At the start of last year, the Pine View Media Center launched a new program, Destiny Discover, to facilitate library interactions for students. This worldwide interface is comprised of online books, or e-books, and multiple sources to aid students on projects, homework, studying, etc. Destiny Discover aids students by displaying which books have been checked-in and checked-out. The software is used in more than 148 countries.
Destiny Discover was originally titled Destiny Quest, and it was only used to search through books online that can be found in the library. Destiny Quest is no longer existent, but it is one part of the many components of Destiny Discover. A noticeable difference between these two programs is that the target for Destiny Quest was aimed toward younger audiences while Destiny Discover spans all age groups, from children in kindergarten to college students.
Destiny Discover replaced OverDrive, an interface in which students would be able to read e-books. The switch from OverDrive to Destiny Discover occurred due to the expenses of purchasing the e-books which cost thousands and thousands of dollars, noted by Media Aide Cathy Tracy. The price that Destiny Discover offers for e-books is more efficient compared to the price of OverDrive’s, which was generously funded by PVA. Today, after transferring the books from the previous interface to the latest, there are over 1,000 e-books students can select and read.
Students may enter their school accounts to access Destiny Discover, which will automatically log into their accounts. The other option is to use the link destinydiscover.com. The program is accessible through phones and other electronic devices, and the e-books may also be downloaded onto an electronic device. A newly added feature allows students to renew books, but it still has a few minor issues that are being taken care of. Students have the ability to “hold” books from the application, “I can put a hold on and it comes to the library, and we get the book ready for whoever wants it,” Tracy said.
One of the many useful features in Destiny Discover for students is “Collections.” This feature may help students with their project by giving background information about the topic. “If I am researching a project, I might go in here and search that [topic] and see what someone else has done, or if there is anything there. They [other users] have made a collection, it’s mostly [comprised of] books and what they have in the library,” Tracy said.
The interface is not acknowledged by many students, but those who have used it in the past mention that it was helpful. “It was interesting because it showed videos that aren’t really anywhere else, and then we did little projects off of the videos… I liked it,” ninth-grader Rebecca Hoffman said.
The Media Center is now promoting the use of Destiny Discover by displaying flyers about the program on the Media Center desk for students to see. Further promotion of the e-books is by adding stickers with the letter “e” to tell if the book is also an e-book. The Media Center hopes to continue the expansion of this software so that students can continue to use it as a resource. For any questions regarding the application, contact Cathy Tracy in the library.
Photo provided by itunes.apple.com