Weekly Message: January 17th, 2023

Happy Tuesday! It’s another short message this week, highlighting training and marketing opportunities from the WSDLC and OverDrive. We’re also sharing with you all an event that is happening this evening, hosted by WEMTA: their monthly Intellectual Freedom Forum.

Flipped Classrooms: Usage Statistics

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: WEMTA’s Intellectual Freedom Forum, Today @ 6:30pm

Would you like to know more about the Intellectual Freedom landscape in Wisconsin? WEMTA members have an opportunity to join in monthly discussions on Intellectual Freedom and what it means for Wisconsin school libraries. These discussions are scheduled monthly, on the third Tuesday at 6:30pm.


The next Intellectual Freedom Forum is happening this evening, Tuesday, January 17th, at 6:30pm.
All attendees must be WEMTA members, and must register ahead of time.
Registration details are available on WEMTA’s Events page.
Not a WEMTA member? Find out how to join here. (It’s free!)


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WSDLC Training & Marketing Resources

If you’ve been looking to shake things up on how you can highlight your school’s Sora collections, or if you need a refresher yourself on Sora and the WSDLC collections, we’ve got you! Below is a highlight of the WSDLC’s and OverDrive’s Marketing and Training Resources; from on-demand webinars to printable coloring pages; one-on-one meetings with OverDrive staff to social media graphics; there is a little something to fit everyone’s needs.
  • WSDLC Training Resources Page: This includes links to WSDLC’s Flipped Classroom/Self-Paced Training content, Webinars, Tiny Case Studies, and more. If you’re not quite sure how to find stats in Marketplace, or need a quick refresher on how to adjust students’ settings in Sora, this is the page to get you to the information you need.
  • OverDrive’s K-12 School Staff Training: OverDrive provides a variety of training materials for library staff, teachers, students, and parents. This collection includes videos, self-paced modules, and training kits– something for every learning method!
  • WSDLC Marketing and Promotion Resources Page: This includes printables and digital resources created by the WSDLC community that you can use, personalize, and share!
    If you’ve created something that has been a hit at your school that you’d like to share with the WSDLC community, you can either reach out to the Project Managers at wsdlc-info@wils.org, or you can share it directly with the community at wsdlc-members@wils.org!
  • OverDrive Resource Center: An ever-changing assortment of marketing and promotional resources for Sora, from OverDrive. Included are social media graphics, coloring pages, and so much more!
  • Looking for marketing inspiration? Read past Sora Spotlight posts, browse through 2021’s Sora School Stars winners, and take a peek at what other WSDLC members have done in the Marketing & Engagement Member Idea Exchange document.


If you have ideas for materials or resources you think would be helpful to include in any of these pages, or if you have materials that you think could be helpful to the WSDLC community, please let us know at wsdlc-info@wils.org, and we’ll get it added!


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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/.