Sora reading app enables flexible access to books to support 21st-century literacy

 

 

SALT LAKE CITY – October 20, 2021 –  As our nation’s school librarians meet this week for their national conference Oct. 21-23, 2021, they will be engaged with a series of current challenges facing the profession. These include the recognition of school librarians’ critical role, the shift to mobile computing to expand access to digital books and reading, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and youth culture issues, and remote learning. OverDrive Education, the leading supplier of ebooks and audiobooks for student use in the classroom, will be sponsoring, exhibiting and meeting with leaders from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) in booth #919 (complete schedule here).

“It is essential that we help school librarians because in many ways they are facing a new reality of additional job duties as well as time and resource constraints,” said Angela Arnold, General Manager of OverDrive Education. “In addition, we’re proud to champion the school librarian’s integral role in teaching, learning and school culture by sponsoring the AASL School Leader Collaborative. They help shine a light on the direct impact school librarians have in teaching all learners.”

One of the key sessions addressing administrators’ needs will be the AASL School Leader Collaborative. This session will explore what administrators expect from their school librarians and how they can empower a school librarian’s leadership role to impact all learners. The panel includes:

  • Sean Doherty, Superintendent (Retired), School District of Clayton, Missouri
  • April Grace, Superintendent, Shawnee Public Schools, Oklahoma
  • Kelly Gustafson, Principal, Wexford Elementary School, Pennsylvania
  • Joel Hoag, Principal, Freedom Intermediate School, Tennessee
  • Kathy Carroll, Lead Library Media Specialist, South Carolina
  • Kathryn Roots Lewis, Retired Director of Libraries & Instructional Technology, Oklahoma

“The wide variety of ebooks and audiobooks available to students through Sora have been instrumental in increasing access to high-quality titles for all readers in our district,” said Kimberly Ray, Director of Virtual Learning Media Services at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina. “The digital format of these ebooks and audiobooks ensures that students have access to resources when they want them, how they want them, and are not restricted by time or location. We have been excited to leverage Sora for resources that students can use in reading for pleasure along with resources to supplement learning.  Sora has been a game changer in accessing books in our schools!”

During AASL, OverDrive Education will be promoting a variety of new tools and content to expand access and better serve schools. Visit AASL booth #919 to learn about:

  • Marketplace updates and recent additions to the industry-leading catalog of millions of ebooks and audiobooks in over 100 languages including a new collection of popular curated magazines.
  • Featured digital book collections include High Quality Instructional Materials, On-Demand Class Sets and a new no-cost, simultaneous access “Everyone Reads” Spanish Titles for Young Readers collection.
  • Instructional materials for using ESF and ESSER grants and funding.
  • Sora’s new student reading dashboard which enables school librarians and educators to make data-driven decisions by delivering secure insights into student reading activity.
  • OverDrive’s strengthened curriculum focus through the acquisition of net. TeachingBooks’ supplemental learning materials include a wide array of book-specific resources.
  • The new Sora Showcase, which is free touchscreen software designed to promote student discovery, adoption and usage of their school’s digital book collection.

Visit AASL Booth #919 from Oct. 21-23 to hear educators from around the country share how they are implementing digital content and Sora to engage their students and staff:

  • Marketplace Masterclass – Thursday at 6pm MST
  • Reach all your readers: Best practices for inclusive digital curation – Friday at 10am
  • Making the case for digital resources: A how-to for librarians – Friday at 1pm
  • A remote learning roadmap with Boston Public Schools – Friday at 3:30pm
  • The curious librarian’s guide to collection curation – Saturday at 11:30am

For more information about the Sora app for schools, visit https://discoversora.com and AASL Booth #919.

 

About OverDrive Education and the Sora student reading app

OverDrive Education, a division of OverDrive, offers the industry’s largest catalog of ebooks and audiobooks for over 50,000 K-12 schools and millions of students worldwide. The company’s student reading app, Sora, provides every student with access to the right books. Supporting the need to read required curriculum titles, class sets and pleasure reading digital books, Sora’s powerful learning tools and insights help meet the needs of students and educators. Sora was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019. Founded in 1986, OverDrive – the leading digital reading platform for libraries – and OverDrive Education are based in Cleveland, Ohio USA. www.overdrive.com/schools

 

Contact:
David Burleigh
Director of Brand Marketing & Communications
dburleigh@overdrive.com

###