MCHENRY, Ill., Oct. 1, 2009 – As a result of its partnership with Follett Software Company, the market leader of library automation solutions to K-12 schools, Florida’s SUNLINK has launched its new and improved statewide union catalog of educational library media materials. The catalog now indexes more than 3 million titles and nearly 30 million holdings from 2,750 public schools in the state.
Designed to promote resource sharing and effective use of school media among Florida public schools, SUNLINK enables students, teachers, parents, library media specialists and principals to locate and utilize educational resources online or, for school-based participants, through interlibrary loan.
SUNLINK has been funded by the Florida State Legislature for 20 years, and is an initiative through the Florida Department of Education’s School Library Media Services Office. The program is under the direction of the College of Education at the University of Central Florida and Tom Owens, project director.
Owens said the union catalog is of particular benefit to school media specialists, who are able to locate materials from state public schools and districts through the interlibrary loan service, and also allows students to search through collections to which they would not otherwise have access. Plus, Owens noted, the program contributes to statewide equity since it dramatically expands the library resources available to Florida public school students at no charge.
In addition to providing a means for locating and sharing resources, SUNLINK is a resource for online and printed instructional materials to support educators in teaching information literacy skills and promoting reading.
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Funded by grants from the Florida Department of Education for 20 consecutive years, the SUNLINK database contains more than 1.7 million titles and more than 26.5 million holdings from the more than 2,750 schools in all 63 Florida school districts. The database also includes more than 25,000 reviewed websites, nearly 400,000 book jacket cover images and nearly 2,000 streaming video segments.
Follett Software Company is the partner that more than half of America’s school districts trust to help them manage everything from library resources and school assets to information for data-driven decision-making. Follett Software helps districts of all sizes track and use information and resources more efficiently so their dollars are best leveraged to help each and every student. Follett Software Company is a subsidiary of Follett Corporation – a $2.37 billion, privately held company that provides products, services and solutions to the educational marketplace. Follett Corporation was founded in 1873 and has its headquarters in River Grove, Ill.
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Destiny Library Manager is Follett Software Company’s easy-to-use, web-based library management solution. The solution offers integrated circulation, cataloging, searching, reporting and library management to help each library in a district work more efficiently. Destiny Library Manager provides the right information and resources at the right time, maximizing each school library’s power to support students and teachers, curriculum and instruction.
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