Sandy Brooks, Huntley High School LRC media specialist, received 10 free Samsung tablets for piloting the new Follett app in January. The app is set to be finished and released to the public by the end of March.
Brooks worked with Keith Woods, employed by Follett, to get the 10 tablets which are currently able to be checked out by students so that HHS could pilot their new app. The pilot version held 15 free eBooks and required a certain username and password. This opportunity was possible because HHS is part of an early adopter program.
“We got lucky,” said Brooks.
The idea is for the app to allow students to check out any of the 165 eBooks already in the school’s system via their iPod, iPhone, or tablet. It is unknown whether the app will be available on Nooks or kindles yet because specifics are not yet solidified.
“The app has to connect to Huntley High somehow,” said Brooks.
Details will be released upon the release of the app – hopefully by the end of the month. The app is expected to run like the Destiny program currently used as the LRC’s catalog site.
The tablets are currently being checked out to certain students and teachers who are using them to read, take notes while attending conferences, or to use them in class.
In the meantime, students are still able to access eBooks from the HHS LRC online, but an underwhelming amount of students have jumped on the opportunity. It only takes a quick registration to obtain an account on Destiny where any student can check out an eBook with the click of a button.
“My suggestion is to create a username and password that is the same as the one you use to get on the computers at school,” said Brooks. “That way you won’t forget it. No one has that ID but you.”
To register, go to the Destiny website easily reached from district158.org, hit the log in, enter your school ID and follow the confirmation directions. After signing in, another tab will be available for virtual check-outs.
Not many students check out eBooks, leaving Brooks without feedback.
“Every [book] that anyone has asked for, I’ve ordered,” said Brooks. “I’d like them to tell me what kind of books they’d like to see in [our catalog] because I don’t always know what they’re interested in.”
The Hunger Games collection is currently available in eBook form online, as well as some textbooks used in classes like AP U.S. History. The textbooks can easily be checked out or even quickly perused by students who just needed to check a quick fact, forgot their textbook in a locker, or simply prefer reading online.
eBooks are checked out similarly to a regular book – once it has been checked out, no other account has access to it. However, once the book is due back to the library, it automatically is removed from the students account and listed as “in” in the program.
The new app is suspected to work the same way. Simply log in, read, and let it automatically return itself.
