Fort Worth Public Library Teams Up with Castleberry ISD

Fort Worth Public Library Teams Up with Castleberry ISD
Posted on 08/11/2021
Fort Worth Public Library Teams Up with CISD to Expand Access to Ebooks and Digital Audiobooks for Students

As educators seek more creative ways to support students’ learning, a key resource for schools is the local public library. Now, Fort Worth Public Library and Castleberry Independent School District (ISD) have formed an innovative new partnership to increase students’ access to ebooks and digital audiobooks by combining the library’s and school’s digital reading resources in one app. This Public Library CONNECT partnership is facilitated by OverDrive, the popular digital reading platform serving both the library and school.

The partnership provides safe access to thousands of age-appropriate titles for students’ use inside the classroom, at home and anywhere 24/7. Through Sora, the new student reading app for Castleberry ISD, students can now borrow from both the school’s collection of classroom and pleasure reading titles as well as from Fort Worth Public Library’s juvenile, young adult and adult digital collections. Sora will automatically filter content to only include age-appropriate titles depending on each student’s grade level.

Students can easily log into the library’s digital collection through Sora using their school credentials rather than requiring a separate library card. In addition, Sora supports teachers by offering education-specific tools like achievements, exportable notes, and reading progress that encourage individualized learning.

“Breaking down barriers to access is important to all of us at the Fort Worth Public Library,” said Fort Worth Public Library Director Manya Shorr. “With the recent closure of the River Oaks library that historically supported these families, our new partnership is a win-win-win for everyone – the students, the school district and for us.”

Heather Lamb, lead teacher-librarian for Castleberry ISD, added, "We are so excited to use the Sora app to bring Fort Worth Public Library’s digital collection to our Castleberry community! Now our students will be able to check out ebooks and audiobooks on their devices immediately. With the district's 1:1 initiative, all students have a school issued device, but not all families can provide transportation to get to their nearest public library. No longer will our students find time or travel a barrier to the world of reading."

The Sora app was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions 2019 and is available for Castleberry ISD 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 https://soraapp.com on any computer.

The entire Fort Worth community can also borrow and read Fort Worth Public Library’s complete ebook, audiobook and digital magazine collection with a valid library card through the award-winning Libby app. The library’s locally selected collection offers digital books and magazines 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 (R), Android™, Chromebook™ and Kindle(R) (U.S. only).

The Libby and Sora apps were built by OverDrive and OverDrive Education respectively. To learn more, visit www.overdrive.com/apps/libby/ and https://company.overdrive.com/k-12-schools/discover-sora/.


About Fort Worth Public Library

The Fort Worth Public Library is committed to building a community of learners, dreamers and doers. The Library strives to provide spaces for learning, self-discovery, shared experiences and personal growth. The Library operates as a department of the City of Fort Worth serving residents and visitors at 17 different locations around Fort Worth, Texas and through numerous community partnerships.

About Castleberry ISD

Castleberry Independent School District strives to provide the finest education to students and prepare each to be lifelong learners in a diverse and changing world. The district’s 537 staff members work tirelessly to ensure that each of the 3617 students are provided with the tools and skills needed to succeed in higher education, a competitive workplace, and as productive citizens. CISD is located five miles west of downtown Fort Worth, TX, in a densely populated community covering an area of less than six square miles. The district includes the City of River Oaks, a large portion of Sansom Park, and a small portion of the City of Fort Worth.

About OverDrive and OverDrive Education

OverDrive strives to create “a world enlightened by reading.” Serving a growing network of 73,000 libraries and schools in 88 countries, OverDrive – and its K-12 division, OverDrive Education – delivers the industry’s largest digital catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and other content through award-winning apps. The Libby reading app for libraries is one of Popular Mechanics’ 20 Best Apps of the Decade, while the student reading app Sora is one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019. Founded in 1986, OverDrive is based in Cleveland, Ohio USA and was named a Certified B Corp in 2017. www.overdrive.com


Contact:

Theresa Davis
Fort Worth Public Library
682-478-8531
 
[email protected]

 Abigail Offenbaker
Castleberry ISD
817-252-2035
[email protected]