Blue Valley U.S.D.
Type of Organization: School District
Project Coordinator: Linda Corey, Library Media Services
Address: Blue Valley Schools, 15020 Metcalf, Overland Park KS 66283
Telephone: 913-239-4234
Email: [email protected]
Problems To Be Solved:
- Update authorities
- Clean up coding of genre in bibliographic records
- Add Lexile Measures® to records
MARCIVE Solutions:
- Authorities processing including correction of genre coding
- Ongoing authorities maintenance
- Reading notes enrichment
The Story:
The Blue Valley School District encompasses 91 square miles in southeastern Johnson County, Kansas. More than 20,000 students attend Blue Valley’s 34 schools. The library media collections are developed for inquiry, research, project-based learning and also with an emphasis on free reading and literary enrichment. Resources are shared among the libraries; thus, requiring our combined catalog to accurately reflect content. We currently use SirsiDynix Unicorn.
Our first experience with MARCIVE was during the migration of our Integrated Library system (ILS) from DRA to SIRSI in 2004. We looked for companies who had performed previous DRA—SIRSI conversions. We put out an RFP and chose MARCIVE.
At that time we performed our initial authority clean-up with MARCIVE. Though we had authorities in our catalog, they had only sporadically been maintained. We then contracted for continuing authority updates. Recently, we perceived a need to apply Lexile numbers and update genre headings in our bibliographic records. Again we contracted with MARCIVE for full authority work performed retrospectively on our collection and the addition of Lexiles and update of genre heading coding. Our various projects involved approximately 190,000 bibliographic records.
The reports provided by MARCIVE were excellent and allowed us to make corrections prior to our final loads. MARCIVE was very helpful throughout the process, in tech support, project planning, and handholding. It was painless.
The Blue Valley School District’s mission is unprecedented academic success and unparalleled personal growth for every student. Products that enhance a student’s learning process, encourage their personal growth, and at the same time allow us to assess their progress toward their personal and academic goals are an excellent fit to our mission. Genres engage and aid students in browsing for independent reading choices. Offering students a wide selection of titles in their Lexile range is a key component to reading instruction in the classroom. Lexile Bands are used as a quantitative measure of text complexity as presented in the Common Core State Standards.
MARCIVE was able to provide the data and services we required to upgrade and enhance our combined catalog.
The MARCIVE staff understands the school library environment and was responsive to our needs. They were willing to take the time necessary to explain a somewhat complex process. The scheduling fit our school calendar and the turnaround time was excellent. Their pricing is competitive and their product and services of good quality.
