September 2nd, 2025

Good morning, happy Tuesday, and welcome to the 2025-26 WSDLC membership year!
It’s been quite a summer, and we’re excited to be back! This week we have a few resources to help folks get [re]acquainted with the WSDLC collections and how they can customize Sora to fit their school(s), a few celebrations and statistics to share, and a brief look at what’s ahead for the consortium.

And as a reminder for those of you returning this year, these messages will no longer be sent out weekly on Tuesdays, but rather we’re pulling back and only sending these on the first- and third- Tuesday of the month. We’re hopeful that this will cut down on the repetition and keep your inboxes a little cleaner. (Don’t worry- we’ll still share out important and timely updates as they come to us.)

If you have any questions, do reach out to us at wsdlc-info@wils.org or the WSDLC team at OverDrive at wsdlc@overdrive.com.
You can also find a quick-guide of who to contact and when on the Contact Us page on the WSDLC website.

The 2025-26 WSDLC Membership Year has Begun!

Student Access in Sora: Problems & Solutions

If you’re finding your students are having issues accessing Sora, there are two things you can do:

  • A single student is in a new grade and a new access level, but can’t see the new materials available to them​
    Have the student log out of Sora on their device, then log back in. OverDrive’s systems can’t match their new grade level to their new CALs until the student logs out
  • No students are able to log in / Your school updated/changed Authentication methods and/or reporting over the summer / Other​
    Reach out to the WSDLC team at OverDrive at wsdlc@overdrive.com. They will be able to assess the issues, make updates, and get your students into Sora as soon as possible.

Membership Renewals + Invoicing

Any member districts that we haven’t received a renewal decision on will be automatically renewed on September 15th. If anyone needs another copy of your renewal quote or a reminder on how you can approve your renewal, please let us know.

WSDLC member schools and districts that haven’t requested early invoicing will be receiving their invoices in September. Invoices will be sent via email to member’s WSDLC Main Contact and Billing Contact from WiLS’s Financials Team (financials@wils.org). Invoices should be paid to WiLS, and information about accepted payments will be included on the invoice.

If you have any questions about billing, please reach out to the WSDLC Project Managers at wsdlc-info@wils.org

WSDLC Resources & Guides

We’re attaching two documents to help folks just getting starting, and for those who would like a reminder, on the tools and resources available to them through the WSDLC:

  • Advantage Infosheet – this 3-page PDF provides an overview of the tools available to all WSDLC member schools/districts, and links on how to learn more about them
  • WSDLC Member Orientation Toolkit – this PDF packet provides background information, descriptions, and links on a WSDLC Membership

You can also find more information and training on the WSDLC website:

  • Flipped Classrooms: 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).
  • Getting Started with OverDrive: Another page with general information on the WSDLC, OverDrive, Marketplace, and Sora; with links to outside resources.
  • ✨ OverDrive’s self-paced training module: Sora share collection: Your first 90 days – while intended for those new to a shared collection, it holds helpful information for long-time WSDLC members who may want a refresher.

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/

⸻ ● ● ● ⸻

8,000,000 Checkouts + Summer Usage Statistics

We mentioned above that it’s been a whirlwind of a summer, and hitting another milestone is part of it!

As of Wednesday, June 11th at 8:26am, students at WSDLC member school districts had checked out over 8,000,000 titles!
The title that holds the honor of being the 8 millionth checkout is *drumroll* an issue of the magazine Ranger Rick!
And since we’re suckers for historical data, here are all of the previous X-millionth checkout titles:
1,000,000th checkout: December 4th, 2020 with Hard Luck: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series, Book 8 by Jeff Kinney
2,000,000th checkout: November 22nd, 2021 with The Last Straw: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series, Book 3, by Jeff Kinney
3,000,000th checkout: September 29th, 2022 with Wrecking Ball: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series, Book 14, by Jeff Kinney
4,000,000th checkout: May 11th, 2023 with Trucks, by Gary Sprott
5,000,000th checkout: January 26th, 2024 with Who Would Win: Lobster vs Crab, by Jerry Pallotta
6,000,000th checkout: September 16th, 2024 with Who Would Win: Ultimate Showdownby Jerry Pallotta
7,000,000th checkout: February 4th, 2025 with Rude Cakes by Rowboat Watkins
Taking a step back and looking at the rest of this summer’s usage:

Number of Students Checking Out Materials

  • June 2025: 18,018
  • July 2025: 5,194
  • August 2025: 5,708

Checkouts Totals

  • June 2025: 71,759
    • 13,584 Audiobooks
    • 55,484 Ebooks
    • 2,691 Magazines
  • July 2025: 30,360
    • 8,187 Audiobooks
    • 21,446 Ebooks
    • 727 Magazines
  • August 2025: 30,271
    • 8,350 Audiobooks
    • 21,310 Ebooks
    • 611 Magazines
View the full calendar year’s consortium statistics as a Google Sheet here.
Download historical stats from the bottom of the WSDLC Year to Date Statistics page.
Learn how to run stats for only your school(s) with WSDLC’s Flipped Classroom: Usage Statistics, OverDrive Resource Center’s training videos, and/or OverDrive’s self-paced View Sora Activity training module.

⸻ ● ● ● ⸻

New Advantage Bundle Carts

What are Advantage Bundle Carts?
It can be hard to find the time to build up your school’s Advantage offerings in Sora, so let us do some of the work for you! The WSDLC’s dedicated Digital Content Specialist Librarian at OverDrive builds carts of materials based on different themes- sometimes it’s the most popular, high-demand titles in the shared collection; sometimes it’s award winners; etc- and prepackages these titles into sets that you can purchase for only your 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 reduce your students’ wait times on the titles they want most.
Tip: Some members also use the title lists as a guide when building their own carts.

The current, all-new Advantage Bundle Carts are:
Summer 2025 Releases Title Bundles
Elementary  |  22 titles  |  $503.85
Middle School  |  18 titles |  $499.08
High School |  15 titles |  $493.44
Order Form: Reach out to wsdlc-info@wils.org for the link

Elementary Best of 2025 Title Bundles
Graphic Novels (only) |  23 titles |  $503.14
Not Graphic Novels |  18 titles |  $500.88
Order Form: Reach out to wsdlc-info@wils.org for the link

 

When you’re 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).

Note: These lists are not customizable for ordering. Please reach out to the OverDrive team at wsdlc@overdrive.com for additional options.

⸻ ● ● ● ⸻

OverDrive’s Promotional Kits and Resources

Many of you on this listserv may have already seen this, but it’s something worth sharing again (and again).
Earlier this month, the WSDLC team at OverDrive put together and shared out a wonderful list of Back-to-School resources:

———————

The WSDLC Team hopes you had a good summer! Here are some resources to help you and your staff prepare for back-to-school open houses and parent nights.

As a virtual resource, it’s important to give your Sora collection a physical presence. Highlighting it during events meant for parents and guardians reminds them that their students have books available to them 24/7.
Please feel free to forward this promotional kit to any library staff or teachers!

In addition to the above resources and our Sora Must-Haves, We’ve attached flyers for families to take home. Please feel free to reach out if there’s anything we can help with to prepare for the coming school year.

The OverDrive and WSDLC Project Managers are here to help engage your students, please reach out at wsdlc@overdrive.com

———————

And on the subject of training and marketing needs, the WSDLC Project Managers will be updating the WSDLC’s training and marketing resources over this summer as well- keep your eyes peeled for announcements on when materials are ready!

⸻ ● ● ● ⸻

New Titles Added Over the Summer

Through June, July, and August, 720 completely new titles were added into the shared collection!
  • 59 Audiobooks: 6 Lower Elementary; 13 Upper Elementary; 16 Middle School; 23 Lower High School; and 1 Upper High School
  • 586 Ebooks: 181 Lower Elementary; 117 Upper Elementary; 70 Middle School; 203 Lower High School; and 15 Upper High School
  • 75 Magazines: 8 Lower Elementary; 27 Middle School; 40 Lower High School
View the full title list (with format and CAL) as a Google Sheet here.
(This Google Sheet also includes the new titles added each month, so if you ever miss a month, we’ve got you covered!)

New Comics & Magazines Added Today!

Not included in the counts above are new Magazines that were added to the shared collections today:
Preview the All-Access Comics additions by Grade Level:
Preview the Sora Magazine additions by Grade Level:

Recommend a Title

If you and/or your students are looking for a book in Sora that hasn’t been added yet, you can recommend the title to be purchased for the shared collection! The WSDLC website includes a Title Recommendation form that library media specialists, educators, and others at participating schools and districts can fill out to suggest a title for purchase for the shared collection. Just reach out to the Project Managers for the link!

Suggestions submitted through this form are collected by the WSDLC Project Managers and then reviewed against the WSDLC Selection Policy (Section C of the Collection Policy). Titles that are selected will be purchased once per month; and Project Managers will reach out to you if the title has been added.

You can find more information, including the Collection Development policy and a Statement on the WSDLC Collections, on the Collection Information and Circulation Policies page on the WSDLC website.

⸻ ● ● ● ⸻

Updates from OverDrive / In Case You Missed It

Improvements to hold suspensions and calculations in Sora and Marketplace

In August, OverDrive announced that later this month the hold suspensions feature will see an update:

———————

Thanks to partner feedback, Sora will soon make changes to the Get it later feature and hold freezing.
How it works today
    • When a hold becomes available, users can Borrow the title or select Get it later from the hold notification.
    • Get it later lets users delay the delivery of available holds if they’re not yet ready to enjoy them. Selecting Get it later passes the available copy on to the next person in line and returns the user to the top of the wait list after seven days.
    • Users can Freeze an individual hold or all holds for one week or up to six months.
 
What’s changing?
    • Going forward, the Get it later option pauses a hold until a user takes further action.
    • When a user is ready to receive a paused hold, they’ll need to manually resume the hold.
    • Users can select Options on a hold to pause or resume it or to find their estimated wait time.
    • The first time a user misses their hold pickup window, the hold will be paused indefinitely, instead of for 7 days.
    • Paused holds will be canceled automatically after 365 days if the user takes no additional action on them.
Going forward, paused holds will be excluded when calculating a user’s estimated wait time, which will increase wait time accuracy.
After this update, the calculation of the current average wait period in Marketplace will also be adjusted so it’s based on the date a hold was last unsuspended (i.e., the date the user resumed their hold) instead of the entire hold period. In effect, only the time the user was actively waiting will be counted.
Benefits of this change
This change aims to:
    • Increase equity of access for all users by asking them to be more intentional about when they want to receive a hold.
    • Move holds more efficiently and free up copies for users who are deeper in the wait list.
    • Reduce how long unwanted holds sit unclaimed.
These changes are planned for mid-September, and we’ll follow up with an email once they’re live.
In the meantime, please refer to this FAQ for more information, and contact your Sora team with questions.

———————

And on the subject of training and marketing needs, the WSDLC Project Managers will be updating the WSDLC’s training and marketing resources over this summer as well- keep your eyes peeled for announcements on when materials are ready!

⸻ ● ● ● ⸻

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