Sora's Back-to-School Checklist

Ah, back-to-school season. No matter how old you are — or how stressful it can get — there’s just something about it. The trace hints of autumn in the air. The squeak of shoes on freshly waxed floors. The clean lines of a blank chalkboard (if you’re still using chalkboards). And...perhaps the creak of Chromebooks opening and closing?

Whether you’re already back to school or prepping for your return, one thing remains the same: you want to meet your students with all the books they need! And right now is the best time to make sure you've done everything you can to make sure that happens!

Check out your Sora back-to-school checklist!

A one-stop shop for everything you need to start the school year right with reading success. Get tips and tricks, promotional resources, book discounts and more. Learn Sora from cover to cover with hand-picked training resources to meet your needs, no matter your role. Discover Sora, the student reading app, and explore OverDrive Marketplace, the shopping and administrative portal for Sora.

Information compiled in this update was provided by our partners at Sora

Sora Sweet Reads returns May 15, 2023

This year’s Sora Sweet Reads program will be available to all schools globally and will include another robust collection of titles, ranging from juvenile to general adult interest. You can get a sneak peek at some of the titles in the graphic!

The titles will be simultaneous-use, so all students can read without a wait and librarians don’t have to do any extra work to add them. The titles will appear at the top of district's Sora explore page on May 15 and will be ready to use right away (unless a district chooses to opt out).

So, save the date for 2023’s Sora Sweet Reads program, which will run May 15 through August 28, 2023.  For more information about Sweet Reads, visit this Sora blog post. For ideas on how to help students read all summer long, visit this Sora blog post. 

April is School Library Month!

"School Library Month is the American Association of School Librarians' celebration of school librarians and school libraries. Every April school librarians are encouraged to host activities to help their school and local community celebrate the essential role that strong school libraries play in transforming learning." - AASL 

Download Sora's School Library Month marketing kit that contains s free marketing kit, featuring social graphics, posters and a fun word search.

Information compiled in this update was provided by our partners at Sora

Your dedicated OverDrive team will be hosting a live, 45-minute webinar this Wednesday, February 22nd at 10:30 AM for members of Pennsylvania IU shared collections (including Lancaster-Lebanon IU13) who want to get more out of their OverDrive Advantage account. Register here!

This session will be recorded. A link to the recording and follow up materials will be sent to all registrants, including those unable to join live.

During this session, the following will be reviewed:

• Accessing reports relevant for Advantage
• Responding to student demand
• Expanding your Advantage collection
• Promoting with Advantage-level curation & Sora Showcase
• Q&A

If you have any question, please reach out to Meredith Wemhoff, Account Manager at OverDrive Education, at mwemhoff@overdrive.com

Sora has seen quite a few changes over the past few months and with all the emails that land in your inbox, it can be easy to miss an announcement or two. To help you get caught up on all things Sora, below is a list of seven new features and tools you may have missed. Check them out below:

• Google Classroom Add-On –  The new Sora Add-On allows you to browse your school’s catalog and attach specific titles to posts within Google Classroom.
• Only available for schools using Google Workspace for Education Plus or the Teaching and Learning Upgrade.
• See here for details.
• On-Demand Class Sets – Feedback from schools helped us develop a more flexible curriculum-centered lending model option.
• Content Bundles – Reserve titles and offer exclusive access to select users. Great for curriculum titles, classroom libraries, professional development for staff and more.
• Sora Extras – Add learning resources like DOGO News and Method Learning to Sora.
• Comics & Magazines – All access comics and magazines packages are now available for Sora! Contact your Account Manager for pricing.
• Sora Showcase – Give your digital collection a physical presence with our free interactive discovery kiosk software! Contact Zach Delin at OverDrive to get started.
• Student Dashboard – Admins can now see more detailed individual and aggregated reading data to help make data-driven decisions about literacy and reading initiatives.