Happy Tuesday! This week’s message includes the answer to a question that is often asked: How do I know which collection a title is available in? You’ll also be able to hear the answer to this question, as well as learn about so many more things about MARC records and updates to Sora, in this afternoon’s WSDLC/OverDrive-hosted webinar (details below). We’re also sharing out some information on WEMTA’s monthly Intellectual Freedom Forum, and as a reminder there are only two weeks left for this month’s Flipped Classroom: MARC Records.
Webinar Today! Marketplace Spotlight Discussion – MARC Records, Sora Searching, and Admin Tools
Join Connie Bowman of OverDrive along with WSDLC Members Teresa Voss of Verona Area School District and Nell Fleming of the Wisconsin School for the Deaf Today, Tuesday October 17th, from 3:30pm – 4:30pm, as they discuss Sora and MARC Records!
Teresa and Nell will each talk about whether or not they choose to upload MARC records to their school’s online catalog, why their choice works best for them and how it fits within their workflows, and how they encourage their students to access Sora materials.
Connie will round off this webinar with some Sora information and updates, including the difference between Content Access Levels and Audience Levels of titles; how schools can use the Advantage Filtering Tool; and more!
Webinar Details
Date: Tuesday, October 17th
Time: 3:30pm – 4:30pm CST
Connection (Zoom) Link: WSDLC Members can check their inboxes for a message from wsdlc-members that includes the connection link. If you can’t find this email, or if you aren’t on the wsdlc-members listserv, reach out to WSDLC Project Managers at wsdlc-info@wils.org to get the connection link.
*No registration is needed. The OverDrive-hosted portion of this webinar will be recorded and shared with WSDLC Members who may not be able to attend the live session.
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Flipped Classrooms: MARC Records
What is a WSDLC Flipped Classroom?
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.
This month’s theme is MARC Records!
The MARC Records flipped classroom may be short but it is packed with helpful information for members. This lesson introduces members to the kinds of MARC records available through OverDrive and the WSDLC, and details how these records can be managed and uploaded into the Destiny catalog.
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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Tiny Case Studies: Kindles in the Classroom
The WSDLC Training Series isn’t limited to only the Flipped Classrooms. Some months we also take an opportunity to share Tiny Case Studies that have been submitted from WSDLC Members! WSDLC’s Tiny Case Studies are brief, practical summaries of outstanding things that some WSDLC members are doing that involve Sora and serve as an opportunity for members to share a WSDLC-related problem they had and how they solved it.
During October, we’re highlighting the Tiny Case Study Kindles in the Classroom, submitted by one of the WSDLC’s Board Members, Beth Hennes!
Description: “When offered an eBook, my library users will often scoff and tell me that they “just prefer to hold the book” (which is pretty common and not unique across users). Yet when offered an e-reader, sometimes they warm up to eBooks because the experience is more like a page and less like a screen. However, many e-readers are designed for personal ownership, not just an app you can sign into, which makes them hard to use in a school setting with OverDrive.”
If you’ve done something lately that you’d like to share with the WSDLC Community, let us know! Maybe you’ve put together some creative marketing, started a student reading book club, engaged your school’s teachers on how they can utilize these resources in their classroom, or made a successful case for funding. No idea or accomplishment is too small! You can submit your tiny case study idea by email at wsdlc-info@wils.org or complete the idea form, and we will reach out to you with the next steps!
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In the Community: Today! WEMTA Intellectual Freedom Forum
Join WEMTA for the October 2023 edition of the Intellectual Freedom Forum, which will be held this evening, Tuesday, October 17 at 5PM. The Intellectual Freedom Forum will last for 45 minutes and is free to all WEMTA members who register for the event.
View more information and register for this event here!
Not a WEMTA member? It’s free if you want to participate in certain events (IF Forums included)! Learn more about membership here.
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FAQ: How Can I See What Collection a Title Is In? What is the difference between Audience Level and Content Access Level for titles?
We’ve all been there: a question comes from a student, teacher, or parent, and we need to check to see which of the three collections (Juvenile, YA, or Adult) a title is available in.
Our first reaction may be to search the title within Sora to find this information; after all, there is a wealth of title-specific information here. However, the information that displays on a title’s page within Sora is generated by the title’s metadata, which is supplied by the publisher and cannot be edited by OverDrive staff. While this information can be incredibly helpful in getting the right books to the right students, it does not [necessarily] tell us which collection the title is available in within the WSDLC or your own Advantage account. The best place for you to know exactly which collection(s) a title is available in is within your Marketplace account.
While it feels like the Audience Level descriptor in Sora would tell you which of the three collections a title would be available in, this won’t always be the case. The Audience Level tag is based on industry-standard subjects that publishers apply to books, and can lead to some inconsistencies for WSDLC leveling. For example, a publisher may tag a title as Young Adult if it is suitable for ages 12-18/grades 7-12, whereas the WSDLC assigns titles to the Young Adult collection that are deemed suitable for ages 12-14/grades 6-8 (as recommended by trusted review sources). If a publisher designates a title as Young Adult, but review sources indicate it is recommended for ages 15+, the WSDLC will assign that title to the Adult collection instead.
It’s the Content Access Level assignment that you’ll find in a title’s Marketplace record that will tell you exactly which collection(s) it can be accessed from.
TL;DR- You can find out which collection(s) a title belongs to in its Marketplace record, not in its Sora record.
P.S. OverDrive’s Connie Bowman will be explaining this in this afternoon’s webinar, too!
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User Login Manager Cleanup
For our members that use User Login Manager, it’s cleanup time!
Over the next few weeks, please go log in to your User Login Manager account and make sure to add credentials for new students and remove those students who have left your school or district.
For more information on how to do this, please reach out to the OverDrive team at wsdlc@overdrive.com.
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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/.
