After months and months of waiting (somewhat patiently on my part), Follett has released their iPad app for virtual checkout using Follett Shelf. We had a sneak peek at how it works with our Follett rep, and I'm pretty pleased with how smooth it is. There is a tiny lag in the page turning, but it is swipe technology, and that was the selling point for me. Today I received my order of a few trial books.
Next steps are practicing with our trial books and then launching into parent and student education. The only downside I see right now is that patrons cannot put books on hold. My fear is that our market for virtual checkout will fade if patrons have to go back again and again to see what is in. With Overdrive, I put lots of books on hold and then have that nice treat of receiving an email notification that my book is in. If not, I would forget to go back.
More soon! There has been lots of tech/library/classroom teacher collaborating in the last few months with digital book trailers and grade 5 students. I'd love to share all the steps of how we made it work.
1 comment:
I was just talking to the high school librarian about this. Thanks for your insight. We are launching Overdrive (hopefully in May). I'll have to let you know how it goes.
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