Happy Tuesday! Winter break is just around the corner for most Wisconsin schools, and we’ve got a few items of interest this week that we don’t want you to miss!
New Titles Added Last Month
In November, 111 previously-unavailable titles were added the WSDLC shared collection!
You can find a complete listing of all titles available through the WSDLC collections on the Collection Information page of the WSDLC website.
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In Case You Missed It: Sora Books on Hold Video (Created By A WSDLC Member!)
Last week, Jennifer Peterson of Menasha Joint School District shared an excellent video that she made to show her students how to get the titles they placed on hold! We really enjoyed this video and want to make sure no one in the WSDLC community missed it!
If you are like me, you realize that most of your students and staff don’t know how to access their Sora books on hold once they place them. My Students are crazy about putting books on hold, but not so much about actually getting those books which causes a slow down. So I made this quick, quirky video in hopes of helping students and staff. Feel free to use the idea or the video.Jennifer Peterson
Book Hold Syndrome.mp4Thank you so much for sharing, Jennifer!
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In Case You Missed It: Updates from WSDLC’s OverDrive Account Manager Lena Richardson
Last week, the consortium’s OverDrive Account Manager Lena Richardson sent out updates on what’s new for December. These updates include:
- Sora Sweatshirt Promotion: For every $500 you spend on digital books in Sora, you’ll get a free, limited edition Sora sweatshirt from now through December 18th. You’ll choose your sizes in January 2022 and receive sweatshirts in February.
- Introducing Content Bundles in Marketplace: This tool in Marketplace will allow you to reserve titles for a specific group of students who can then unlock the bundle of books using an access code in Sora! There will be more communication coming about this feature, as well as in depth training. Until then, check out these resources:
- End of Semester and Winter Break Preparation Pointers:
- Check out your usage statistics from this semester on the Sora activity page in Marketplace
- Filter activity by date to compare this year versus last year, or filter by branch to compare by school
- Prepare for winter break by updating your curated lists to include new releases, or winter themed reading
- Plan to promote reading over break using our free promotional materials
- Check out the blog our Marketing team released with more end of year checklist items!
If you didn’t receive Lena’s message, let us know, and we can make sure you get added to her mailing list!
If you have any questions or would like to schedule a time with Lena to go over some of these materials, please feel free to book a time directly on her calendar!
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Flipped Classrooms: Curation is Underway!
It’s December, which means our self-paced training series is on to the next theme, Curation! This month you can learn all about Curation in OverDrive/Sora and how you can create and post your very own curated collections to support your students’ needs and interests!
During Flipped Classroom months, materials on various topics are available for members to review, and OverDrive staff is ready to schedule one-on-one 20-minute sessions to answer your questions.
Please let us know if you have any questions or comments on the flipped classroom content; we’d love to hear what you’re thinking!
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Send Us Your Tiny Case Study Ideas!
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 2022’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 email at wsdlc-info@wils.org or complete the idea form, and we will reach out to you with the next steps!
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OverDrive’s End of Year Sale: November 15th 2021-December 31st 2021
OverDrive’s End of Year Sale is sliding into its final weeks. If you purchase for your school or district’s Advantage account, you will want to take “advantage” of OverDrive’s biggest sale of the year with up to 50% off on over 160,000 titles through December 31st.
Sale titles include both eBooks and Audiobooks, and you can browse for titles through several different collections put together by experts at OverDrive, such as 2021 Releases, Diverse Reads, Staff Picks, and more! You can also search for titles by access level, format, and/or by genre!
Log in to Marketplace for more information.
