Media center launches new research tool accessible to all
Cheryl Hoffman, the high school’s media specialist/librarian, has been promoting “Destiny Quest,” an interactive library program that was introduced to the school district last fall.
- Cheryl Hoffman explains Destiny Quest
Cheryl Hoffman, the high school’s media specialist/librarian, has been promoting “Destiny Quest,” an interactive library program that was introduced to the school district last fall.
“It’s like a library Facebook,” said Hoffman about Destiny Quest’s immediate appeal to students of all ages who need or want to access various types of information on books. Even its name is intriguing.
And it’s not only available to students. Teachers, parents and even the public can go to Destiny Quest and find all there is to know about books available at almost every school in the school district.
A link on the site also connects high school users to books that can be found at the River Falls Public Library.
In addition, a number of subscription online databases are available to researchers.
Some of them include: ABC-CLIO Social Studies, a collection of sites/reference tools that supports a variety of resources related to history and civics courses; BadgerLink, newspapers, journal articles, health pamphlets, and more; CQ Electronic Library-Researcher, articles written by journalists on controversial topics presenting in-depth coverage of unbiased materials in health, politics, education, international affairs, environment, technology and the U.S. economy; and CultureGrams, which contains cultural and statistical information on every country recognized by the U.N.
Ten other subscription databases are also available. They can all be found on the Destiny Quest site.
“The program is an interactive library program which allows students to create resource lists, recommend books to others, and allows parents of younger children to view what they can check out and what they have out,” explained Hoffman. “The program is web-based, which allows parents to see what resources are available to their children.”
One of its best features is that those students can look up and research books in almost every school library in the school district.
“At the high school level, students are allowed to view materials from all the (school) buildings, search subscription databases and also search the public library all at once,” Hoffman continued. “Students can also renew materials online and create citation lists of resources for classes.”
Another feature Destiny Quest provides, Hoffman says, is an opportunity for parents to promote reading and research skills to their children.
Hoffman, who acts as the administrator of the school district-wide library tool, also referred to Destiny Quest as “an interactive card catalogue” which can also provide interlibrary loan service.
Students can also request a particular book be added to their respective libraries if it’s not already part of a collection. They can also enter their opinions about books, stating whether they’d recommend a book to others and why.
The program also features a “Friends” area where students can send a message or request to others about book reviews, assignments, comments and more.
Just like on Facebook, friends have the option of choosing to accept another friend.
Hoffman says, Destiny Quest makes possible a convenient “access to great academic resources.”
Destiny Quest can be found on the River Falls High School Web page:
Click on Media Center, followed by Card Catalog-RFHS, followed by RF High School. Hoffman will answer questions about the program. Call her at 715-4125-1830, ext. 1127, or send an e-mail to cheryl.hoffman@rfsd.k12.wi.us.
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