Usage Tips & Tricks

Welcome, Sora HVLA Consortium members! 

So, you've officially joined, and now you have some questions. Below, we have compiled the answers to some of the most common questions we get, as well as some tips to make your experience the best it can be. If you do not see the answer to your questions below, or if you have figured out other great tricks that you would like to share with members, please email us.

User Access Levels: What are they set as and what should I watch out for?

Please note, we highly recommend testing a handful of student log-ins to confirm that access levels are working properly.

Listed below are OverDrive's default definitions for user groups: 

• Juvenile: Grades K-5 (can only view and access Juvenile titles)

• Young Adult: Grades 6-8 (view and access Juvenile + YA)

• Adult: Grades 9-12 (view and access Juvenile + YA + Adult)

If you would like a slightly different arrangement (i.e.: promoting 8th grade to "Adult," for example), OverDrive can set this up for you.

If you have a pre-existing OverDrive account before joining the consortium, OverDrive is likely to use whichever access levels you had defined in your own account. 

If you DID NOT USE access levels before (perhaps you only purchased titles for a specific band of students), your consortium account might also be set up without access levels, allowing all of your students universal access to all content in the consortium collection. Contact OverDrive to make adjustments to this.

If you use GOOGLE AUTHENTICATION for OverDrive access, it sometimes happens that schools' tech departments make updates to their databases (especially over the summer) that ripple back and alter your access level settings. If you observe this happening, contact OverDrive so that they can make adjustments on their end to compensate.

Reports: How can I find out whether my students are using this collection?

You can access individualized reports for your school via your Advantage Account. For more information see the Advantage Accounts sections in our FAQs.

Can I change the featured collections that display on the homepage when students sign in?

Yes! Check out the Advantage Accounts section in our FAQs.

Can I change the borrowing period or checkout limit for students and/or faculty?

The borrowing period and checkout limits are global to the entire consortium, so you cannot adjust these only for your school as it relates to using consortium titles. However, if you have a standalone account and purchase titles independently, you control the policies for those titles.