Destiny Resource Manager And Destiny Library Manager: The Perfect Combination For Managing All School Assets In A Large District

With nearly 50 campuses and more than 45,000 students, Alief Independent School District (ISD) in Texas must know at any moment where its technology devices, components, and library resources are located. This need intensified in early 2020 when the pandemic unfolded and has only increased since then.

The district was successfully managing library collections, library lab resources, and department materials with the market-leading library management solution, Follett Destiny^® Library Manager. However, the Houston-area district recognized it also needed a device management system to keep up with the multitude of other valuable resources in circulation. Based on the district’s successful history with Follett, Alief ISD didn’t hesitate in turning to Follett Destiny^® Resource Manager, a web-based asset management system specifically designed for the needs of schools and districts to maintain student equipment and 1:1 devices. It enables educators to keep tabs on technology and curriculum resources in one easy-to-use software system and handles audit reporting with full transparency – and it easily integrates with Destiny Library Manager.

“Once the district started talking about going 1:1 with its devices, the need for a solution such as Destiny Resource Manager took on a greater significance,” said Charla Hollingsworth, who spent 25 years with Alief ISD, most recently as the Information Literacy and Digital Program Specialist.

Once Destiny Resource Manager was integrated, Hollingsworth and her colleagues knew right away the program was a game changer in terms of accuracy, budget savings, and efficiency. “Getting our technology items into Destiny Resource Manager enabled us to forecast needs for a 1:1 program rollout,” said Hollingsworth, who recently retired from the district.

“We were able to compare the number of devices at each campus against the enrollment as well as which devices met the standards needed for various tests,” she continued. “We were then able to predict the number of devices we would need to move forward with 1:1 purchasing. It was all so reassuring to feel confident in our purchasing decisions.”

“Destiny products are invaluable in the way they can track items centrally, provide needed reports, interface with our student information system, and allow students to log in and see the available resources.”

Charla Hollingsworth 
Retired Information Literacy and Digital Program Specialist
Alief Independent School District, TX

Quick And Accurate Reporting Is Key.
Beyond that critical need, Hollingsworth said Alief ISD used the key information gleaned from reports generated by Destiny Resource Manager to prepare for district bond proposals.

“We were able to provide the device insurance company with the necessary data to purchase device insurance, as well as tracking lost devices as they moved through the insurance claim process,” she said.

According to Hollingsworth, it’s very helpful to see which campuses are checking out devices. Since the Alief ISD Board of Trustees mandated the 1:1 program to be available for students in Grades 2-12, staff has been able to use Destiny Resource Manager to analyze the number of devices checked out at each campus, which is valuable information. “This is our way of knowing which campuses are fully checking out devices to students and which campuses have a little further to go in this process,” she said.

Destiny Resource Manager reports have turned out to be a widely popular and time-saving tool and are used by no fewer than four departments at Alief ISD: technology, federal programs, accounting, and digital learning. “Each department has their specific need for the data,” Hollingsworth noted, “and they all can collaborate with the data provided from the reports. The reports are wonderful as they pull data together from multiple disparate sources. Most of the reports can be run in .csv files, which means we can then export into Excel and run PivotTables and other tools to analyze the data.”

With Destiny Library Manager Already In Place, Integrating Destiny Resource Manager Just Made Sense. 
For Alief ISD, Destiny Resource Manager proved to be the perfect companion to Destiny Library Manager, which the district has used in their libraries for more than five years. “Prior to using Destiny Library Manager, our LMS was not a union catalog. We had campus silos of books and data. It was very difficult to see which campuses had what items across the district. There were no centralized reports or collections of resources,” she said. “Implementing Destiny Library Manager enabled students to access resources from across the district. When the students search for a topic, they can receive feedback on which databases have information about that topic.”

Prior to the arrival of Destiny Library Manager, librarians had to upload student data at the beginning of the year and individually add any new student – something Hollingsworth said was time-consuming and took attention from educating.

“With Destiny Library Manager integrated with our student information system, the librarians never have to worry about this function as the data syncs nightly. This enables librarians to be involved in teaching instead of always being mired down in administrative data tasks.”

As Hollingsworth can attest, the district’s decision to use both Destiny Library Manager and Destiny Resource Manager made sense for a multitude of reasons. Now, the district can make data-informed decisions for all their investments in the library and through all departments, with seamless reporting that empowers all users. Would Hollingsworth recommend both Destiny solutions to colleagues in other districts? “Without question, yes,” she said. “Destiny products are invaluable and helped Alief ISD save time and money.”

Follett Destiny^® Suite
Follett Destiny^® was developed to support learning wherever and whenever learning takes place. Whether in the library, classroom, or home, students can access their books, technology, curriculum, and more with ease, enabling you to remain focused on what matters most. If your school is struggling with library and resource management but is unsure where to start, let Follett lead the way. Learn why nearly 80,000 schools trust Destiny when it comes to tracking library books and school resources by visiting follettk12.link/dla.