Monday, October 6, 2014

5 easy ways to connect students with your school’s digital library

Looking for some tips to introduce new students to your digital collection and keep them coming back for more? Here are five simple suggestions on how to engage students and help boost your eBook circulation:

1) Make your eBooks easy to find: Add a link to your digital library from your school intranet, district homepage or student online accounts. You can add a simple text link or hyperlink an image, like one of the many web graphics available in the Partner Portal. Do you have an online library catalog? Sign up for free minimum MARC records to make your digital titles easily discoverable in the catalog.

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2) Create Student ID cards: Do you find students (and teachers) struggling to remember their username or password to access your digital collection? You can help remedy this by creating digital library ID cards for every student and staff member who has access to your site. It's easy to do in Microsoft Office (Excel and Word) and you can download a PDF with step-by-step instructions here, and in the "Best Of" K-12 Marketing Materials zip in the Partner Portal.

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3) Integrate eBooks into the classroom: Encourage teachers, especially of literature or language arts, to explore introducing digital titles in the classroom. For example, eBooks can be displayed on an interactive smart board; audiobooks can be played to give teachers a break from reading aloud; and during independent reading times, students can borrow titles to read on their own devices.

4) Send a quick, visual email: A picture is worth a thousand words, the old adage says, and a visual eye-catching email may grab the attention of your student body better than a block of text. Copy this OverDrive Announcement image into the body of an email, add a hyperlink to your OverDrive-powered website, and send to your students and faculty.

5) Tweet, Post and Pin: If your school has a social media presence, share any of the fun social media images from the OverDrive Facebook account and make sure to add a caption that includes your eBook collection URL. Many of the social media graphics are also saved for quick access in the Partner Portal. You can also share samples of titles with Readbox on your school homepage, blog, or social accounts. These embedded samples can showcase your digital titles in a new way and inspire students to check out the book to keep reading!

Need help or have questions? Contact your Account Specialist. Remember that you can always find your OverDrive team contact information in Marketplace, under the Support tab.

 

Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive

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