Happy Tuesday! Today is the first Tuesday of March, which means we have last month’s usage statistics ready to share with you. This month also began a new topic in the Flipped Classrooms training series, and the Sora School Stars program will be wrapping up in just a few weeks- more details on all of this can be found below!
February Usage Statistics
In February, the shared collections saw a healthy amount of checkouts:
Audiobook Circulations: 18,462
Ebook Circulations: 105,756
Magazine Circulations: 3,772
We’ve also seen an impressive increase in the number of students accessing the collections: Looking at the month of February over the past 3 years, there has been a 33% increase! In February 2021, 21,396 individual students checked out at least one title; in February 2022 this number increased to 26,513; and just last month, there were 28,536 students checking out titles!
You can download the full calendar year’s statistics .xlsx spreadsheet, which includes detailed information on circulation numbers, holds, and other metrics, broken down by month, at the bottom of the WSDLC Year to Date Statistics page.
⸻ ● ● ● ⸻
Flipped Classrooms: Purchasing is in Full Swing
During the month of March, we’re taking a look at Purchasing! In this Flipped Classroom, you’ll get an inside look at how titles are selected and purchased for the Consortium. You’ll also find more details on how to purchase titles for your Advantage account: learn how to build and manage carts, add content credit, adjust the content access level for your purchases, and read some tips and tricks on how to avoid accidentally purchasing titles more than once (when you don’t necessarily mean to).
What are the WSDLC’s Flipped Classrooms?
The WSDLC offers a self-paced training series to help new members get oriented (and as a refresher for returning members) with their membership and the Sora collections. 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 is 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/
Find the full calendar of self-paced training topics here: https://wsdlc.org/training/wsdlc-training-schedule/
⸻ ● ● ● ⸻
Sora School Stars: Just a Few Weeks Left to Enter!
Each year, OverDrive hosts a global contest aimed to celebrate how schools promote Sora called Schools Stars. If you’ve done any promotional work this school year (August 2022 – Now), we encourage you to enter this contest!
There are five different categories to enter:
- Best in Visual/Virtual Display or Bulletin Board
- Best in Social Media
- Best Community Engagement
- Best use of Sora in the Classroom
- Best Student-Made Submission
Winning prizes include Content Credits, a School Stars Winner poster, and a digital School Stars winner badge! (The Grand Prize Winner will also get 1,000 silicone Sora bracelets!)
From bulletin boards to videos; from to social media posts to classroom engagement; no accomplishment or action is too small to enter! You have until March 31st, 2023 to submit your entry.
Learn more about School Stars, and submit your entry, here!
⸻ ● ● ● ⸻
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/.
