Happy Tuesday! This week’s message includes the title list of all of the brand new titles that were added into the WSDLC last month, along with some stats on those titles; this month’s Flipped Classroom: Advantage & Sora Features; and this month’s all-new Advantage Bundle Carts.
We also want to share another big milestone that dawned on us this week: In November, the WSDLC reached 300 Member Wisconsin School Districts! 🎉 This shared collection of digital resources wouldn’t be what it is without all of you- thank you!
New Titles Added in November
In November, 167 all-new titles were added to the shared collections! Of those titles:
- 24 are Audiobooks; 143 are Ebooks
- 3 were added into the Upper High School Collection; 51 were added into the Lower High School Collection; 18 were added into the Middle School Collection; 49 were added into the Upper Elementary Collection; and 46 were added into the Lower Elementary Collection.
- 114 are Metered Access titles; and 53 are One Copy/One User titles
- The top 5 Subject Areas added last month are:
- Juvenile Fiction – 83 titles
- Juvenile Literature – 80 titles
- Young Adult Fiction – 53 titles
- Fantasy – 32 titles
- Romance – 29 titles
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Flipped Classroom: Advantage & Sora Features (All New!)
In October’s Flipped Classroom, we introduced the basics of Advantage Accounts, last month we covered the larger topic of Purchasing with your Advantage Account, and a little later this school we’ll cover running Usage Statistics with your Advantage Account– but beyond these three major topics, we realized that there was a gap in information about how WSDLC Members can take their Advantage Accounts even further. And so for December, we’re bridging that gap and bringing an all-new Flipped Classroom into the mix with Advantage & Sora Features!
The Advantage & Sora Features Flipped Classroom starts with a quick review of Advantage Accounts and OverDrive Marketplace, and then dives into the Top 5 Most Impactful Tools and Best-Practices, of particular use for school library staff who don’t have a ton of extra time on their hands to learn something new, but want to help leverage their Sora collections in the most meaningful way(s).
This Flipped Classroom then wraps up with exploring even more of the wide array of features and tools available to all WSDLC Members from their Advantage Accounts: curation, dashboards, shelf talkers… the list can go on!
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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Tiny Case Studies: Audiobooks for Accessibility with Title Assignments
December’s training materials comes with a side of a Tiny Case Study! This month, we’re highlighting our newest Tiny Case Study: Audiobooks for Accessibility with Title Assignments, submitted by Green Bay Area School District’s Raquel Rand!
Description: “Some of our students struggle to follow along with grade level books. They may be able to comprehend the story, but the physical act of reading may prevent a student from being successful.”
What Are 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.
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 book club, 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 own 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!
You can view all of the WSDLC’s Tiny Case Studies here.
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Reminder: December’s All-New Advantage Bundle Carts!
The WSDLC’s dedicated Digital Content Specialist, Beth Saxton, has created an all-new series of sets of titles for WSDLC members to easily purchase for their Advantage collections! No logging into Marketplace, and no trying to figure out how to get the most of your funds. Just a simple, straightforward way to reduce your students’ wait times on the titles they want most!
When schools are ready to purchase any of these packages, you can submit your order through their linked Google Form order forms. When completing the form(s), you’ll have the opportunity to specify in you’d like your purchase(s) to billed by invoice, issuing a PO, or by content credit that you already have deposited in your Advantage Account(s).
This month’s bundle-theme is Buzz Books! These carts include titles available in Sora that have been included in lists from Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz!
December 2024’s Buzz Books Title Bundles
Caldecott: 19 titles for $402.56
Newbery: 23 titles for $503.01
Printz: 21 titles for $503.73
Please reach out to wsdlc-info@wils.org for title lists and the order form.
And Beth didn’t stop there! December also has an all-new cart of December’s High-Demand Elementary Titles!
December 2024’s High-Demand Elementary Title Bundle
High-Demand Elementary: 22 titles for $505.91
Please reach out to wsdlc-info@wils.org for the title list and 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.
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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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/.
