CLIFTON PARK — In this mobile age, technology has become increasingly valuable in supporting new generations of lifelong learners and readers. Now, Shenendehowa Central School District and Southern Adirondack Library System (SALS) have formed an innovative new partnership to increase access to more ebooks and e-audiobooks for students.
This collaboration strives to promote literacy and digital learning by combining the schools’ and the library’s digital reading resources in one app. As a result, students can learn anytime, anywhere because of the convenience, ease of reading on-the-go and the inherent popularity of technology.
The school-library partnership provides safe access to thousands of age-appropriate titles for students’ use inside the classroom, at home and anywhere 24/7. Students of Shenendehowa Central School District, which is a member of Capital Region BOCES, can now borrow from the school’s digital collection of classroom and pleasure reading through the “Sora” app, and also access SALS’s juvenile and young adult digital collection. In addition, “Sora” supports teachers by offering education-specific tools like achievements, exportable notes, and reading progress that encourage individualized learning.
“It is beneficial for our students to be able to search both the school library and public library's online holdings through Sora with one simple login,” said Susan Kirby-LeMon, school librarian. “By offering this feature, we've magically increased our collection to support all our learners. It will certainly help us foster their curiosity and love of reading. Additionally, information is power and it is demonstrating the importance of public libraries. I am hopeful our students will become lifelong users of these precious resources.”
Jack Scott, SALS Technology & Youth Services librarian, added, “we at SALS are excited to provide students more access to reading opportunities. So read, think big and Imagine Your Story”
The “Sora” app was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions 2019 and is available for Shenendehowa Central School District students to download through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and on Chromebooks that support the Google Play Store. It is also available for use in web browsers at soraapp.com on any computer.
Members of Saratoga, Warren, Washington and Hamilton counties can also borrow and read SALS’s complete ebook and e-audiobook collection with a valid library card through the award-winning Libby app. The library’s tailored collection offers ebooks and e-audiobooks including bestsellers and new releases. Readers of all ages can select from virtually every subject ranging from mystery, romance, children’s, business and more. Libby can be used on any major device or computer, including Apple, Android, Chromebook and Kindle.
Both reading apps are built by OverDrive and OverDrive Education. To learn more, visit meet.soraapp.com and meet.libbyapp.com.
