Axis+360+and+Blio+info

** Media Specialists Report RE e-book plans (3/13/13) **
Norris: Joining ESU 2 Consortium Shickley: Planning to join ESU 2 Consortium Crete: joining ESU 2 consortium Wilber-Clatonia: Tent plan to join ESU 2 consortium Malcolm: support to join consortium Exeter-Milligan plans to join ESU 2 consortium

Seward hoping for ESU 6 consortium - maybe joining Axis 360/Blio independently Milford: Considering joining the consortium or contracting withe Axis/Blio independently. Support e-books

Heartland: Not sure Dorchester: No preference but do plan to join something?

Friend: Has Nooks - not joining Axis 360 (200 books on each Nook - HS only) Also has Destiny Waverly (per email from Kelly Bielenberg): Not joining Axis 360.

**Axis 360 Questions (from media specialists at the 2/6/13 meeting)**

Answers (from Diane Wolfe at ESU 2 - dmwolfe@esu2.org)

 * What are the COSTS to participate in the northeast consortium through ESU 2? **


 * First year investment/buy-in costs: ** $2000 minimum per school district. If your school district has more than 1000 students, you will be charged an additional $1 per student for the number of students beyond the initial 1000. For example, if your K-12 student population is 2200, You would pay $3200 for the first year. ($2000 for the first 100 students and $1/student beyond that amount.) If your school district as 260 students, you would pay $2000.)


 * Successive years: ** $500 investment per school district per year. Then 25 cents per student beyond 1000. If your K-12 student population is 2200, your successive year costs would be $800. If your school district has 260 students, you would pay $500. These costs will be billed out in August to allow schools choice in which fiscal year to pay the fee. Due in September.

There is also a yearly fee of $250 per school-level collection that would likely be paid by ESU 2-6. (Currently $750 per year because there are 3 collections: elementary, middle and high.)

$14,000 has been spent on the initial set-up and collection of 1200 books. Diane plans to carry over the remaining $7000 to year 2. She prefers to keep approximately $3000-$5000 in reserve for unforseen demand in the early years.
 * How has the current budget been spent? **

The Northeast Consortium had a target of 2,000 books and took the average cost for a book and calculated out how much it would cost our 16 schools to purchase 2,000 books. We have 10 schools and have spent about 14,000 of our 20,000. It was mostly a shot in the dark.
 * How did you determine the initial investment amount for schools? **

I believe the minimum order for each collection is $1,000 but you will have to check with them to be sure.
 * Does Axis have a minimum "entry level" fee? **

Again, just a best estimate. All of my schools are below 1,000 with the exception of Fremont. We thought it was a good division point.
 * How did you determine to use 1000 students to be the lowest number as the dividing point for whether schools pay more or less per year for their membership fee? **

**Is there a minimum number of schools to form a consortium - did you get a price break based on a set number of students?** When the Northeast Consortium negotiated with Axis 360, we told them the ESU wanted to host an on-line e-library for our schools. They didn't really ask us about how many schools would be involved. If memory serves, they indicated they would treat us like a large district with several buildings.

Diane goes to school and works with media spec and 3-4 tech-savvy kids. Kids help other kids set up accounts. They do not set up accounts in bulk - only for kids or parents who plan to use it. Causes less frustration by working with kids and teachers most likely to use it.
 * Who controls the Blio accounts and set up? Do students set up their own accounts, or does media specialist control? **


 * Are schools in Northeast pilot using Axis 360 and Blio on BYOD or on school devices? Success? Failure?: ** Primarily using on BYOD however, you can share accounts on school devices by choosing "De-register the device" in Blio settings after one student is finished reading a book. Once parents and students understand the double log-in (must log into Axis 360, then Blio) they have not experienced problems.


 * What ages are using it most? ** Middle School kids. 4-6 graders. 124 checkouts in January.


 * How strong has usage been for the pilot so far? ** At this point, they can only generate circulation reports at the system level. No way to know by schools yet. Books are available to meet and exceed current demand.

Yutan using most with younger kids. Parents set up accounts and get training. Depends on tech ability of parents and students about how well it works. David Privett at Wahoo will talk with other media specialists, and also describe the experience of his own kids. Speech pathologists are also using with students.
 * Which schools in the Northeast pilot are most actively using Blio/Axis 360? **


 * When purchasing titles, do you pay separately for epub and blio edition? ** No.

Because there is no early checkin feature right now: Elem Checkout period: 1 week - up to 6 books MS Checkout period: 2 weeks - up to 4 books HS Checkout period: 2 weeks - up to 4 books Once early check-in is available, Checkout period for all will likely switch 2 weeks - up to 2 books
 * How many books can a student check out? Who controls? **

Check out time period and guidelines are controlled at the system level, so it would be the same for all schools in the consortium.

Primarily fiction focused at MS and HS. Elementary is heavy in non-fiction - primarily for boys. No reference or expanded non-fiction for older students is planned due to resources available online.
 * What is the focus of the collections(s)? **

No. No way to control access within the system. District consortium is all or none - K-12.
 * Can just one building level within a school district join the consortium for a discounted rate? **

1000 books right now. Added 240 in MS collection last month after Scholastic books became available. UPDATE: Currently there are approximately 1700 books in the collection. (3/13/13)
 * How large is the current collection? **

**Additional questions and answers**

Lynne's Notes from ESU 2 Media Specialists Meeting RE ebooks
Circulation: 127 pe month first semester, but went up significantly in Jan/Feb

Shannon at Yutan. Form set up to send home to parents to sign up with parents email then she created accounts. She set up time to meet with parents to explain. Diane went in during parent conferences. 52 kids set up. Parents got handout with blio name and password and library name and password. Reminders about checkout added to card she gave parents. Suggested to put into their notes on the ipad/ipod. Set up library IDs in advance. Kept master log of everyone’s account. Kept on hard copy for now. If they forget password, she has a copy. Blio was set up under one email for each family. Same Blio, but each student has their own library ID. HS students set up under their own personal email accounts. Issue with elementary accounts is with email. Majority of students checking out books wouldn’t have email, so set up through mom and dad’s email account. 3rd grader had no issues checking out books under “family” email account. Another option: Google education domain accounts work well. Locked down accounts for elem so works well. Schools have guest wireless to use for parent sign up.

3,4,5 + sped have account at Yutan. Can download books up to 5 separate devices. If book on hold, sends email and you have 2 days to check it out.

Important to keep a log since no way to reset password if people forget.

Nooks - Lose reading features form Blio when you go through epub or PDF. Anything studio recorded will not come through. Viable option for independent readers. Digital editions are simply a “picture” of the book. If parents ask you, don’t suggest Nook. Not a good option for these books. Kindle Fire is compatible with Blio. (Diane has documentation on how to do that.) To set up Nook, but be connected to their computer. Don't recommend buying Nooks for this program.

Download adobe digital editions on their home computer. (If Mac) Not compatible with Mac OS, and won’t ever be compatible. Works with Android 3 and above. iOS too.

If Windows 7 or higher, can download Blio. Blio works fine on Android tablet.

September 6 is set for fall purchase date. ESU 6 would have one elementary and one secondary representative to the selection team. Other suggestions taken via a Google form.

What I’ve learned about Axis 360, so far (by Julie Christensen - Seward Media Specialist):

The Blio app crashed for me time and again while we were at the ESU and after I got back to Seward Public Schools. It seems to have magically healed it’s self, now! When I actually opened a book (and stayed in the book), it stopped crashing. I want to check out another book and see what happens when I go back to that main menu and try loading a book and spend time in that main menu – will I be back to crash city?!? I’ll let you know!

Since my Blio was crashing, I decided I’d better look into the other option they offered, the ePubs. I went with their recommended reader, Bluefire Reader. This was a process (and it probably didn’t help that I took this on on a Friday afternoon!) I loaded the Bluefire Reader app on my iPad, and checked out a book in the ePub format. The issue, how the heck do I get the book to my iPad?! I ended up finding this information on the Bluefire website, but only through a Google search – I still couldn’t find it on their site when I went back to find it for you, I had to search again. The link for this information is: [] You have to have the Bluefire App on your iPad, iTunes 10.0 (or higher) on your laptop and iTunes iOS 3.2 (or higher) on your iPad, AND Adobe Digital Editions (which is free) on your laptop (Bluefire Reader must be authorized with and Adobe Account which must be the same Adobe account you authorize your Adobe Digital Editions with!) All of these things work together to allow you to physically connect your iPad to your laptop and use file transfer to transfer the books you have checked out on your computer to your iPad. I only did this once and had to figure each step out as I went – HIGH frustration level! Now that everything is setup, it probably wouldn’t be so bad – but it is a process to get set up! Reading on this has been smooth, I am interested in trying a picture book on this and going through the transfer process now that everything is in place.

I have some more questions to ask and I want to do some more experimenting, but this is what I’ve learned so far! I will keep you updated as I try this out on a Kindle Fire, Nook?, and whatever else I can find to test it on! I'd be happy to answer any questions this information might spark and I'd love to hear any experiences you've had, too! I want to make sure things are REALLY going to work, if I am going to ask my administration to put money towards this system!


 * February 6 Meeting **
 * 9 - 3 pm **
 * Discussion from the meeting on February 6: **

Ongoing discussion of Axis 360 and Blio reader Webinar with Jill Blades RE Axis 360 and Blio
 * **Jill Blades **
 * Inside Sales Account Manager--Schools
 * Baker & Taylor, Inc.
 * 2550 West Tyvola Rd., Suite 300
 * Charlotte, NC 28217
 * Phone: 704.998.3279
 * Toll Free: <span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">800.775.7930 ext. 3279
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Fax: <span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">866-321-7560
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Email: <span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">jill.blades@baker-taylor.com