Happy [snowy] Tuesday! This week’s message is packed with useful information and exciting opportunities: we have the list ready of all of the brand new titles that were added in to the shared collections last month, a reminder of this month’s Flipped Classroom topic, and we’re sharing two great opportunities from the community: a timely webinar on what districts need to know about navigating material challenges, and OverDrive’s Sora Stars- the annual marketing competition- is coming up soon!
New Titles Added in December
Last month, 341 completely new titles were added in to the WSDLC shared collections!
Of these titles:
- 124 are Audiobooks; 212 are Ebooks; 5 are Magazines
- 183 are in the Juvenile (K-5) collection; 45 are in the Young Adult (6-8) collection; 113 are in the Adult (9-12) collection
- The top five subjects areas are:
- Juvenile Fiction: 161 Titles
- Juvenile Literature: 140 Titles
- Young Adult Fiction: 101 Titles
- Fantasy: 78 Titles
- Humor (Fiction): 51 Titles
- Many of these new titles have been making the rounds across Wisconsin and have already racked up quite the checkout count! These titles (editions, in some cases) have over 100 checkouts
- The Battle of the Labyrinth: The Graphic Novel: The Graphic Novel – 410 Checkouts
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid – 387 Checkouts
- Ultimate Reptile Rumble – 243 Checkouts
- Taylor Swift: Superstar Singer and Songwriter – 242 Checkouts
- Graystripe’s Adventure: The Lost Warrior, Warrior’s Refuge, Warrior’s Return – 202 Checkouts
- SkyClan and the Stranger: The Rescue / Beyond the Code / After the Flood – 191 Checkouts
- It Ends with Us – 146 Checkouts
- Nimona: A Netflix Film – 122 Checkouts
- Heartstopper #5: A Graphic Novel – 119 Checkouts
- Starlight: The New Prophecy #4: Starlight – 103 Checkouts
- Spider-Man: Quantum Quest! (A Mighty Marvel Team-Up # 2) – 101 Checkouts
A complete list of all the new titles added in December, along with their format and content access level(s), can be viewed as a Google Sheet here.
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Flipped Classrooms: Usage Statistics
With a new month comes a new Flipped Classroom! January’s Flipped Classroom is Usage Statistics, where you will learn how to view your school’s and/or district’s usage statistics by utilizing Marketplace Insights. Insights is the area of your Marketplace account where you can run a variety of reports including, but certainly not limited to, the titles and formats that are getting checked out, what’s being purchased, how many holds are on titles, and how your students are interacting with Sora. You will also see how you can break down these reports to view usage at the consortium level, by only your school (Branch), or at the Advantage level.
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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In the Community: Navigating Challenges: What Districts Need to Know Webinar Hosted by CCBC and DPI
On Thursday, February 1st from Noon to 1:00pm, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Library Services Team and the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) is hosting a webinar covering challenges to materials in school library collections, and we want to make sure no one misses this opportunity.
Date: Thursday, February 1st
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Description: School districts are facing an unprecedented number of complaints about and challenges to materials in school library collections. This hour-long webinar for Wisconsin school district administrators, library media specialists, and other interested school district personnel will provide a brief overview of guiding legislation, key professional and legal principles, and essential school district policies and procedures related to curating library media collections and responding to concerns and challenges. This overview will be followed by an extended question-and-answer session, with registered attendees invited to submit questions prior to the event.
Presenters:
- Monica Treptow, School Library Media Consultant, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
- Megan Schliesman, Assistant Director, Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, UW-Madison
- Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Director, Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, UW-Madison
Registration: https://bit.ly/3STzZV2 (Registration closes on January 25th, 2024)
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Reminder: Battle of the Books Registration Closes on January 15th
Registration for 2024’s Battle of the Books, hosted by WEMTA, closes on Monday, January 15th.
To help support students as they participate in WEMTA’s Battle of the Books, WSDLC Project Managers have purchased 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:
If you aren’t familiar with WEMTA’s Battle of the Books: BoB 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 them 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 runs the last full week of February.
You can learn more about WEMTA’s Battle of the Books on their webpage.
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OverDrive’s School Stars is Coming Soon!
It’s time to start thinking about how you and your school have marketed and/or utilized Sora so far this school year! OverDrive’s global contest, School Stars, celebrates the variety of ways schools promote Sora, and will be opening for submissions on February 5th! There are different categories to enter: bulletin boards, community engagement, social media posts, classroom engagement, and even an opportunity for your students to create something to submit!
If you’ve done any promotional work this school year (August 2023 – Time of entry), consider entering this contest! We find ourselves saying this often, but it always rings true: no accomplishment or action is too small to enter!
Learn more about School Stars here!
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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/.
