TUCSON, Ariz. - The Sunnyside Unified School District has partnered with the Pima County Public Library system to offer students a wider range of e-books and e-audiobooks.
The school-library partnership gives students in grades K-12 the opportunity to use an app called Sora.
Through the app, students have access to most e-books and e-audiobooks that the district and library system has access to.
"It actually allows the library to integrate its e-book collection with the public school library and allows the students greater access to materials without ever having to come into the library," said Michelle Simon, who works with the Pima County Public Library.
Becky Schmidt, a librarian at a Sunnyside school, told KGUN9 a partnership like this one is especially helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I would say it’s even more important now because students and teachers are relying more on electronic resources because we can’t just go to the library weekly at this point," she said.
Schmidt added that due to the pandemic it has also been difficult for students who didn't already have a library card, to get one. With the app, Sunnyside students no longer have to do that.
“They can access the e-books, the ones Pima County Library has available, the ones you read digitally on your screen and also the audio books, they can access that through the Sora app using their school ID," she said.
The Sora app is free for students, and can be downloaded on the Google Play, Apple Store.
