Thursday morning, officials with the Ysleta Independent School District and the El Paso Public Library announced the kick off a new literacy partnership that places the digital reading resources of the public library at students’ fingertips through the district’s new reading app, Sora.
“We are incredibly grateful to the El Paso Public Library for partnering with us to provide this wonderful literacy opportunity to our students,” said Rebecca Calderon, Coordinator of Libraries for Ysleta ISD.
“In this mobile age, technology has become increasingly valuable in supporting new generations of lifelong learners and readers,” Calderon said. “Thanks to this innovative partnership, Ysleta ISD students will be able to continue their digital learning both inside and outside the classroom, at no added cost to parents.”
The goal is to promote literacy and digital learning by combining the schools’ and the library’s digital reading resources into the Sora app, which was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions 2019.
Through Sora, students can borrow from the school’s digital library collection of classroom and pleasure reading, as well as El Paso Public Library’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.
The Sora app is available for Ysleta ISD students and employees to download through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and on Chromebooks that support the Google Play Store.
“The El Paso Public Library is very pleased to partner with YISD to provide students greater access to our digital collection and a wider variety of books for their reading pleasure,” said Norma Martinez, Director of Library Services for the El Paso Public Library.
The entire El Paso community can also borrow and read El Paso Public Library’s complete e-book and e-audiobook collection with a valid library card through the Libby app.
The library’s tailored collection offers e-books 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 the Sora and Libby reading apps are built by OverDrive and OverDrive Education, the leading digital reading platform for libraries and schools worldwide.
Ysleta ISD is the first school district to partner with the El Paso Public Library to provide safe student access to thousands of the library’s age-appropriate e-books and e-audiobooks for use inside the classroom, at home, and anywhere – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
