Monday, September 30, 2013

Back to School with School Digital Library from OverDrive

Another school year is underway, and the kids are getting back into the classroom routine, maybe visiting the school library – or even better – the OverDrive-powered School Digital Library (SDL) site. The SDL platform allows your students to "go" to the library anytime and check out titles for class assignments, research projects, or for their own reading pleasure.

 

Students can log in with a library card or network credentials, depending upon the authentication setup in place. We are able to send authentication requests to a library's existing ILS (integrated library system) database via SIP2 (Session Initiation Protocol), RPA (Remote Patron Authentication), XML (Extensible Markup Language), EZProxy, or LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). If these options are not available or suitable for your needs, we also offer our own solution, Library Card Manager. Library Card Manager is an OverDrive-powered authentication system that allows your library to upload a list of library card or student ID numbers. Library Card Manager is popular for its simplicity, while LDAP is catching on due to its additional security as well as the ability to use existing network credentials as a "library card number".

 

Another useful resource to help you support your students is the OverDrive Test Drive program. With Test Drive, we take the mystery out of the most compatible devices you can use with our services, and help you use those devices as a means of lending titles to users. Many schools are already using Test Drive approved devices like iPads or Chromebooks – Google Chrome OS powered computers that allow students to access books in the OverDrive Read format – to help their students borrow eBooks through their SDL collections. The Test Drive page provides much information for the use and maintenance of the devices, as well as promotional materials to let your users know about the service if you lend devices to students.

 

Of course, with having devices to lend comes having devices to support, and with Test Drive, we offer the information you need to support those devices. You get the knowledge needed to get the devices setup to use OverDrive materials. There are instructions to clean the devices up after they’ve been returned by students, preventing one kid from using another's Adobe ID or library account to check out books. The program gives you a hand, helping you offer your students the kind of support needed to get them reading.

 

Are you curious about what other benefits come with being an OverDrive School Download Library partner? Then make sure you check out the Prezi that Account Specialist Melissa Higey put together here, check out our SDL FAQ, and the marketing and outreach materials specifically designed to spread the word about your school's OverDrive School Download Library.

 

Justin Noszek is a Support Specialist with OverDrive

 

 

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