Happy Tuesday everyone! The end of the school year is quickly approaching, and this week’s message is the penultimate weekly message for 2023-24. We’ll largely sign off for the summer after next week (for the weekly messaging, that is), but we’ll still be in touch with any big updates, and the Project Managers and the OverDrive team will be around all summer if you have any questions or run in to any issues. We’ll also send out a mid-summer message in early July that will include summer-so-far usage stats; the Reach More Readers Challenge winners; and whatever else crops up in the coming weeks that we might be itching to share.
Have a lovely week ahead!

Thank You for Another Great Annual Membership Meeting!

Last week (Tuesday, May 14th), the annual WSDLC Membership Meeting took place, which featured two WSDLC Member speakers:

• Beth Hennes from the Madison Metropolitan School District, and WSDLC Board Member since 2018, shared her school’s interactive Sora Showcase Kiosk: how students can search Sora right in the library, and the equipment they are using. Beth then showed off some of tips and tricks on how to make almost any book into a readalong.
• Pamela Mumm from the Rosendale-Brandon School District shared how Sora has been introduced and integrated in her district and classroom time, and feedback from their students and teachers.

Following these presentations, the WSDLC Board Chair, Peg Billing, and the WSDLC Project Managers were thrilled to share with everyone some things that we’re looking forward to in the next year, like the updated Content Access Levels (still TBD) and continuing the oh-so-easy to order Advantage Bundles.
We also shared the results of the WSDLC Board Elections held just last month: there was one re-elected member, two newly elected members, three re-appointed members, and one newly appointed member. We also announced the four newly-selected members for the Selection Advisory Committee from a list of volunteers. And we announced the next Board Chair. New (and returning) Board and Selection Advisory Committee members will begin their appointments with the start of the 2024 membership year on September 1st. The meeting wrapped up with some statistics: a comparison between the WSDLC’s humble beginnings and the unexpected growth since, from checkouts to individual users; from spending to collection size.

If you missed the 2024 Membership Meeting, reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers to get the link to the recording plus the links that were shared during the presentation(s).

Thank you again for another great year in the WSDLC!

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In Case You Missed It: PD Opportunity- Sora Bursts!

A couple of weeks ago, OverDrive announced that registration has opened for their Summer Professional Development Series Sora Bursts! and we want to make sure no one missed it! A copy of that information is here:

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Sora Sweet Reads Is On!

OverDrive’s annual summer reading program, Sora Sweet Reads, has begun! The Sora Sweet Reads collection is filled with simultaneous use titles for all reading levels, and will be available to all WSDLC members through August 26th.

You can find out more about this program, and grab some already-made marketing materials, on the Sora Sweet Reads page.
You can see this curated collection and share it out with your students with this link: https://soraapp.com/library/wsdlcwi/campaign-sora-sweet-reads/titles 

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End-of-Year-Reminder: wsdlc-members Listserv Group

All WSDLC Member Representatives and Main Contacts are subscribed to the WSDLC Member Google Community/Listserv.
This listserv is used in a variety of ways:

WSDLC’s Weekly Messaging
Every Tuesday during the school year (well, almost every Tuesday), the WSDLC Project Managers send out a message to WSDLC members to keep you all up-to-date with what’s happening in the consortium: upcoming webinars, usage statistics, updates to OverDrive/Sora, events around the state, and so much more.

Updates, Announcements, and General Information
Through this email list, WSDLC Project Managers also share exciting and important updates on happenings in the WSDLC. While announcements will always end up in the Weekly Message, sometimes an update warrants its very own message. We’ll also send out messages separate from the Weekly Message to call for volunteers to serve on a WSDLC committee or the WSDLC Board; requests to complete surveys; a condensed version of WSDLC Board Meetings; and updates to OverDrive, Sora, and/or the WSDLC Collections.

But most importantly, this listserv is about…
Connecting WSDLC Members to Each Other

• Any member of this group can also utilize this listserv for anything related to the WSDLC- use it to ask questions, crowdsource ideas, spread the word on interesting/relevant news, or share your successes and/or locally created WSDLC promotional materials. Compose your message and send it to wsdlc-members@wils.org; from there, you will reach the entire WSDLC Community.
• When sending to the listserv, here are some things to keep in mind:
• Include direct, clear subject lines that reflect the conversation. Make it easy for people to know if they want to read your message. If the topic of conversation changes, the subject line should change, too.
• Include a signature block. You know who you are, but others may not. Please include your name, library name, and contact information at the bottom of each list.
• This is not a venue for commercial sales; please, no pitches for new products or sale announcements. Individual libraries are welcome to sell or give away library supplies of potential use to others.
• Be respectful. This is a positive, comfortable place for everyone.

Anyone designated as their school’s/district’s Main Contact is automatically added to the WSDLC-members group, but any staff member at your school can be a part of it too! Send a message to the WSDLC Project Managers at wsdlc-info@wils.org with the email address(es) to be added, and we’ll take it from there.

If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you can unsubscribe and stop receiving emails from it by sending an email to wsdlc-members+unsubscribe@wils.org.

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Standing Reminder: Advantage Carts for Easier Ordering

Every few months, the WSDLC’s dedicated Digital Content Specialist Librarian at OverDrive, Beth Saxton, identifies themes of titles in the shared collection and prepackages them into bundles/carts (based on Content Access Levels) that WSDLC Members can purchase for only their students, just by completing a quick Google form! No thinking about how to best leverage your budget, and no logging in to OverDrive Marketplace. Just a simple, straightforward way to get your students the titles they want most.

When completing the order form(s) below, you’ll have the opportunity to specify if you’re purchasing 1-, 2-, or all 3 of the packages; and if you’d like your purchase(s) to be billed by invoice, issuing a PO, or by content credit that you already have deposited in your Advantage Account(s)– whatever works best for you!

Notes:
“High Demand” is determined as the audiobooks and ebooks that have the highest numbers of holds and checkouts within the shared collections.
These lists are not customizable for ordering. Please reach out to the OverDrive team at wsdlc@overdrive.com for additional options.

Reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers to get the order form links.
Save yourself time and money, and help get those high-interest, high-hold titles into the hands of your students faster by ordering today!

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Reach More Readers Challenge!

The Reach More Readers Challenge is just over halfway through, and as of this 6:30 this morning, there have been 35,690 Wisconsin students checking out titles from Sora. That’s another 7,000+ individual students since this time last week, and less than one hundred students shy of matching March’s total student count (35,761)!

What is the Reach More Readers Challenge?
The Reach More Readers Challenge is a friendly competition between all WSDLC Member districts/schools to encourage students to check out materials from Sora ahead of summer break.
The schools/districts that see the greatest increase in individual students checking out a title have the opportunity to win content credit (the never-expiring deposit of money that can be used to purchase additional title for only your students) or even some sweet Sora swag!

How Can My School/District Participate?
There isn’t a sign up to be a part of 2024’s Reach More Readers Challenge: Every school that joined the WSDLC before March 1st, 2024 is automatically entered into this competition!

What you do need to do is spread the word to your students to have them log in to Sora and check out [at least] one title.
We’ll be comparing the number of individual students that checked out titles in March 2024 to the number in May 2024: The school district(s) that have seen the greatest increase in the number of students checking out materials in Sora between these two months will be declared the winner, and score some fabulous prizes!

How Can I Get Students to Check Out Materials?
Getting students to access Sora and checkout titles is entirely up to you: use tried-and-true methods that have worked in your school/district in the past, or try out something new! Schedule classroom time if you can and give a brief demo and tour to you students; use Sora ebooks in story times; download Sora Coloring Pages from OverDrive and print them with access instructions on the back for your youngest students to take home and share with their grownups; add QR codes that link directly to popular titles or to curated collections to bulletin boards, fliers, or handouts; post Sora links to your social media page(s). It’s cliche to say, but still so true: the possibilities are endless!
You can find more information and links to pre-made marketing materials, gain ideas, and even download ready-made QR Codes for curated collections on the WSDLC website.

So get ahead of the summer slide, increase awareness of the WSDLC collections, and maybe even score some Content Credit or some Sora swag by encouraging your students to participate in a friendly competition with other schools across the state!

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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/.