Weekly Message: March 21st, 2023

Happy Tuesday! This week’s message contains many reminders on topics that you’ve probably already heard about through the wsdlc-members listserv, but they are all great opportunities that we want to make certain don’t get overlooked.

Nominations are Open for WSDLC Governance Positions

WSDLC Board
Nominations are now being accepted for seats on the WSDLC board from WSDLC Member Representatives at schools or districts in the following CESA areas: CESA 9 and CESA 11.

The Board Operational Guidelines for the consortium call for the WSDLC Board to include one representative from each CESA area, elected by member representatives from WSDLC member districts. To be eligible for a seat on the WSDLC Board, nominees must be their district’s Member Representative. Terms are for three years, and will begin on September 1st, 2023.

You can find more information about the WSDLC Board and read the Board Operational Guidelines on the WSDLC Governance webpage.

The nominations period will run through the end of the day on April 14th. Nominees from CESAs with open seats are asked to complete a brief nominations form.
WSDLC Member Representatives from CESAs 9 and 11 can complete the nomination form here: https://forms.gle/YhXMYEwT6X7kRZgz7

WSDLC Selection Advisory Committee
We are also seeking volunteers to serve on the WSDLC’s Selection Advisory Committee, to begin on September 1st, 2023!
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. The Committee meets 4 times per year, and committee members will serve 2-year terms, with the option to serve two consecutive terms.
You can view the full Selection Advisory Guidelines, which includes the committee’s full charge, membership, member expectations, and meeting schedule details, here.

To qualify for the Selection Advisory Committee, volunteers must be a library media specialist from a WSDLC participating district/school. We will be accepting volunteers to serve on the Selection Advisory Committee through Thursday, April 6th.

You can complete the Selection Advisory Committee volunteer form here: https://forms.gle/bKso3dYfUhFgU13o6

Volunteers will be notified by the end of April whether they have been selected by the Board to serve on the Selection Advisory Committee.

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In Case You Missed It: News from OverDrive

OverDrive is having a huge audiobook sale, and we want to make sure you don’t miss this opportunity! Below are the details that were shared last week by the WSDLC’s Account Manager, Lena Richardson:

We wanted to let you know about a Huge RBmedia Audiobook Sale!

Our Marketplace data shows students prefer digital audiobooks 4 to 1 over ebooks. Now, through the end of month, you can put popular and required reads in your students’ headphones at up to 20% off, PLUS a 5% content credit back to you for OC/OU and MACU RBmedia sale purchases made in March.

Shop two ways:

  1. In Marketplace: Choose ready-to-go, curated carts, crafted by OverDrive MLS librarians, with titles like:
    o Elementary School: Jeff Kinney, Diper Överlöde, MACU – Was $36.80, now $31.28 (15% savings)
    o Middle School: Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon, OCOU – Was $79.00, now $63.20 (20% savings)
    o High School: Sacha Lamb, When Angels Left the Old Country, OCOU – Was $79.00, now $63.20 (20% savings)
  2. Pressed for time? Hit reply, tell us what you’d like, and we’ll get these live in your collection in a matter of hours. Download Sale Titles Excel File >>>

Reduce holds and stock up for spring reading—satisfy kids who are eager to hear their next great read.

Best,
Lena

PS: All RBmedia imprints on sale until June 30, 2023. 5% content credit incentive ends March 31, 2023.

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Quick Reminder: 2023-24 Membership Renewal Pricing Not Yet Available

We know that many of you are working on your budgets for the upcoming year, so we want to keep you up-to-date on the timeline for next year’s renewal pricing. DPI hasn’t released the 2022-23 certified enrollment numbers quite yet, so we aren’t able to begin calculating next year’s pricing. We are checking WISEdash daily for this information, and are hopeful to have all WSDLC 2023-24 renewal quotes sent out to each school/district’s WSDLC Main Contact(s) by the end of the month.

Details on Pricing Quote Calculation
WSDLC renewal pricing is based on DPI’s certified enrollment numbers for the previous academic year. To calculate costs for the 2023-24 WSDLC membership year, we will be using the FTE data for 2022-23. Once we have this information, we will calculate the 2023-24 membership costs, and quotes will be emailed to each school/district’s WSDLC Main Contact within a week. (Not sure who your Main Contact is? You can reach out to us at wsdlc-info@wils.org to find out!)

As a reminder, in March 2021, the WSDLC Board approved a 3% increase for each of the following three membership years, and the price will be $1.65 per student for the 23-24 membership year.

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In the Community: Forums and Webinars This Week

WEMTA’s Intellectual Freedom Forum, Today @ 6:00pm

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.
The next Intellectual Freedom Forum is happening this evening, Tuesday, March 21st, at 6:00pm.
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!)
WiLSWorld Shorts: Book Challenge Hindsight: What You Wish You’d Known, Friday @ 1:00pm

WiLS would like to invite WSDLC members to the next WILSWorld Shorts on Friday, March 24th at 1:00 pm CT.
In this edition, WiLS will host a panel of people involved with K12 and public libraries who have valuable experience and advice to share on handling book challenges. We are honored to welcome these voices to the panel:
    • Ashley Knapp, Library Media Instructional Technology Specialist at West De Pere High School
    • Matt Mulder, current Oconomowoc Common Council member and former Oconomowoc Public Library Board of Trustees member
    • Katelyn Sabelko, Library Services Manager at Marathon County Public Library
Given the record number of challenges last year, a trend that shows no sign of slowing, what questions do you have for our panelists? What might help you prepare for a challenge to your own collection or through a current challenge?
You can register to attend here and also anonymously submit your questions for our panel members to respond to during the event.
 
Note: Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, this meeting will not be recorded.
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Flipped Classrooms: Purchasing

During the month of March, we’re taking a look at Purchasing! In this Flipped Classroom, you’ll get an inside look at how titles are selected and purchased for the Consortium. You’ll also find more details on how to purchase titles for your Advantage account: learn how to build and manage carts, add content credit, adjust the content access level for your purchases, and read some tips and tricks on how to avoid accidentally purchasing titles more than once (when you don’t necessarily mean to).

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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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/.

WiLS Team