Happy Tuesday! This week’s message features a reminder about the WSDLC’s Advantage Bundle Carts, and September’s Flipped Classroom content. We’re also bringing something new this week, and pairing it with something tried-and-true: two ways for WSDLC Members to share their experiences. We love hearing from all of you about the exciting things (and even the things you may think are mundane) you do in your school with Sora, and we want to make sure folks can share those with the larger WSDLC community- see below for more details!
Reminder: Advantage Bundle Carts for Easier Ordering
We know that it’s not always easy for library staff to find the time to purchase additional digital materials for their students to supplement the shared collections available in Sora- all while leveraging budgets to have the greatest impact- so let OverDrive do it for you!
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.
In August 2024, an entirely new set of Advantage Bundle Carts were 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
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.
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!) Just reach out to wsdlc-info@wils.org for the details and ordering information.
- April 2024’s High Demand Title Bundles
- Hi-Lo Titles for Middle & High School
- January 2024’s High Demand Title Bundles
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.
Save yourself time and money, and help get those high-interest, high-hold titles into the hands of your students faster by ordering today!
Final Days for September’s 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 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.
September kicks off the Flipped Classroom training series 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).
Looking to get ahead on October’s Flipped Classroom topic? We’ve shaken things up this year, and made some updates to the Flipped Classroom curriculum: We’ve sunsetted an outdated Flipped Classroom topic, and in it’s place we’ll now be taking a look at Advantage Accounts & Marketplace.
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/
We can’t wait to see what’s in store for the 2024-25 school year!
Two Ways to Share Your WSDLC Experience(s)
The WSDLC is more than just a resource to enhance digital content offerings to Wisconsin students- it’s an opportunity for K12 library staff to connect, share ideas, and crowdsource best practices. And with that, WSDLC Project Managers have come up with two ways for WSDLC members to highlight and showcase some of the work they’ve done:
- A member spotlight- called the WSDLC Member Causerie– which is a brief interview with a WSDLC member library staffer; and
- The WSDLC’s Tiny Case Studies– which are brief, practical summaries of outstanding things that some WSDLC members are doing that involve Sora.
Be sure to check out both of these opportunities to share something about yourself and your district, and some major (or minor!) wins that your school has accomplished with the WSDLC!
WSDLC Member Causerie
The WSDLC Member Causerie is a brand new opportunity for staff at WSDLC member districts to share a little bit about themselves, their school, their discoveries and processes with Sora, and ways they’ve gotten their students, colleagues, parents, and/or other stakeholders engaged with their digital materials in Sora.
To participate, reach out to wsdlc-info@wils.org! We’ll forward you the link to a form to fill out- completing as much, or as little, as you are comfortable- and you’re responses will be featured in an upcoming weekly newsletter!
Tiny Case Studies
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 2023’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!
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/.
