Happy Tuesday! This week’s message is a bit more robust than usual, including the new titles that were added to the shared collections last month, news and updates, and reminders for upcoming events and opportunities.
Final Days – Nominations Close on Friday for WSDLC Board Positions (CESA 9 & CESA 11)
Nominations are now being accepted for seats on the WSDLC board from WSDLC Member Representatives at schools or districts in the following CESA areas: CESA 9 and CESA 11.
The Board Operational Guidelines for the consortium call for the WSDLC Board to include one representative from each CESA area, elected by member representatives from WSDLC member districts. To be eligible for a seat on the WSDLC Board, nominees must be their district’s Member Representative. Terms are for three years, and will begin on September 1st, 2023. Board members are asked to meet certain expectations:
- To participate in all meetings and to come prepared to meetings in order to effectively participate in discussions and decision-making.
- To work well in a collaborative group setting.
- To complete tasks on behalf of the Board between meetings.
- To monitor and track the budget to ensure fidelity between the work conducted and the available funds.
- To monitor and track the contract with the project manager.
- To responsibly represent the project to partners.
- To advocate for the project, as the position allows.
- To review and approve the WSDLC contract annually with the project manager.
- To share local items of interest and to bring member input or suggestions to the Board that pertain to the project.
The WSDLC Board holds regular meetings 4-6 times per year, and all meetings are online. A total commitment of around 7 hours per year is expected.
You can find more information about the WSDLC Board and read the Board Operational Guidelines on the WSDLC Governance webpage.
The nominations period will run through the end of the day on April 14th. Nominees from CESAs with open seats are asked to complete a brief nominations form.
Nominate a WSDLC Member Representative from CESA 9 or 11 here: https://forms.gle/YhXMYEwT6X7kRZgz7
Voting for the WSDLC Board nominees will open for WSDLC Member Representatives next Monday, April 17th.
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New Titles Added in March
In March, 261 completely new titles were added to the shared collection! Of these titles:
- 104 are Audiobooks; 157 are Ebooks
- 150 are in the Juvenile (K-5) collection, 54 are in the YA (6-8) collection, and 57 are in the Adult (9-12) collection
A complete list of all the new titles added in March 2023, along with their format and content access level(s), can be viewed as a Google Sheet here.
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In the Community: Upcoming Webinars
Joyce McIntosh and Dr. Kristina Weber will provide an overview of current challenges faced by school librarians and library staff and cover the policies, people, and tools that can help you get through the process. They will also review language that is being used to censor materials, use scenarios to help form a response to challenges, and share information about current issues specific to Wisconsin.
Cost: Free for WEMTA members, $15 for Non-Members
Date: Tuesday, April 11th
Time: 6:30pm – 7:30 pm
Click here to learn more, and to register!
Ready to learn the basics of Sora so you can start exploring and help others get started, too? Join us live for our demo and ask questions of our K-12 experts.
This session is primarily a demonstration of the user experience in Sora, the student reading app. Students and educators have access to all of the same great features within the app. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to:
- Sign in with your school credentials
- Browse, borrow, and enjoy ebooks & audiobooks
- Personalize the reading experience with adjustable settings
- Define words & create annotations
- Add a public library to expand access to even more digital books
Date: Daily from April 19 – May 12!
Time: 2:00pm
Registration Link: https://overdrive.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9LSkcAtDQXmM-4DKMjmafw
Ready to learn the basics of Marketplace, the shopping and administrative portal? Join us live for our demo and ask questions of our K-12 experts.
This session is primarily a demonstration of OverDrive Marketplace, the shopping and administrative portal. We’ll explore Marketplace through the lens of a first-time user, including how to:
- Browse the catalog
- Build and purchase a cart
- Assign a title
- Run a report and view Sora activity
- Access your account team’s contact information
Date: Weekly from April 20 – May 10!
Time: 11:00am
Registration Link: https://overdrive.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MBSYZEMuTu6tIE274Io7_w
*Note: The OverDrive Webinars are not WSDLC-specific, and may cover options/settings that are not available for consortium members.
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Flipped Classrooms: Marketing is Underway!
April begins our final month of the WSDLC’s Flipped Classroom training program, and it focuses on Marketing and Training! We know this is a hot topic for many of you, and we hope that the ideas and resources we’ve pulled together here can work as a jumping point to implement your own marketing strategies. Included are:
- Lists of marketing techniques and actions from other WSDLC members and from the OverDrive team;
- Links to the OverDrive blog’s school library marketing spotlight and previous School Stars winners;
- Downloadable/Printable flyers, bookmarks, social media images, a coloring page, and so much more that are free to use; and
- Training Modules from OverDrive that you can send to your students and teachers!
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/
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Opportunities to Get Ahead of the Summer Slide
Back by popular demand are two opportunities for WSDLC members to help keep students utilizing Sora resources all summer long!
Reach More Readers Challenge
Last year, the WSDLC and OverDrive hosted a competition between all WSDLC member schools to encourage students to check out a title in Sora during the month of May. The hopes for this contest was to increase awareness of the materials available before students left the classroom for the summer. It proved to be a rousing success, so we’re doing it again this year!
Every school is automatically entered into this competition; all you need to do is spread the word and get as many students as you can to log in to Sora and check out [at least] one title! The school district(s) that have seen the greatest increase in the number of students checking out materials in Sora between March and May will be declared the winner, and score some fabulous prizes. WSDLC Project Managers will be sharing resources over the next couple of weeks for schools to utilize to help market the collections to students. If there is anything in particular that you would like to see, or if you have any resources that you’d like to share with the whole WSDLC community, let us know at wsdlc-info@wils.org, or share on this listserv!
So get ahead of the summer slide, increase awareness of the WSDLC collections, and maybe even score some Sora swag by encouraging your students to participate in a friendly competition with other schools across the state!
Sora Sweet Reads
OverDrive’s summer reading program, designed to encourage students to keep reading all year long, will be back this May! From May 15th until August 28th, a collection of free and simultaneous use juvenile and young adult ebooks (and select audiobooks) will be included in the WSDLC collections. These titles will be available to participating schools and prominently displayed in Sora so it’s easy for students to find their next sweet read.
Learn more here: https://resources.overdrive.com/sora-sweet-reads/
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The WSDLC project managers (wsdlc-info@wils.org) and the team at OverDrive (wsdlc@overdrive.com) are always available if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.
