Growing catalog, ease of use, broad compatibility seen as drivers for OverDrive-powered schools

 

At the ASCD Annual Conference, Houston, TX—March 20, 2015– OverDrive, the leading eBook platform for schools and libraries, announced that a record number of schools and districts have made the digital shift successfully in the 2014-15 school year.  More than 12,000 schools and districts worldwide now offer to their students and staff digital content via OverDrive, including eBooks, digital audiobooks and other digital media, an increase of more than 85 percent over 2013-14.

OverDrive will be exhibiting at the ASCD Annual Conference in Houston, March 21-23 in booth 819.

One of the most compelling drivers of the digital shift is OverDrive’s growing selection of more than 2 million digital titles from over 5,000 publishers, easily accessible on any device, which ensures that students get the right titles at the right time.  This past year saw the addition of Pearson and Macmillan textbooks, Nickelodeon eBooks, and advances in EPUB3 narrated (read-along) eBooks, as well as the introduction of cost-effective “novel sets,” and many other curriculum aligned digital resources.  In addition, improvements to streamline the user experience and broad device compatibility – including the addition of a Chromebook™ app to complement usage on other popular devices such as iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ devices and Kindle® (U.S. only).

School districts are seeing the benefits of engaging students with technology.

“With OverDrive, we’re able to provide high-quality materials to engage students in critical areas to further their skill sets to become more productive, collaborative people,” said Kahle Charles, Executive Director of Curriculum, St. Vrain Valley School District in Colorado.

“We continue to see rapid adoption of eBooks and digital audiobooks in K-12 across entire districts throughout the U.S. and in many countries worldwide,” said Don Fabricant, General Manager of Education and Chief Sales Officer at OverDrive. “We attribute it to schools’ increasing focus on engaging students and leveraging technology to support instruction with authentic 21st century skills.”

OverDrive partners with more than 12,000 schools and districts to leverage their learning technology plans by creating a custom digital service of curriculum-based literacy engagement, and Professional Development digital content.  For more information about the OverDrive service for schools, visit the OverDrive booth at the ASCD Annual Conference (booth 819) or www.overdrive.com/schools.

 

About OverDrive
OverDrive is the leading global digital distribution platform, supplying the industry’s largest catalog of eBooks, audiobooks, music and streaming video to 33,000 libraries, schools and retailers worldwide. We support all major computers and devices, including iPhone®, iPad®, Nook®, Android™ phones and tablets, Chromebook™, and Kindle® (U.S. only). OverDrive offers all digital media on a single platform, and offers APIs to streamline a seamless user experience. OverDrive Read, the breakthrough EPUB and HTML5 browser-based reading experience, now supports fixed layout and narrated eBooks. Founded in 1986, OverDrive is based in Cleveland, Ohio USA. www.overdrive.com

Contact:
David Burleigh
Director of Marketing & Communications
dburleigh@overdrive.com
216-573-6886 ext. 218

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