The New York City Public School System’s (NYCPS) Library Department announced a significant milestone on August 28th with the Citywide Digital Library (CDL) successfully loaning out its ten millionth book. The NYC Department of Education stated that this milestone reflects the students’ strong passion for reading and exploration, marking the important role that digital resources play in promoting literacy and educational equity.
The NYC Department of Education introduced the public school digital library during the 2020 pandemic to address the gaps caused by remote learning and library closures, directly providing students with quality reading resources. Today, the platform has evolved into a vital component of literacy education in New York City, offering over 61,000 e-books and audiobooks. Since its inception, students have collectively spent over five million hours reading, demonstrating a steady growth in reading enthusiasm citywide.
In partnership with the OverDrive platform, the New York City public school system grants students, teachers, and staff free access to the digital library through the Sora application developed by OverDrive. With the Single Sign-On feature, users can easily browse, borrow, and read books.
Regardless of the students’ neighborhood or background, this platform allows them to transcend space and resource limitations, providing equal reading opportunities to cultivate reading skills and a lifelong passion for learning.
Melissa Aviles-Ramos, the Director of Education in New York City, expressed that the public school digital library not only brings books to every school and household but also advances the vision of “NYC Reads” – to foster students as enthusiastic readers, critical thinkers, and future leaders.
School librarians are responsible for curating and selecting book lists, collaborating with teachers to ensure resources align with educational objectives while catering to student interests, and assisting students in navigating e-books and audiobooks.
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” has consistently been one of the most popular book choices among students citywide.