AMY BROWNLEE'S PRESENTATIONS
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Digital Books for Schools: Connecting Kids to Ebooks

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Digital Books for Schools:
Connecting Kids to Ebooks


​KLA Virtual Conference  
10/29/2020
by Amy Brownlee, MLS
District Librarian for Sterling Public Schools, Sterling, KS


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When the educational fire alarm went off in March when Governor Kelly announced Kansas school buildings would close for the rest of the school year, some of us were prepared and had the tools we needed.  
We had a core collection of ebooks. We had a website with ebook links.  We had taught ebook lessons to students and shared passwords. We had distributed bookmarks or flyers with ebook information.
​

Others of us had no firetruck, no hose, no fire gear. We were not equipped to provide digital resources.


Whatever your situation, today we will help you develop or refine your plan for providing digital resources to your patrons.

​With recent school building closures, students, teachers and families have relied on ebooks and digital audiobooks more than ever before.  Librarians are “first responders” in providing access to digital books for independent reading, book clubs, and classroom assignments.

Today you will learn:
  • What free options are available?
  • How do students access ebooks from school and at home?
  • What devices are supported?
  • Which ebooks can be downloaded for offline reading / listening?
  • How do we promote these resources to our students, staff and families?
  • If we want to purchase digital books for our school, what options are available and what are the costs?​​

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Remote and hybrid learning has put schools in a “911 situation” in trying to provide at-home learning opportunities for students. We need to look at available resources and create a plan for our schools by answering three big questions:

1. Which resources are right for my students?
2. How do they access the resources?
3. How do I promote these resources?

Things to consider:  purpose, access, cost

Purpose
  • Leisure reading (popular titles and authors)
  • Content-area curriculum (science, social studies, research)
  • ​Reading instruction (Raz Kids, Reading A to Z) 
  • Reading practice 
  • ​Accelerated Reader testing

Access
  • What devices are supported? Is an app required?
  • ​Where will they be used?  At home, school, or both?
  • Can books be downloaded for offline reading / listening?
  • ​Login info can’t be posted online because of licensing agreements. Can post link to a password-protected document that gives passwords (for example, with Google login). Make the same as another login if possible. Many offer SSO with Google login.
Cost
What is my budget? Will I have money available every year?
What free options are available? 

1. Free on the web - no accounts or login needed
  • Unite for Literacy - Simple, nonfiction ebooks for early / beginning readers. They publish their own material. Includes option to hear the text narrated aloud.
  • Loyal Books - 7000+ ebooks and audiobooks. Public domain titles / classics. Organized by genre. Read online or download. Includes material from Project Gutenberg and Librivox.
2. Free - available on mobile devices only for qualifying schools (Title I)
  • Open ebooks from First Book
3. Free, but must create teacher and student accounts
  • Epic
4. Free through your public library
5. Free through the State Library - Ebooks for Kids
ADDENDUM: Presentation attendees recommend more ebook resources:
  • Another free resource that is similar to Epic is ReadingIQ.  Teachers can get a free subscription and they offer quality titles.
  • World Book Ebooks - offer cheap and good upper elementary / middle school nonfiction.
  • School Library Journal article: The Ins and Outs of Buying Ebooks: How to Bolster Virtual Collections During the Pandemic
  • Storia ebooks (from Scholastic) - school and classroom subscriptions available

Types of ebook models ​

  1. Subscription
  2. Select and purchase individual titles
    *Perpetual use / single user
    *Metered # of uses
    *Simultaneous access / multiuser (mainly nonfiction and classics)
    *Can rent class sets from Overdrive/Sora and MackinVia. Cost is around $4.50-$5.50 per copy (one copy per student) for a two month rental.

​Platform options

Subscriptions
​ 
  • Tumblebooks - Streaming, animated storybooks and nonfiction. $599 “deluxe” or $799 “premium” per year. Discount for multiple year purchase. Popular titles and authors (Kate diCamillo, Robert Munsch). Can search by AR level. Can use special link with embedded username and password.
  • ​Vooks - Streaming, free trial for teachers. Unique titles.
  • JLG - Junior Library Guild streaming. Subscribe to a specific grade level stream. Books change out periodically. Can purchase specific titles.​
  • MyOn - offered by Renaissance Learning (makers of AR). myon.com/school/readathome  username: readnow  password: myon
  • Pinna audiobook subscription - Free trial for teachers
Purchase individual titles and/or join consortium

  • Overdrive (apps: Sora for school, Libby for public library)
    • Sora  - Yearly platform fee. Can also use Public Library Connect.
    • ​Sora Starter - +200 free ebooks, free Public Library Connect.
    • Sunflower eLibrary - Kansas consortium for public libraries.  Go to the page and click “sign in.” There will be a drop down list of participating libraries. You can search for a library near you!
  • ​MackinVIA ebooks and digital audiobooks (FREE platform). MackinVIA is offering a package of FREE classic ebooks so you can try out their service. There is a new MackinVIA consortium for Kansas school libraries.
  • ​Follett Destiny Discover ebooks and digital audiobooks (FREE platform)
  • Axis 360 (Baker & Taylor). Must pay yearly for platform. Currently used by Johnson County Library. Allows schools to connect to public library with Community Connect program. More info on Axis 360.
  • ​Capstone (FREE platform). Excellent nonfiction. Capstone interactive. (Capstone ebooks can be accessed within Destiny and MackinVIA.) Lots of librarians give Capstone high praise. They offer frequent sales.
  • ABDO ebooks


​Consortium 

When available, you can pay a fee to be part of a group with ebook access. It can be a way to get access to lots of options for less money, but with more people using the ebooks, it could mean a wait time for popular titles.

Gathering data
  • Needs assessment
  • Survey through Google forms. Can use data in funding requests.  Sample surveys:
    • Teacher input for NF ebooks
    • Tumblebooks survey  /  responses
      ​​
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Funding options
  • Regional library system: SCKLS Program / Project Grant
  • Local groups: Rotary Club, PTO, 4-H Clubs
  • Grants: MidWest Energy, county/regional community foundations (I use South Central Comm. Foundation and Rice County Comm. Foundation).
  • Focus: WAW books, science ebooks that will be used by all 6th graders every year, early literacy for PreK-grade 2

Access & Promotion

Providing information on digital books can be a firehose of information - too much to take in!  Especially for parents and kids overwhelmed with at-home learning and a variety of platforms, usernames and passwords, digital books are just “one more thing.”  Provide easy-to-use, general info up front.  Then give more details for families wanting to “dig deeper” and access more resources. Provide information on a website and direct people to visit the website to learn more.

1. How do I provide access?
  • Website links:  Grades K-3    Grades 4-6   Grades 7-12    More Ebook info
  • Navigate from district home page to library website - within 3 clicks from homepage
  • On iPad Homescreens
  • Bookmark on Chromebooks
  • QR codes
  • Lessons with students
    • Introduce in the fall. Let students try ebooks hands-on. Great time filler activity for early finishers throughout the year.
    • Reminder in May just before school is out.
  • Screencasts
    • Screencastify - 5 min. Limit - saves directly to Google Drive, can embed or link
    • Keep brief: 3 minutes or less
  • Sharing login info
    • Passwords can’t be posted online because of licensing agreements.
    • Can post link to a password-protected document that gives passwords (for example, with Google login).
    • Make the same as another login if possible.
    • Some offer SSO (single sign-on) with Google login: Destiny, MackinVIA, Overdrive/Sora.
    • Some offer IP recognition so password doesn't need to be entered. (Tumblebooks creates link with username and password embedded. The link can't be bookmarked.)

2. How do I promote these resources to students, staff, and parents?
  • Bookmarks
    • Audiobooks on phone (for middle school / high school)
    • High school / middle school ebook access
  • Newsletter
  • Parent letter or email
    • K-3 FREE state library ebook parent letter
    • BookFlix parent letter (FREE through state library)
    • Elem. school ebook access
  • ​Blog
  • Social media

abpres.weebly.com    >  ebooks

brownleea at usd376.com


Information for this presentation was based on my personal experience, crowdsourced from Kansas librarians and colleagues across the country through professional Facebook groups, and information from sales representatives.  Special thanks to the following people and groups for contributing information: Brenda Lemon, Dr. Lori Franklin, Jennifer Sosna, and the KASL librarians’ group participating in Zoom discussions (organized by Amanda Harrison of McPherson).
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  • Home
  • Ebooks
  • STEM
    • STEM Program
    • Ozobots
    • MakeyMakey
    • littleBits Circuit Kits
    • Circuit Madness
    • LEGO Crazy Action Contraptions
    • Stop-Motion Animation
    • 3D Printing Pen
    • Osmo
  • Grants
    • Grant & Budget Tips
    • Budget Stretchers
    • Funding Sources
    • Grant Sources
    • Grant Writing Tips
  • Digital Citizenship
  • Library Management
  • Survival Guide
  • Library Lessons
  • Classroom
  • Advocacy for Libraries
  • Promotions
  • Online Resources
  • Multicultural Lessons
  • Community Research
  • School-Wide Themes
  • Collaborative Projects