All school districts, whether serving fewer than 9000 students or more than 40,000, must keep track of inventory. Textbooks are among the most challenging items to monitor - after all, they are small, numerous, frequently updated, and of course, continually being removed from school premises by students. Not knowing where your textbooks are can be an expensive proposition.
For many schools, it may be worthwhile to invest in a textbook management system, such as Follett Software Company 's Destiny Textbook Manager. In fact, over 1000 schools have adopted this system within the past nine months.
Fueled by its implementation of Destiny Textbook Manager, Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202 in Illinois identified existing surplus inventory, which reduced textbook purchases for new schools, resulting in a first-year cost savings of $500,000.
"We just felt Destiny Textbook Manager would allow us to ensure that students will have access to the textbooks they need, when they need them, while at the same time saving our taxpayers a tremendous amount of money," said Linda Casey, the district's director of instructional technology. "If someone had told me a year ago that our district would save this much time and money in this short period, I would not have believed it."
Other districts which have instituted the system include Chandler Unified School District #80, in Chandler, Ariz., Anoka-Hennepin School District #11, in Coon Rapids, Minn., Santa Maria-Bonita School District, in Santa Maria, Calif., and South Bay Union School District, in Imperial Beach, Calif.
"One of our Destiny Textbook Manager districts recently discovered that they didn't need to buy textbooks for their new schools and saved a half-million dollars - a familiar story we hear from our users," said David Zasada, program director, Follett Software Company.
In addition to eliminating over-ordering of books, the Textbook Manager ensures that students have the right textbooks when they need them, and facilitates the collection of fines for lost and damaged materials.
