Using Destiny

qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqw ertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwert yuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyui opasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopa sdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdf ghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghj Using Destiny klzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklz xcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcv bnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbn mqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmq wertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwe rtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwerty uiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuio pasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopas dfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfg hjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjk lzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbn Our online library catalog Brought to you by Ms. B.

Using the Library Catalog Part 1: The basics Believe it or not one of the best places to start when you information for a report or just to satisfy your own curiosity is not Google, though it is indeed very helpful in certain circumstances.

Before you head out to the World Wide Web, give our new library catalog, called Destiny, a try.

The first part of this document will present some basic instructions to help you get started.

Perhaps the biggest difference between our new system and the old system is that now, whether you are at school, at home or on the beach (provided you have a wireless connection), you can search the catalog to see what we have.

1. To access Destiny, point your browser to Using Destiny

http://mbl.meadowbrook-ma.org/

2. On the Welcome screen, click Meadowbrook School Library to view our library catalog.

Destiny provides two ways for you to search: basic and power.

1

Udpated: 8/2011

Basic search

Using Destiny

The default search in Destiny is a basic or guided search. With this type of search, Destiny helps you by providing a series of prompts.



In the Find box, enter a complete world or a phrase (in quotes) and press Enter.

Search terms are NOT case sensitive

If you aren’t sure how to spell the word, you can use a wild card (if you don’t know what a wild card is, see “Using Wild Cards on page ZZ).

You can create a search phrase from several different terms using a Boolean operator. (See “Boolean Operators next for information).

2

Using Wild Cards If you don’t know exactly what title you’re looking for or don’t know how to spell it, you can still find something in our new catalog. Just add an asterisk (*) to the end of what do know. For

Updated: 8/2011

example, if you are looking for books on crocodiles, but you really aren’t sure how to spell the word, type croc in the Find box. Destiny will return all the books that have crocodile in the title.

If you enter teach*, Destiny finds teach, teacher, teaching and teaches.

Using Boolean Operators Boolean Operators AND, OR and NOT help you refine your search so that you can find exactly what you are looking for (btw, this is a nifty trick for using a search engine like Google, too). For example, if you wanted to find books about dogs and cats, enter this string in the FIND box: cats AND dogs. to find materials that mention both cats and dogs.

If you wanted to find information on cats or dogs, you use the string:

Destiny gives you all titles that mention cats or dogs or both, so it’s like the previous search, except you’re getting materials that are in 3 categories: 1) those that are about dogs; 2) those that are about cats; 3) those that are about dogs and cats.

Suppose you hate cats and can’t stand to see anything about them. In that case, you’d want to use the NOT Boolean operator.

Using Destiny

cats OR dogs

dogs NOT cats gives you only those materials that are about dogs and do not mention cats.

In Destiny, Boolean operators ARE case sensitive

Let’s get a little more complicated. Suppose you want to find a nonfiction book by Isaac Asimov that isn’t about science. How would you do it?

You could search for: asimov NOT fiction OR science But Destiny will bring back Mr. Asimov’s nonfiction science books. To get any nonfiction books Mr. Asimov has written that are not about science, you search for Asimov NOT fiction NOT science

Udpated: 8/2011

3

Using Destiny

If Destiny can’t find your search term, you can use the Browse Subjects tab to see a list of possibilities.

Sometimes, Destiny may return a wacky list of subjects because it’s trying to give you what it thinks you want. Remember, you’re the human. Try scrolling through the list or try your search another way

Keyword Searches

4

When you enter text in the Find box and click Keyword, Destiny returns a list of materials with the word you typed anywhere in the record. For example, if you search for Franny and bird (title keywords), Destiny gives you one book in our catalog: Franny B. Kranny, there's a bird in your hair! by Harriet Lerner and Susan Goldhor. If you just type Franny, you get a list of 10 books all of which have the word Franny or Frannie somewhere in the record (author, title or book description). So you can see that if you are looking for something particular, the more specific you can be the more likely it is you will find what you are looking for.

Updated: 8/2011

Keyword searches are great when you have a complex search term containing author, title, subject or series keywords. By default, Destiny ANDs your keywords.

Title searches

Author searches

When you enter text in the Find box and click Author, Destiny returns a list of items by that author. For example, if you search for Black, you’ll get a list where the word appears anywhere in the author’s name: for example:  

Using Destiny

When you enter text in the Find box and click Title, Destiny returns a list of items with that text anywhere in the title. For example, if you enter West, you 78 results, including West Africa (966 ZUR), East o' the sun and west o' the moon (398.2 LYN) and The toughest cowboy, or, How the wild West was tamed (a picture book).

The nixie’s song by Black, Holly Pakistan: The culture by Black, Caroline

You’ll also notice that Destiny returns Care and Feeding of Sprites and that the author is listed as DiTerlizzi, Tony. Why? Click the title to see the Title Details page. Notice that Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black are both authors of this book.

5

Udpated: 8/2011

Using Destiny

Subject searches

A Subject search returns a list of books about a person, a place or a topic. Let’s try that search for West again, but this time, we’ll click Subject. Now we get fewer results(6 pages vs 11).

Destiny returns books in which West appears in the list of their subjects, such as Cowboys & longhorns, Westward expansion: primary sources, and You wouldn’t want’ to be an American Pioneer! A wilderness you’d rather not tame. You also get books about West Africa, the West Indies, and the Pacific Division of the NBA. While Subject searches give you more targeted results, they can be tricky. In library catalogs and databases, items are assigned subject headings as access points, to help you find content. But you must know what those headings are. For example, if you wanted to find out about computer mice, you would search for the Subject heading Mice (computer). Some catalogs have a thesaurus online so you can search for subject headings. Ours does not, but you can still use Destiny to perform a Subject search.

6

Suppose you want to find books on West Africa in our collection, but you are not sure whether “West Africa” is a true subject heading. So, you enter West in the Find box, click Search and discover that we have a book on West Africa by Colin Levine. Click that title to view the Title Details page. Note that the first entry under Explore! is West Africa. Click Find It to discover other titles in our collection that have the same Subject heading.

Updated: 8/2011

Using Destiny

Series searches

A series search returns a list of items that belong to a series.

Suppose you once read a book on World War II that let you chose different historical details, depending on whether you wanted to learn about the war from the viewpoint of a member of the Dutch resistance, a Canadian soldier, or an American soldier You want to find out whether we have any more books like this but you can’t remember much more about it.

First, you might enter World War II in the Find box and click Series. You get 2 results, (The Battle of the Bulge and The D-Day Invasion) but neither is the book you are looking for.

You could also look for all books in which World War II appears in the title. You type World War II and click Title. You notice one entry, World War II : an interactive history adventure by Elizabeth Raum. This is the book you want. When you open the Title Details page, you see that it belongs to a series called You Choose.

7

Udpated: 8/2011

Using Destiny

Click Find It to see what other titles we have in the You Choose book series.

Navigation You may have noticed that have noticed that Destiny uses breadcrumbs; that is, a type of textbased navigation that breaks the entire catalog into links of categories and sub-categories so you can see exactly where you are.

When you want to return to a previous page, use the breadcrumbs. Do NOT use your browser’s back button.

Where ever you are in Destiny, each tab has its own set of options that appear in the menu on the left side of the window and each option has its own subtabs that appear in the middle of the screen.

8

Updated: 8/2011

Our new catalog includes a graphical interface that helps you search, identify and locate all kinds of resources.

Using Destiny

Destiny Quest To access Destiny Quest, click Destiny Quest on the left menu bar. Destiny gives you information about our library and your reading habits.

The Top 10 Books list lets you know what 10 books have most recently been checked out of our library.

9

Udpated: 8/2011

The New Arrivals list showcases our newest books in the collection. Click an item of interest to get more information about it, including its call number and whether or not the book is in.

Resource Lists lets you collect information about the titles that interest you. You can then edit and print the list. To use this feature, you must create an account.

Follow these steps:

Using Destiny

1. Click Create Account in the menu bar at the top of the window.

2. Enter your last name and your library (or P) number.

3. Click Next to assign yourself a user name and password.

4. You’re ready to go!

Using Destiny to search Suppose you are looking for a good fantasy book. It must be over 80 pages and you don’t want anything written by Tony Abbott. What do you do?

1. Click Advanced Search below the Find box.

10

2. On the Advanced Search Window that appears, use the prompts to limit your search. In this case you want Destiny to show you everything that has fantasy as its subject.

3. In the Show me everything that has… section, use the first drop-down box to select Subjects and enter the word fantasy in the text box next to it.

Updated: 8/2011

Using Destiny

4. In the But I don’t want‌ section, select Authors and then enter Abbott, Tony.

Did you notice that as you were typing your search criteria, Destiny was writing it with Boolean operators (see Page 3) in the upper left corner of the screen? You can use this formula in any of the Find boxes in Destiny.

11

Udpated: 8/2011

Using Destiny

5. Now click Go! Destiny returns a list of the books in our library that are considered fantasy, but not any of those by Tony Abbott.

By default, Destiny returns results by relevance; that is, Destiny lists first those items it “thinks” are most likely matches.

You can order your results by Title, by clicking Title next to Sorted By. This can be helpful if you know part of a title but can’t find it using a normal search.

6. Suppose you are interested in finding out more about No Passengers Beyond this Point

by Gennifer Choldenko. Click the book cover to get more information about this title, including a summary of the book, links to what other books are on the shelf next to it (Shelf Browse), links to reviews (Title Peek), and links to other books Destiny thinks you might like to try (You may also like).

12

Updated: 8/2011

Using Destiny

A shelf browse can be very useful if you are doing research and want to see what books we have on a particular topic.

7. The book is out, but that you can hold it, add it to your personal list or recommend it to a friend.

13

Udpated: 8/2011

Using Destiny

You can also reserve a book by dragging and dropping its cover on the My Personal List area on the right.

Narrow your search You can further refine your search for fantasy books by using the Narrow Your Search menu that appears on the left.

Suppose you want a book that is about 85 pages.

1. Click Extent – Pages from the Narrow Your Search menu.

14

Updated: 8/2011

2. On the pop up window, use the slider bar to set the page number. Destiny shows you that there are about 152 titles in our collection that meet your criteria.

3. Click Apply. Destiny shows the list of titles between 85 and 919 pages.

You can use the Narrow Your Search menu to find other genres, or books in a series. This can be very helpful. For example, if you want to see how many books we own in the Ranger’s Apprentice series that meet your criteria, select it from the list and click Apply. Destiny returns the four books we own that are between 85 and 919 pages.

Search History

The icon to the far left indicates that you are searching in our catalog and the text to the right indicates all the filters you’ve applied so far. If you want to remove a filter, just click the X.

Using Destiny

As you add restrictions on your search, they appear in a history bar at the top of the window.

Resource Lists A resource list is a group of materials, organized for a specific purpose; for example, a list of items you are using to write a report on early Roman architecture. You can convert this list into a bibliography or a citation list and use it as part of your report.

Several lists on popular topics already exist. To view them, click Resource Lists, then Public Lists.

15

Udpated: 8/2011

Using Destiny

In Destiny Quest, you can access resource lists from the home page.

Create your own resource list In addition to the lists already created, you may wish to create your own list for a specific project you are working on. To do so, follow these steps.

1. Log in to Destiny and click Resource Lists 2. By default, Destiny creates a list for you (My Personal List) and displays it.

16

3. Suppose you are working on project for your history class on the American Revolution.

Use the Edit Resource List window to edit your default list.

Updated: 8/2011

Because the topic of the American Revolutionary War can be found in more than one Dewey category (e.g., 300s, 900s and even some in the 700s) this is a perfect scenario for using a keyword search.

What if you had searched for just Revolutionary War? Can you predict what would happen?

Using Destiny

4. Click Save. Congratulations. You’ve created your first list. Now you are going to add resources to it.

5. Click Library Search. Enter United States History Revolution in the Find box, then click Keyword. Destiny returns all the materials in our collection that are about the American Revolutionary War and you can begin to look for those that are interesting and relevant.

Try it. For one thing, you only get 36 results (versus the 72 results you got when you used United States History Revolution). You may also get results that aren’t entirely relevant; for example, one for the DVD Spartacus, which is about a revolt, but not about the one you’re interested in.

This has to do with the way library catalogs are programmed. Remember when you browsed for subjects on Pages 4 and 6? Like public and college library catalogs, Destiny uses those subject headings to organize information. However, the headings vary from catalog to catalog and are not always obvious to non-librarians. The moral? If you are having any trouble finding resources, ask a librarian to show you how; there is always more than one way to organize a search.

6. You are now ready to add some materials to your list.

7. The first entry in your search is Liberty or Death by Margaret Whitman Blair. Click the title to examine more details.

8. You see that this book’s first few subjects pertain to African American history. Since you’re more interested in African American participation in the American Revolution, click the third to last subject United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- African Americans. Destiny returns two other titles: African

Udpated: 8/2011

17

Using Destiny

Americans and the Revolutionary War and Through the Wormhole. Click the titles again to learn more about these books 9. You decide that both titles will help you in your research. Click Add to this List to add the materials to your American Revolution List.

Create a Bibliography from your Resource List To create a bibliography from a public or personal resource list, follow these steps.

1. Find the list for which you want to create a biography and click View.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the list and select Bibliography and sort by Author/Title. Click Go.

18

Updated: 8/2011

Using Destiny

3. Destiny generates a correctly formatted bibliography that you can print or cut and paste into a Word document.

19

Udpated: 8/2011