Happy Tuesday!

This month we’ve been highlighting brief (re)introductions to the WSDLC, and this week we’ll be covering a quick history of the WSDLC and providing an overview of Statistics!

In 2014, WiLS was hired by WI DPI to help explore the possibility of a statewide ebook consortium for schools in Wisconsin. In 2015, the project culminated in a report of a process to explore the school ebook landscape based on a survey of library media specialists to learn about their needs. Then in 2016, a Think Tank convened of media specialists, CESA 2 and CESA Statewide Network representatives, a school business representative and a DPI representative. Together, the Think Tank drafted a structure of WSDLC that was presented at WEMTA 2016, and feedback was collected. Based on this feedback, the interim board worked to create the WSDLC’s operational guidelines, cost sharing models, collection policies, and other foundational elements for the project. In February of 2017, an RFP was developed and released, and the WSDLC was presented at the 2017 WEMTA conference. The RFP was then reviewed and finalized in April 2017. In January 2018, the WSDLC went live, with the collection consisting of only ebooks. In early 2019, audiobooks were added to the shared collection, and in October 2021 magazines were offered as well.

View the complete history, with more details, on the WSDLC website.

Usage of materials available in the WSDLC, along with the collections themselves, have grown by leaps and bounds since the collections went live in 2018. What began as a 134-district consortium, providing ebook access to 146,933 students, has since become a 236-district consortium, providing access to ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines to 317,911 of Wisconsin’s students!

Each month, the WSDLC Project Managers compile consortium-wide statistics and post them to the website. These stats include the number of checkouts each month, broken down by ebook, audiobook, and magazine; number of purchased titles and copies; total number of holds, both historically and current (as of the start of the month); a count of the individual students using the collections; and the average waiting period. Each quarter, the Top 20 Most Popular Titles with Holds are also reported on.

You can view the consortium’s usage statistics, and download the full spreadsheet, here: https://wsdlc.org/about/year-to-date-statistics/

By logging in to Marketplace and navigating to Insights, WSDLC members can also view usage at the consortium-level, or by using the filters for each report can narrow the reports down to their own school/district.

You can learn more about how to use Marketplace Insights to see your district’s/schools’ usage here: https://wsdlc.org/usage-statistics/

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Last week, the listserv saw a great question from a WSDLC Member that got answered by OverDrive’s Amanda Izuka-Lawman. Since there are a number of WSDLC member schools that utilize Google, we want to make sure no one misses this information:

Question: Has anyone used the Sora add-on with google classroom?  I have a teacher and my tech director asking about it.  What does it take to set up?
Answer: To help educators and admins understand how to get started with add-ons, Google has created some support documents:

For educators: https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/12234529

For admins: https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/12351654

If you have any other questions about Sora Add-Ons with Google Classroom, reach out to Amanda at aizuka-lawman@overdrive.com.

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Did you know that the WSDLC offers a self-paced training series to help new members get oriented (and as a refresher for returning members) with their membership? We do!

Every month, a different topic and set of materials are highlighted to help guide members throughout the school year. The content of these Flipped Classrooms are intended for Library Media Specialists and anyone else that may help to manage school/district library resources, OverDrive Advantage purchasing, and digital classroom materials. Materials are available for members to review independently, and OverDrive staff are ready to schedule one-on-one 20-minute sessions to answer members’ questions.

You can find more information on WSDLC Training opportunities and materials here: https://wsdlc.org/training/

You can find the full calendar of self-paced training topics here: https://wsdlc.org/training/wsdlc-training-schedule/

If you want to get a head start, September’s Flipped Classroom theme is Getting Started.

See you there!

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The WSDLC project managers and the team at OverDrive are always available if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.

Not sure who to contact? Check out this handy guide on the WSDLC website:  https://wsdlc.org/who-to-contact-with-questions/.