The K12 Back to School Guide
September means back to school, and we are excited to welcome both returning and new Library Media Specialists. We hope to ease the transition back to work with this handy guide. From how to handle outstanding subscriptions to information about other learning and collection opportunities, this guide should provide all the info our K12 members need to get back in the swing of the school year.
Have You Renewed Your Subscriptions?
With the new school year starting, some schools still have pending subscription renewals from over the summer. To ensure that your full portfolio of resources is available to your students, please check MyWiLS to submit renewal decisions on any subscriptions for July, August, and September.
Changes to Comics Plus and Beanstack (now Joyful Reading)
Comics Plus and Beanstack are now available directly from Joyful Reading. You will still receive discounted WiLS pricing, but you will receive new and renewal pricing as well as be invoiced through Joyful Reading. Please contact Shaun Conway at shaun@joyfulreading.com or 847-322-9612 for information.
WSDLC Training Resources
The WSDLC website has updated training resources to help you get the most out of Sora and your WSDLC investment. In addition, we have a quick 4-minute video that covers FAQs for new members.
Staffing Changes
If your district had any school library staff changes, please let us know! We want to be sure that we’re communicating with the right people at your institutions. Email us at coop@wils.org with any changes you’ve had over the summer. We’ve put together a K12 MyWiLS Orientation Toolkit (available as .doc or .pdf) with tons of helpful info about WiLS and other statewide resources available to help new and returning media specialists alike!
Billing Options
We’ve made some upgrades to MyWiLS over the last few years, so here’s a recap of some changes related to billng. While you can always approve a subscription and set it to not invoice without a PO, you can now indicate that your institution always requires a PO before being invoiced; just look for the checkbox in the Institutional Information section. If your institution is already set to require a PO and you submit to be invoiced without one, a pop-up will appear for confirmation. You can also specify invoicing instructions, including to separate invoices by building or contact, put everything on one invoice, and more, directly in the Institutional Information section. Remember that you can sign up for or change monthly statement options directly in the Institutional Information section as well!
Taco Tuesdays
Taco Tuesdays are in full swing! We have some great vendor demonstrations lined up to help you find that next invaluable resource for your institution. Register for any (or all!) of them. If you can’t make it, you can watch the whole recording or individual vendor demos on our YouTube channel.
Recollection Wisconsin
Recollection Wisconsin is a free portal that brings together digital cultural heritage resources from Wisconsin libraries, archives, museums, and historical societies and shares them with the world in partnership with the Digital Public Library of America. Recollection Wisconsin is a great resource for teachers and students alike for primary source images, maps, documents, and narratives specific to Wisconsin. The website includes teacher resources to help make the most of Recollection Wisconsin in the classroom. Bonus: It’s free!
MyWiLS Updates
The Cooperative Purchasing team has been implementing an ambitious slate of improvements to our MyWiLS site. Among these improvements are:
- Better visibility and access to purchase orders
- Navigation improvements for institutions with many subscriptions
- Account customization options
- Enhanced support for users
- More detailed information in a variety of areas
You can read all about these changes in our recent post about them.
Discount and bid codes for our order direct vendors are visible in MyWiLS. Navigate to the Vendors tab to find ordering instructions for vendors like Demco, Mackin, Ingram, and more!
WiLS Partners: BadgerLink and CESA Purchasing
Did you know that BadgerLink and CESA Purchasing are WiLS partners?
BadgerLink provides access to magazines, journals, newspapers, encyclopedias, and reference materials on many K12 subject areas from resources such as Advanced Placement Source, Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers, Britannica Suite, Explora, NoveList/NoveList K-8, Literary Reference Center Plus, Newspapers.com, and TeachingBooks.
See the For Library Staff page for more information, such as direct resource URLs for your website, resource guides, asynchronous training, and promotional materials. For additional consultation, technical assistance, and personalized training on best practices and effective use of the resources, please contact the BadgerLink staff.
CESA Purchasing provides discounts on library and educational products and resources to WiLS through a reciprocal agreement. Reach out to Partnerships Manager Meghan Cropp at meghan.cropp@cesapurchasing.org with any questions, and visit the CESA Purchasing website and learn more about new and existing CESA Purchasing vendors and request quotes.