Happy Tuesday! This week’s message includes details for all of the titles that were newly added in to the shared collections in October, a reminder of this month’s Flipped Classroom content (Advantage Accounts- it’s a great introduction on how schools can easily customize and manage content for their students!), sharing one of the WSDLC’s Tiny Case Studies (Graphic Novel Genre Study During Schoolwide Literacy Period from one of the WSDLC’s own Board Members, Stephanie Judge at Sauk Prairie SD!), and a reminder on WEMTA’s 2024 Battle of the Books!
New Titles Added in October
Last month, 531 completely new titles were added in to the WSDLC shared collections!
Of these titles:
- 83 are Audiobooks; 447 are Ebooks; 1 is a Magazine
- 318 are in the Juvenile (K-5) collection; 101 are in the Young Adult (6-8) collection; 112 are in the Adult (9-12) collection
- 271 of these titles are Spanish Language
- Some of these brand new titles have already seen impressive circulation! The top five circulated new titles were each added in to the shared collections on October 18th, and have seen hundreds (one even thousands!) of checkouts in the four weeks they’ve been available:
- No Brainer (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) Ebook: 1,535 check outs
- No Brainer (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) (Unabridged) Audiobook: 959 check outs
- Sheets Ebook: 214 check outs
- The Tea Dragon Society Ebook: 109 check outs
- Witchy (2019), Volume 1 Ebook: 64 check outs
A complete list of all the new titles added in September, along with their format and content access level(s), are available as a Google Sheet here.
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Flipped Classrooms: Advantage Accounts & Marketplace
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.
November’s theme is Advantage Accounts & Marketplace! This flipped classroom introduces the Advantage program and shows how users how they can use Marketplace to make the most of their Advantage accounts. Learn about Lending Models, adjusting the Content Access Level for your Advantage titles, make the most out of Class Sets, and so much more!
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: Graphic Novel Genre Study During Schoolwide Literacy Period
We have another Tiny Case Study to share with you all this month: Graphic Novel Genre Study During Schoolwide Literacy Period, submitted by WSDLC Board Member, Stephanie Judge!
Description: “The Sauk Prairie Middle School has a 35 minute period each day called Schoolwide Literacy. We drop everything and each teacher reads to class for 20 minutes and then students read to self for 15 minutes. In January, we establish genre groups and students select their preferred genre focus. As I teacher, I selected to lead the graphic novel genre group. The problem: How do you display a graphic novel and read it out loud to 20-25 students at the same time?”
What Are Tiny Case Studies?
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.
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 own 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!
You can view all of the WSDLC’s Tiny Case Studies here.
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In the Community: Early Registration for WEMTA’s Battle of the Books Ends Tomorrow!
On Wednesday November 15th, early registration will close for WEMTA’s 2024 Battle of the Books. Not sure if you’ll have a team ready before the end of the day tomorrow? Don’t sweat it- regular registration runs from November 16th until December 15th.
To help support students as they participate in WEMTA’s Battle of the Books, WSDLC Project Managers are purchasing additional ebook and audiobook copies of the titles on each reading list, and curated collections have been created for each division. You can find (and share!) the curated collections through the links below:
Elementary Division Titles
Middle Division Titles
Senior Division Titles
What is WEMTA’S Battle of the Books (BoB)? Simply put, the Battle of the Books is an online trivia competition for students across Wisconsin. There are three divisions for students to compete in: Elementary (grades 4-6), Middle (grades 6-8), and Senior (grades 8+). Students can form teams of 2-4 people and, between everyone in the team, they read from a list of 20 books. Starting in early February, students have the opportunity to participate in “practice battles”, and the official Battle of the Books competition runs the last full week of February.
You can learn more about the BoB on the Battle of the Books webpage.
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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/.
