Weekly Message: August 27th, 2024

Happy Tuesday! In this week’s message we’re sharing the next topic in our [Re]Introduction to the WSDLC series, which highlights the WSDLC’s Governance. Both the WSDLC Board and the Selection Advisory Committee met last week for their annual Orientations, and we are SO excited for everything that they’ll be doing for the year ahead! Also in this week’s message are some collection updates: an overview of the titles that were added over the summer, plus a collection of titles that was not renewed for this membership year. And we’ll round off with a couple of reminders on opportunities and the renewal deadline.
Have a great week ahead!

[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 2024, three WSDLC members were (re)elected to represent their CESA district on the WSDLC board, and one WSDLC member was appointed! Your WSDLC Board for 2024-25 is:
CESA 1: Jill Polglaze (Franklin Public Schools)
CESA 2: Brandy Grady (School District of Beloit) *Newly Elected
CESA 3: Emily Zorea (Ithaca School District) *Re-elected
CESA 4: Gidget Moore (Board Chair) (Viroqua School District)
CESA 5: Kristen Zastrow (Tomorrow River School District) *Newly Elected
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
At Large: Nell Fleming (Wisconsin School for the Deaf)
At Large: Beth Hennes (Madison Metropolitan School District)
At Large: Jennifer Peterson (Menasha Joint School District)
At Large: Joann Sobolik (South Milwaukee School District) *Newly Appointed

Partners: Monica Treptow (DPI)

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 2024, four individuals from WSDLC member districts were appointed to serve on the Selection Advisory Committee! Your WSDLC Selection Advisory Committee for 2024-25 is:

  • Julie Beloungy (School District of Thorp) *Newly Appointed
  • Linda Hamann (Edgar School District)
  • Teresa Krajco (Hillsboro School District) *Newly Appointed
  • Kate Olson (School District of La Crosse) *Newly Appointed
  • Anita Paque (Hamilton School District) *Newly Appointed
  • Naomi Peuse (Weyauwega-Fremont School District)
  • Teresa Voss (Verona Area School District)

You can find these details and more on the Governance page of the WSDLC website.

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WSDLC Collection Update: Supersonic Phonics & Decodables Package Not Renewing

The SuperSonics Phonics package that was added August 2023 will not be renewed for the 24-25 membership year. The package of 166 titles increased from a cost of $6,000 to $14,000. The WSDLC Board and Project Managers, in coordination with the WSDLC’s dedicated Digital Content Specialist at OverDrive, are working to create a robust and inclusive curated collection to support beginning readers.

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New Titles Added June-July

In June and July, 355 completely new titles were added in to the WSDLC shared collections!
Of these titles:

  • 295 are Ebooks: 169 to the Juvenile collection; 39 to the Young Adult collection; and 87 to the Adult collection,
  • 58 are Audiobooks: 18 to the Juvenile collection; 16 to the Young Adult collection; and 24 to the Adult collection,
  • 2 are Magazines: Both to the Juvenile collection,
  • 8 titles are Simultaneous Use; 110 titles are One Copy/One User; and 237 titles are a part of a Metered Access lending model,
    there are 44 subjects, with the top 5 being:

    • Juvenile Fiction – 176
    • Juvenile Literature – 155
    • Young Adult Fiction – 132
    • Fantasy – 80
    • Young Adult Literature – 78

A complete list of all the new titles added in June and July, along with their format and content access level(s), are available as a Google Sheet here.

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Flipped Classroom: Getting Started Begins Next Week!

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 are 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.

Beginning on Sunday, September 1st, we’ll be starting with Getting Started! During this flipped classroom, members can get an overview of how to use Sora, learn the various lending models, and get a brief introduction to OverDrive Advantage accounts and Marketplace (with more details on these topics coming in later months).

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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Reminders:

➢ Advantage Bundle Carts for Easier Ordering

An entirely new set of Advantage Bundle Carts have been packaged and are ready for your orders! This month, Beth Saxton (the WSDLC’s dedicated Digital Content Specialist Librarian at OverDrive) has identified the most popular titles in the WSDLC collection since April 2024, and have the following carts available for WSDLC members to purchase for only their students to access:
August 2024’s High-Demand Title Bundles
Juvenile (K-5) 27 titles $409.87
Young Adult (6-8) 14 titles $505.21
Adult (9-12) 12 titles $496.32

When completing the order form, you’ll have the opportunity to specify if you’re purchasing 1-, 2-, or all 3 of the packages; and if you’d like your purchase(s) to be billed by invoice, issuing a PO, or by content credit that you already have deposited in your Advantage Account(s)- whatever works best for you!
Orders will be processed on Wednesdays.

Reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers for how to order.

Previous Advantage Bundles are still available, too!
The three Advantage Bundle Carts that were released earlier this year can still be purchased. (Or purchased again!) Details on each of those carts are below:
April 2024’s High Demand Title Bundles: Title Lists and Pricing | Order Form
Hi-Lo Titles for Middle & High School: Title Lists and Pricing | Order Form
January 2024’s High Demand Title Bundles: Title Lists & Pricing | Order Form

Notes:

  • “High Demand” is determined as the audiobooks and ebooks that have the highest numbers of holds and checkouts within the shared collections.
  • These lists are not customizable for ordering. Please reach out to the OverDrive team at wsdlc@overdrive.com for additional options.

What Are Advantage Bundle Carts?
Every few months, the WSDLC’s dedicated Digital Content Specialist Librarian at OverDrive, Beth Saxton, identifies themes of titles in the shared collection and prepackages them into bundles/carts (based on Content Access Levels) that WSDLC Members can purchase for only their students, just by completing a quick Google form! No thinking about how to best leverage your budget, and no logging in to OverDrive Marketplace. Just a simple, straightforward way to get your students the titles they want most.

Save yourself time and money, and help get those high-interest, high-hold titles into the hands of your students faster by ordering today!

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➢ WSDLC Renewal Decisions Due This Week

If you haven’t already let us know your school/district’s renewal decision for the 2024-25 membership year, please do so as soon as possible. Last week the final renewal reminders were sent to schools that we haven’t gotten a response from yet; these emails include a price quote for the upcoming year (based on 2023-24 enrollment numbers reported in WISEdash), along with the link to the renewal form, which allows schools to let us know of any contact changes and will enable you to request adjustments to your school’s access.

Schools/Districts that have not let us know their renewal decision will be automatically renewed on September 1st.

If your school has requested changes to the grades/schools that are accessing collections and have been given a new OverDrive Agreement to sign, please make sure to get that back to us as soon as possible. OverDrive cannot make updates to your school’s access until the new agreement has been signed.

Invoices will be sent out in September unless a different date has been requested when completing the renewal 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/.

WiLS Team