!
******************************************************************
Regarding this last comment - I read in another post on LM_NET that Destiny will
now accept the F&P level as "Level X" vs just the level letter - that Follett had
fixed the problem.
------------------------------------
Michelle Marino
Children's Librarian
Hutchison School
1740 Ridgeway Road
Memphis, TN 38119
mmarino@hutchisonschool.org
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