SAISD Partners with Tom Green County Library to Offer Free E-Books to Students

SAN ANGELO ,TX – San Angelo ISD is excited to announce a new partnership with the Tom Green Country Library to provide free access to 1000s of ebooks and audiobooks to SAISD students through the Sora reading app. Sora promotes literacy and digital learning by giving students 24/7 access to age-appropriate titles from both the SAISD and the Tom Green County Library digital collections. 

"I am very excited that our district libraries and the Tom Green County Library have partnered to offer students more and better access to ebooks and audiobooks through Sora," said Lee Middle School Librarian Suzanne Grover. "Our Virtual Academy and in-person students have checkout privileges 24/7. But the thing I like the most about Sora is that our students can check out digital books from the public library. Even a student who has no library card can access the same great books as those who do. With this collaboration, we have easily doubled the number of books available to all our students."

Reagan Elementary Librarian Karen Steed said that "SORA will encourage all students to access all types of books easily and will help them grow towards their love for learning and reading."

Central High School Librarian Claire Hogg is excited about the many features that Sora offers to students. "The Sora app is so easy to use, and I love the ways you can personalize your text using the text scale and lighting and even take notes and highlight. Some titles even have dyslexic font which allows students to read more easily.  Sora allows you to download a book to your device, so students can download a book at school or when they have WiFi to read offline later. This allow more equitable access of digital resources to all students!"

Features of Sora include:

• Available on Chromebooks, tablets, laptops, desktops, and phones
• Selection of age-appropriate books filtered by student's grade level
• Borrow and open books with one tap
• Powerful reading tools give the reader the ability to add bookmarks, make notes and highlights, define words, and more
• Earn badges by reading books and using app features
• See how many books you’ve read, your total reading time, and more
• Your place, bookmarks, notes, and highlights sync between devices, so you can pick up right where you left off
• Adjustable playback speed for audiobooks
• No late fees – digital titles are automatically returned at the end of the lending period
• Browse, search, and borrow books from the Tom Green County library without the need for a library card

To get started with Sora:

1. Download the free Sora app from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store  or visit soraapp.com. 
2. Find San Angelo ISD by typing "San Angelo" in the search box and selecting "This is my school" under "San Angelo ISD".
3. Click "Sign in using San Angelo ISD" and choose "Log in with Active Directory".
4. Login using your SAISD email address and password. 
5. Browser or search for books and click "Borrow" to begin reading right away.

To add the Tom Green County Library:

1. Click the menu button (three horizontal lines) at the top right of the app
2. Click "Add a library"
3. Find Tom Green County Library by typing "Tom Green" in the search box and selecting "This is my library" under "Abilene PL and TomGreen CL"
4. Switch back and forth between SAISD and Tom Green County Libraries at any time by clicking the menu button and selecting from the list of libraries

What do SAISD students have to say about Sora?

"The app was super easy to use and organized nicely. It was very convenient that I could just pull out my phone and read."

"Sora is fast and easy to use on PC and Mobile. It has a surplus of books to choose from with all of them being friendly.  You can find anything on the Sora App.  Whether it be Clifford or Good Omens — it’s there."

"I enjoyed using Sora because it had a ton of books and was easy to navigate. Sora kept track of what page I was on and how long I read which I thought was very useful."

"Using the Sora app was very easy. I loved how I could read wherever I want and didn’t have to worry about losing my place in the book."