March’s Usage Statistics
This year, March followed 2024’s usage: there were fewer checkouts with fewer students accessing materials when compared to January and February. But if 2024 trends carry into this year, April will climb back up with gusto (and an even higher increases in May)- we’ll sit tight and see what happens.
You can view the full calendar year’s statistics, which includes detailed information on circulation numbers, holds, and other metrics, broken down by month, as a Google Sheet here.
If you’re interested in historical data, you can find .xlsx spreadsheets of past statistics at the bottom of the WSDLC Year to Date Statistics page.
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Flipped Classrooms: Usage Statistics
April’s Flipped Classroom topic will teach you how to find out what titles are most popular at your school(s), how many students are utilizing Sora, and much more as we dive in to Usage Statistics!
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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Nominate Yourself (or a colleague) to Serve in WSDLC’s Governance
WSDLC Board
The WSDLC Board Nominations period closes this Friday, April 4th. The Board Operational Guidelines for the consortium call for the WSDLC Board to include one representative from each CESA area. Due to expiring term and retirements, there are eight seats open for election this year, for CESAs 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12.
To be eligible for a seat on the WSDLC Board, nominees must be from a WSDLC member district within an open CESA region and they must be their district’s Member Representative. Terms are for three years, and will begin on September 1st, 2025.
To nominate yourself or a colleague (with their permission) for the WSDLC Board, reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers for the nominations form.
WSDLC Selection Advisory Committee
The WSDLC Selection Advisory Committee volunteer period runs through next Friday, April 11th.
The Selection Advisory Committee Guidelines state that volunteers must be a library media specialist from a WSDLC participating district/school. Committee members will be chosen by the WSDLC Board in order to have a diversity of geography, enrollment size, and grade level experience.
About the Selection Advisory Committee
The Selection Advisory Committee is an integral part of the WSDLC’s governance. The Selection Advisory Committee recommends the scope and direction of the collections included in the WSDLC, and they advise the project manager and vendors on operational collection decisions, including content to be included and budget allocations, as directed by the Board and Collection Development Policy.
Committee members are expected to:
- attend and participate in scheduled meetings unless excused;
- come prepared to all meetings in order to effectively participate in discussions and decision-making;
- work well in a collaborative group setting;
- participate in online discussions to make collection decisions between meetings; and
- act as an advocate and representative for the WSDLC.
The Committee meets virtually 3 times per year: in October, December, and March.
Committee members will serve 2-year terms, with the option to serve two consecutive terms.
To volunteer for consideration to serve on the Selection Advisory Committee, please reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers for the volunteer form.
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In Case You Missed It: From OverDrive, Sim Use Titles are now “Subscriptions”
Last week, OverDrive announced that the Simultaneous Use purchasing model has been renamed to “Subscriptions”. There is no change in how this purchasing model works, so Subscription titles in the WSDLC- and in your Advantage- collections will still be available for all students to checkout whenever they have the fancy.
You can read a copy of the messaging from OverDrive (sent on Thursday, March 27th) here:
“Starting today, the Simultaneous Use section of OverDrive Marketplace has been renamed to Subscriptions, a more familiar term that’s consistent with other content offerings. References to Simultaneous Use have been updated to Subscriptions throughout Marketplace, including searching, purchasing, reporting, billing, title assignments, content bundles, and MARC record preferences. You will also see this change in related renewal and expiration emails.
Rest assured this change is in name only—the functionality of the lending model remains the same.
Reach out to your account team with questions.
Happy reading,
OverDrive”
Want to know more about purchasing models? Take a look at this handy guide! It’s older, so still references “Simultaneous Use”, but the rest of the content is still up-to-date.
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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/.
