Ebooks & audiobooks for international schools

How has the Sora app helped keep students reading and learning, especially as your school transitioned to distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic?
With students shifting to online learning during the coronavirus pandemic, ebooks have become more important than at any time before. We encouraged students to shift to the online reading platforms by curating lists for book clubs, reading challenges and literature circles. Seeing books categorized in lists, students were able to access books easily, especially with the huge number of titles found on Sora. Also, offering simultaneous use books for free on Sora during this period has increased the number of students exploring the titles, which will have a great impact on our orders in the future. Having some of the classics with an appealing cover image has encouraged students to pick books they would never have chosen before.

Can you talk a little more about the benefits of access to OverDrive’s catalog of millions of popular and instructional ebooks and audiobooks?
Of course, ordering books online without having to worry about the time it takes to ship the book(s) from the States to the school has made it easy for us to have access to the material immediately. It has also encouraged teachers to plan without worrying about the availability of books, giving them more flexibility during these unprecedented times.

How does Sora make reading more accessible and enjoyable for your students? What are some of the most popular Sora features?
Having Sora available on students' phones made it more appealing for students to use. Now they will not have to worry about grabbing a laptop wherever they would go to read. It is as simple as "Install the App once, Choose a Book, and Read!" One of the features students like is the ability to read the sample before borrowing the book. Another is the ability to change the background.

Describe the service you’ve received from OverDrive’s team. What have you found particularly helpful?
Steps to help solve an issue or answer a question are usually put in a very informative and easy to follow way. In some cases, a screenshot of the steps was applied. Services also included drawing our attention to some of the promotions we might have missed. In many cases, the team would take the initiative to curate lists to help with our work or decisions.

What would you tell another international school considering an OverDrive digital collection?
When recommending the OverDrive digital collection to another international school, we would highlight the huge variety of books offered - books to suit different interests, reading levels, and audiences. Introducing Sora to lower grade levels has made almost the whole school use the same reading platform, to ensure consistency and continuity. Our recommendations would also bring to light the services offered by the support team. Working under the current conditions makes it important to have a professional support team you can go to when facing a problem.

How has OverDrive helped keep students reading and learning, especially as your school transitioned to distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic?
OverDrive has helped us provide students and teachers with access to both independent and whole-class books, even though we have not been able to circulate our print resources since we closed campus in March until just this month.

Can you talk a little more about the benefits of access to OverDrive’s catalog of millions of popular and instructional ebooks and audiobooks?
OverDrive's selection is one of the main reasons we chose them as our ebook provider. As a bilingual school, access to popular titles in both English and Spanish is very important, and OverDrive almost always has the Spanish titles that our students and teachers request. The almost instant access is also a great feature. I've had teachers request a book they needed for class and with OverDrive I was able to get them access to the title within 24 hours.

How does Sora make reading more accessible and enjoyable for your students? What are some of the most popular Sora features?
The Sora app is one of the big reasons why we've now expanded our OverDrive collection to include our primary school students. It's easy for them to sign in, search and access the books they like, and the visual display for picture books and graphic novels is attractive.

Describe the service you’ve received from OverDrive’s team. What have you found particularly helpful?
OverDrive's team has been very helpful, especially with integration with our catalog as well as creating lists based on topic requests or whole-class reads.

What would you tell another international school considering an OverDrive digital collection?
OverDrive's selection, ease of use, and customer service is the best. Our budget has been cut significantly this year, but OverDrive is one of our services that we have worked hard to prioritize to be able to continue this valuable access for our students and teachers.

How has OverDrive helped keep students reading and learning, especially as your school transitioned to distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic?
Sora Sweet Reads was a great way for us to begin promoting use of Sora. We were not heavy digital users pre-pandemic, but were starting to increase our audiobook collection. Now that we are in distance learning, our student (and parent) usage is increasing every month. Students enjoy the badge system. They also enjoy browsing because it is so visual. The ability to create collections helps them to focus their selections and not be too overwhelmed at all the options.

Can you talk a little more about the benefits of access to OverDrive’s catalog of millions of popular and instructional ebooks and audiobooks?
At our school, students and teachers are used to getting new books two times a year. When booktalking using Sora, I mentioned that I just added a brand-new title a couple days ago and was met with an audible gasp (not all students were in the habit of using their mute button yet!). The teacher asked me to clarify, and I mentioned how quickly I can add books to our collection. She was so excited, and so were her students. The timely access is unique.

How does Sora make reading more accessible and enjoyable for your students? What are some of the most popular Sora features?
Students enjoy that they can access Sora on any of their devices, and it syncs between all of them. The badge system is a fun bonus for them.

Describe the service you’ve received from OverDrive’s team. What have you found particularly helpful?
I cannot say enough about the level of service I've received from my OverDrive support team. They are the strongest support team I’ve ever had from a vendor. My team is quickly responsive, thorough in their explanations, and they are willing to teach me and/or step in to help me when time has been tight for me. They are proactive in suggesting titles that are specific to my readers. They also work with my technical team as we sorted through some login changes, keeping me in the loop with any changes that might impact the reading experience for users. I am SO appreciative of all that they do.

What would you tell another international school considering an OverDrive digital collection?
I would ask why they haven’t yet. The features in Sora are especially created for K-12 readers. The learning curve with using OverDrive Marketplace is a little steep, but the support team is there to help along the way. During distance learning, this creates access to reading materials to all students, no matter where they are in the world. After distance learning ends (because it will eventually!), Sora will act as an enhancement to our physical collection and be a place where we can feature popular audiobooks.