OverDrive and Albemarle County Public Schools Erica Thorsen January 2019

Albemarle County Public Schools Located in Central Virginia Rural, suburban and urban settings Serves almost 14,000 students English language learners - 9.7% Economically disadvantaged - 29.5% Students with disabilities - 12.5%

Before Previous State Bookshare and Learning Ally used for students with IEPs and 504s. Some libraries purchased Play-a-ways. Some libraries offered Kindles with pre-loaded titles. Relied on Jefferson Madison Regional Library’s Overdrive service. Relied on titles available in the public domain. Relied on methods with questionable copyright.

Pilot Program Based on both anecdotal evidence and scholarly research, ACPS leadership dedicated funds toward a 6th - 12th grade pilot program. As librarian at largest high school and one of the PLC leads, I was asked to administer the pilot.

Marketing Simple Signage Complex Emails to faculty and staff Emails to librarians Signage Shelf markers - added QR codes that will take the user to the title on Overdrive Complex Student made commercial

Implementation Nuts and Bolts Barriers 6th - 12th grades Selection process Books available through School library catalog Customized Overdrive website Sora app Barriers Teacher pushback

Literature Circles As a school division Challenge Solution Movement away from whole class novels to choice-based literature circles Movement towards books that contemporary texts that feature diverse characters Challenge Funds to acquire new titles Management of smaller batches of more titles Solution Books can be ordered quickly Teachers or librarians request amount of eBooks/ Audiobooks needed Groups and assigned titles are managed through Title Assignments

Results Increased access to audiobooks Increased circulation Increased student requests Increased teacher requests for both individual titles and literature circle titles

Resources Benefits of Audiobooks for All Readers Is Listening to an Audiobook Cheating? To Your Brain, Listening to a Book Is Pretty Much the Same as Reading It Lamb, Annette. "Listeners' Advisory Part 3: Audiobooks across the Curriculum." Teacher Librarian, vol. 45, no. 4, 2018, p. 52+.