Happy Tuesday! The 2023-24 WSDLC Membership Year has officially begun! In this week’s message, we’re continuing our [Re]Introduction to the WSDLC series this week with a look at the WSDLC’s Governance. We’re also showing off August’s usage statistics from across the consortium, a reminder on invoicing for the new membership year, and sharing with you a slick and valuable resource from DPI on BadgerLink.
As a reminder and handy guide on who to contact with any questions:
If you have any questions about Sora access, content access levels (what titles your students have access to), and/or need to make any changes on your Marketplace/Sora accounts, contact the WSDLC OverDrive team at wsdlc@overdrive.com.
If you have questions about invoicing/billing for your WSDLC Membership, would like a price quote for onboarding more grades/schools in your district to the WSDLC collections, titles in the shared WSDLC collections, and/or if you/your school has received a book challenge/reconsideration inquiry, please reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers at wsdlc-info@wils.org.
[Re]Introduction to the WSDLC: Governance
WSDLC Board
The Wisconsin Schools Digital Library Consortium (WSDLC) is governed by a Board consisting of members of the consortium and representatives from the partners (CESA Statewide Network, DPI, and WILS). The consortium members are either elected to represent a specific CESA geographic area, or are selected by the current board as at-large representatives.
The Board is governed by the Operational Guidelines, and is responsible for representing the project to partners, monitoring and tracking the WSDLC budget, making decisions based on recommendations from the Project Managers and/or the Selection Advisory Committee, and reviewing and approving documents, policies, contracts, and guidelines.
Board meetings occur four times throughout the year, roughly in October, January, March, and April. Within two weeks after each board meeting, WSDLC Project Managers will send out a message outlining the meeting discussions.
In Spring 2023, two WSDLC members were (re)elected to represent their CESA district on the WSDLC board! Your WSDLC Board for 2023-24 is:
CESA 1: Jill Polglaze (Franklin Public Schools)
CESA 2: Sarah Wendorf (Waunakee Community School District)
CESA 3: Emily Zorea (Ithaca School District)
CESA 4: Gidget Moore (Viroqua School District)
CESA 5: Stephanie Judge (Sauk Prairie School District)
CESA 6: Michelle Rockelman (Campbellsport School District)
CESA 7: Holly Selle (Sturgeon Bay Schools)
CESA 8: Vince Czahor (Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine School District)
CESA 9: Laurie Agema (Mosinee School District)
CESA 10: Michele Green (School District of Greenwood)
CESA 11: Kate Lehne (St. Croix Falls School District)
CESA 12: Michelle Byholm (Chequamegon School District)
At Large: Peg Billing (Board Chair) (Lakeland Union School District)
At Large: Nell Flemming (Wisconsin School for the Deaf)
At Large: Beth Hennes (Madison Metropolitan School District)
At Large: Jennifer Peterson (Menasha Joint School District)
At Large: Keith Schroeder (School District of Marinette)
The WSDLC Board also has representatives from its partners, which include Monica Treptow at DPI and Jennifer Chamberlain at WiLS (non-voting).
WSDLC Selection Advisory Committee
The Selection Advisory Committee is made up of 5-7 volunteers from Member school districts, and is guided by the Selection Advisory Committee Guidelines. As directed by the Board and Collection Development Policy, this committee recommends the scope and direction of the collections included in the WSDLC; advise the project manager and vendors on operational collection decisions, including content to be included and budget allocations; review documentation and processes; and review challenges to materials and recommend action(s) to the Board.
Meetings are held three times per year, prior to the WSDLC Board Meetings in October, December, and March.
In Spring 2023, three individuals from WSDLC member districts were appointed to serve on the Selection Advisory Committee! Your WSDLC Selection Advisory Committee for 2023-24 is:
- Linda Hamann (Edgar School District)
- Gidget Moore (Viroqua School District)
- Naomi Peuse (Weyauwega-Fremont School District)
- Michelle Rockelman (Campbellsport School District)
- Joanne Sobolik (South Milwaukee School District)
- Teresa Voss (Verona Area School District)
- McKenzie Weaver (The Prairie School)
You can find these details and more on the Governance page of the WSDLC website.
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August Usage Statistics
August’s usage statistics have been compiled and are available for everyone’s review at their leisure. It’s clear that students are preparing for the school year again, as the number of checkouts and unique users have already begun to rise: there were over 19,000 checkouts from 4,050 users, compared to July which had just over 18,000 checkouts from about 3,200 users.
We at the WSDLC just love historical data, and we couldn’t resists comparing this summer’s usage to the summer of years past:
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June of 2022 and 2023 each had a gradual dip in checkouts since 2021, but on the other hand, the number of checkouts have gradually risen through each July and August.
The number of individual students checking out titles has remain fairly steady each June since 2021, but just like with the checkouts, each July and August have seen a gradual increase in these numbers. Taking a peek ahead, we’re already only five days in to September, and there have already been 1,333 students checking out over 3,100 titles!
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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Reminder: WSDLC Invoices Sending Soon
Now that September is here, WiLS’ financials team is gearing up and getting ready to start sending out the invoices for the 2023-24 membership year. (If you’ve already received your invoice for the 2023-24 membership year, you can ignore this portion of today’s message.)
Invoices will be sent from WiLS over the next few weeks, and should be paid to WiLS. WiLS only accepts payment by check or electronic transfer. If you have any questions about your invoice, you can reach out to either the WSDLC Project Managers at wsdlc-info@wils.org or to WiLS’ Financials Team at financials@wils.org.
Any schools/districts that have not responded to the WSDLC Membership Renewal Form (which was sent to all WSDLC main contacts monthly) will be automatically renewed on September 15th, and will be invoiced shortly afterwards. If you need us to resend your renewal information, please let us know at wsdlc-info@wils.org.
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Flipped Classroom: Getting Started
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 on their own and OverDrive staff are ready to schedule one-on-one 20-minute sessions to answer members’ questions. This month’s theme is Getting Started!
How can students checkout titles in Sora? Can I listen to an audiobook offline? How can I find a book in OverDrive Marketplace to purchase for my school’s Advantage account? What are each of the different lending models? You can find answers to these questions and more in this month’s Flipped Classroom: Getting Started.
Click the link or copy and paste it into your browser to get started with Getting Started: https://wsdlc.org/getting-started-with-flipped-classrooms/
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: BadgerLink Resources for Library Staff
Many of you know about Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s BadgerLink and the fantastic resources found there, but did you know that DPI has also created a wonderful how-to guide for this online library? Check out BadgerLink’s For Library Staff page! You can find all sorts of helpful information for new- and seasoned- library staff alike. There are set-up guides, direct resource links, and FAQs in the “Getting Started” section; find promotional bookmarks, posters, flyers, and more in the “Marketing the Resources” section; find out more about each resource on your own time with prerecorded walkthroughs and links to vendor websites in the “Training Materials” section; and get activities and guides made specifically for teachers and students in the “For the Classroom” section.
You can find all of these resources, and more, here: https://badgerlink.dpi.wi.gov/library-staff
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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/.
