Welcome back to school and to our first month of WSDLC “Flipped Classroom” training series!
If you are new to WSDLC or want a refresher, this month’s Flipped Classroom is for you.
This page will introduce you to the basics of what it means to be a member in the WSDLC. From definitions of well-used terms to digital collection resources, we have materials to get you introduced with the WSDLC OverDrive collection, and the OverDrive team is also ready to help with questions you have.
WSDLC, OverDrive, Sora, and Marketplace
First things first is understanding the differences between WSDLC, OverDrive, Sora, and Marketplace:
WSDLC
WSDLC is an acronym for Wisconsin Schools Digital Library Consortium. The WSDLC is an opt-in consortium that is available to Wisconsin schools- public, private, and charter- where Project Managers, an elected Board, and an appointed Selection Advisory Committee work together, alongside dedicated staff from the company OverDrive, to curate a collection of digital materials (ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, readalong books, comic books, and graphic novels) that can be shared and checked out by K12 students at member districts across the state.
Membership in the WSDLC can include a full district, only one or two schools within a district, or potentially even just a single grade level at a district. (Though this last example does depend on the school’s reporting method and how that can coordinate with OverDrive’s authentication services.)
WiLS serves as the Project Manager for the WSDLC, and handles membership enrollment and renewal information and provides the consortium’s fiscal agency, governance support, meeting management, shared collection planning, training, marketing and communications, research and resources (in particular for Collection Support and Intellectual Freedom), and building relationships and acting as a liaison with peer organizations and vendors.
OverDrive
OverDrive is the parent company that manages the Sora reading app, and the Marketplace platform.
Sora
Sora is the platform/app that students and staff use to access the collections of digital materials that is shared between all member schools.
Students are able to access materials that are available in Sora anytime, anywhere. That is, they not only have these materials available to them while at school, but anywhere that they have access to the internet and a device: At home on a tablet, riding in a car on a phone, or at a grandparent’s house on a personal computer. Not only that, but Sora allows users to download checked out content so materials can be read or listened to when an internet connection isn’t available.
Learn more about Sora with OverDrive’s Getting Started with Sora training module.
If videos are more your style, also available are a series of short How-To videos. From how to sign in to Sora, to how to access eBooks and Audiobooks, to personalizing your account, you can find it all here.
And then we have:
Marketplace
Marketplace is the administrative side of the house, where you can get MARC records, run reports, purchase titles (if you are buying for an Advantage account- see more about this below!) and more. Watch the Marketplace Overview video below to get an introduction on how you can use OverDrive Marketplace, then follow the additional links to get more detailed information on the areas you’d like to know more about.
Key concepts for understanding how the WSDLC collection works:
- Lending Models
OverDrive’s lending models are the purchasing and borrowing terms for the ebooks and audiobooks, determined by the publishers. There are five different lending models that digital content can be available under: One Copy One User (OC/OU), Metered Access (MA), Class Sets, Simultaneous Use (Sim Use), and Cost Per Circ (CPC).
View the video Understanding lending models to get an introduction to each of these lending models and what they mean for the WSDLC collection. To get a more in-depth description of each, watch the videos and/or view the PDFs of the slides below:
- Curation
Marketplace has the option to create curated collections, which can help showcase digital content. Watch the Curating Collections for the Sora App video to get an overview on how curated collections work. - Insights
Marketplace offers a variety of tools and reports that users can run to get a feel for how their school’s students, staff, and faculty are using the collection. Watch Reports: Marketplace Insights Tab for K-12 Schools to get an overview on the kind of statistics you can get for your school. (We’ll be doing a more in-depth look at Marketplace Insights in January’s Flipped Classroom!)
Additionally, in June 2019, WSDLC and OverDrive held a webinar on usage statistics. Watch Marketplace Insights, the recording of this webinar.
You can find more training videos on additional topics at the Marketplace training page
Advantage Accounts
Briefly, advantage accounts allow you to purchase content that is available only to your students. View the Working with an OverDrive Advantage Account (K-12 Schools) video below to learn more, or download the PDF. (We’ll be going through a deeper review on Advantage accounts in October’s Flipped Classroom!)
That brings us to the end of this month’s Flipped Classroom training on Getting Started! Whether you are new to the WSDLC, or are a returning member, we hope you found this information helpful. See you again in October for our next Flipped Classroom topic: Advantage Accounts & Marketplace!
If you have any questions, or would just like to know more about getting started with OverDrive, we encourage you to schedule a 20-minute one-on-one session with OverDrive. Contact the WSDLC OverDrive team (wsdlc@overdrive.com) to schedule a session or ask a question.
If you have questions specifically about the WSDLC consortium, you can contact wsdlc-info@wils.org.
You can view the full year’s training plan and revisit previous Flipped Classrooms here: WSDLC Training Schedule