Hello and happy Tuesday!
This week’s message begins with some exciting news out of OverDrive, welcoming a brand new face to the team! For schools that utilize MARC records for the shared collections, we have updated ZIP files available for download on the WSDLC website. And we round out this week’s message with reminders on Advantage Bundle Carts, and ways that you can share your wins and successes within your school(s).
As always, the WSDLC project managers (wsdlc-info@wils.org) and the WSDLC team at OverDrive (wsdlc@overdrive.com) are always available if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.
Have a great week, all!
Welcoming a New Member to the WSDLC OverDrive Team!
WSDLC is gaining another member on our Sora team! Lindsay Crist Lawson is now WSDLC’s Account Manager and main contact for promotion, outreach, training, professional development, and general questions. Lindsay has been an Account Manager at OverDrive for 5+ years and is an excellent addition to the team.
Lena Rose will continue to be on our Sora team as your Account Executive and main contact for digital strategy and planning. Amanda Izuka-Lawman and Beth Saxton are still our Product Support Specialist and Digital Content Librarian.
Please continue to email wsdlc@overdrive.com with questions and requests. The whole OverDrive team works closely together to monitor this inbox and the appropriate team member will respond to you.
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Reminder: Winter’s Advantage Bundle Carts
The three Advantage Bundle Carts that were curated exclusively for WSDLC Member schools are still available for purchase!
November 2025’s High Demand Titles Bundles
“High Demand” is determined as the audiobooks and ebooks that have the highest numbers of holds and checkouts within the shared collection.
High Demand Elementary | 19 titles | $512.61
High Demand Middle | 12 titles | $509.04
High Demand High | 14 titles | $484.15
WSDLC November 2025 High Demand Titles Order Form: Reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers at wsdlc-info@wils.org
Winter Holidays Titles Bundles
Winter Holidays – Elementary School | 19 titles | $497.00
Winter Holidays – High School | 20 titles | $497.62
WSDLC November 2025 Winter Holidays Titles Order Form: Reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers at wsdlc-info@wils.org
High Interest Nonfiction Elementary Titles Bundle
High Interest Nonfiction – Elementary | 24 titles | $492.24
WSDLC November 2025 High Interest Nonfiction Elementary Titles Order Form: Reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers at wsdlc-info@wils.org
*Note: These lists are not customizable for ordering. Please reach out to the OverDrive team at wsdlc@overdrive.com for additional options.
When you’re ready to purchase any of these packages, you can submit your order through their linked Google Form order forms.
When completing the form(s), you’ll have the opportunity to specify in you’d like your purchase(s) to billed by invoice, issuing a PO, or by content credit that you already have deposited in your Advantage Account(s).
What are Advantage Bundle Carts?
If building up your school’s Advantage offerings in Sora is something that always gets set aside for another time, the WSDLC is here to try and make things easier. The WSDLC’s dedicated Digital Content Specialist Librarian at OverDrive, Beth Saxton, takes the time to identify the most popular, high-demand titles in the shared collection, and prepackages those titles into sets that WSDLC members can purchase for only their students, just by completing a quick Google form! No thinking about how to best leverage budgets, and no logging in to OverDrive Marketplace. Just a simple, straightforward way to reduce students’ wait times on the titles they want most.
→ Tip: Instead of purchasing these carts, some WSDLC members use these title lists as a handy guide when building their own carts.
If you have any questions on purchasing, please reach out to the OverDrive team at wsdlc@overdrive.com.
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Updated MARC Records Available
For those schools that choose to display WSDLC-holdings in their online catalogs, the most recent set of WSDLC Shared Collection MARC records is now available to download as a ZIP file from the WSDLC website! You can find them on both the Collections Information and Circulation Policies page and on the MARC Records FAQ page.
You can download the MARC files for all five collections at once, or download each collection one-by-one. Each ZIP folder contains the MARC files for Ebooks, Audiobooks, and Magazines separately.
A few things to note:
- Sora Content Access Levels do not apply in online catalogs. Meaning if you upload MARC records for WSDLC shared collection content, your students will be able to search for every title in the collection (but they will not be able to check them out if the titles fall outside the students’ access level).
- The WSDLC recommends using Sora for searching directly and not uploading MARC records. Please contact the wsdlc-info@wils.org for assistance or questions.
If your district has filtered specific consortium titles from view of your students, you will need to remove those titles from your catalog individually once imported.
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Reminder: Two Ways to Share Your WSDLC Experience(s)
The WSDLC is more than just a resource to enhance digital content offerings to Wisconsin students- it’s an opportunity for K12 library staff to connect, share ideas, and crowdsource best practices. And with that, WSDLC Project Managers have two ways for WSDLC members to highlight and showcase some of the work they’ve done:
- A member spotlight- called the WSDLC Member Causerie- which is a brief interview with a WSDLC member library staffer; and
- The WSDLC’s Tiny Case Studies- which are brief, practical summaries of outstanding things that some WSDLC members are doing that involve Sora.
Be sure to check out both of these opportunities to share something about yourself and your district, and some major (or minor!) wins that your school has accomplished with the WSDLC!
WSDLC Member Causerie
The WSDLC Member Causerie is an opportunity for staff at WSDLC member districts to share a little bit about themselves, their school, their discoveries and processes with Sora, and ways they’ve gotten their students, colleagues, parents, and/or other stakeholders engaged with their digital materials in Sora.
Just fill out a brief form- completing as much, or as little, as you are comfortable- and be featured in an upcoming newsletter! Reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers for the link!
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. We highlight these Tiny Case Studies during various Flipped Classroom months, but you can also view them all by clicking the following link or copy/pasting it into your browser: https://wsdlc.org/training/tiny-case-studies/.
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 bookclub, cleared a hurdle with getting students to team up for 2023’s Battle of the Books, 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 emailing the Project Managers at wsdlc-info@wils.org for the form!
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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/.
