Rhode Island Library Information Network for Kids: Member Survey Responses

Most comments about RILINK staff communication was positive. Here are some details:

Positive!

• Help Desk has quick and courteous response times (this comment was repeated by many members...thanks for noticing our effort!)
• The newsletter is visually interesting and has good, concise information

Some specific areas for Improvement:

• RILINK's organizational structure may need a better introduction for new librarians
• Shorter communication would be welcomed by those without time to read the newsletter
• Emails with actionable requests should be noted as high priority
• RILINK webpage would be more accessible if streamlined 

LibGuides are useful to a group of librarians, but not to all

• Many respondents noted that LibGuides are a critical part of their curriculum delivery 
• Some librarians find it very useful for library outreach
• Some librarians do not find it easy to navigate
• Some librarians would like professional development opportunities
• Some librarians have moved to Google Classroom for their webpage, to better align with their colleagues

Exploring Nature has suffered from an outdated look

• Librarians hope that the new version is easier to navigate
• Those who use it find it useful, even if it seems a bit rudimentary

Overall, SORA is an attractive feature that adds to a school's ability to provide high quality content

• Most useful to students in upper grades
• Problems with filtering access 
• Librarians have a hard time finding time to promote the product to teachers and students
• Schools are trying to limit screen time, so that limits use

Most of our member schools have been using Destiny for a long time

• There has been a learning curve during the transition to Unified Navigation and Destiny v23
• Reports are not as intuitive nor do they have all the components librarians are looking for
• Discover's interface skews juvenile and may not be useful to prepare high school students for college
• Circulation features are intuitive
• There have been a lot of glitches with access this September
• Tech support is not responsive
• CDL (Cross District Loan) is very clunky

Culturegrams is not a fully utilized resource at this time. Some comments are:

• ELA and World Studies departments that make use of the resource think it's great
• Some librarians are making a point to use it more often, but it doesn't always fit into the lesson units

Not all schools can afford to purchase databases. There are also some requests

• PebbleGo is a great resource but we wish there were better discounts
• Our discounts may not meet the discount that a librarian can access independently
• Librarians may go to Tumblebooks through their public library

RILINK has been a Follett Destiny customer since its inception in 1988. Occasionally we examine other LMS. This is how you feel:

• Most responses indicated that they were happy with Destiny and did not want the learning curve necessitated by a new system
• Some responses were curious about other systems, but cautious
• Some wanted to move to the platform used by the public libraries
• Some responses were hoping that we would have subscribed to the alternative we researched in 2021
• Some responses feel that it is always useful to keep on top of options