New resources for Orbit connect library life and learning

The new backgrounds and avatars allow school libraries to promote the celebration or observance of important events that are occurring at the school and in the community.

Softlink New Zealand Business Manager, Lyn Walker said libraries are a cultural and educational hub for schools and central to activities designed to mark community celebrations. 

‘The background images and graphics encourage younger students to really engage with the event, and libraries can use the interface to feature sets of books or educational resources about the occasion.’

With Orbit, students personalise their own library home page, using different backgrounds, avatars and colour schemes.

The new seasonal backgrounds and avatars include Easter, Christmas and Halloween sets as well as a special Anzac Day background to help schools commemorate this year’s 100 year anniversary of World War I.

Lyn said schools also have the ability to upload their own custom backgrounds and avatars, to celebrate specific cultural or community events.

‘School libraries play a significant role in learning and cultural development from a young age, and the functionality in Orbit helps to encourage that.’

Softlink has received positive feedback from schools using Orbit that students love being able to personalise their library home page and are excited about the graphics options available to them.

‘It provides a more interactive library experience for students, and the new seasonal resources will enrich that experience even further.’

A set of in-school posters encouraging students to engage with Orbit and the books and resources in their school library has also been released.

The posters, which call young students to Blast off with Orbit or Take a journey through Orbit, are designed to inspire resource exploration and reading, using colourful graphics attractive to younger students.

Lyn said Softlink is committed to providing our customers with the best resource available to help them engage students and improve learning outcomes.

‘Encouraging library use can help to develop early reading habits and improve literacy outcomes. It’s more important than ever for school libraries to utilise changing technologies to engage students and the school community with this valuable resource.’

Orbit is Softlink’s new junior and middle school interface for Oliver v5 and is one of a number of exciting new developments released for Oliver v5 in the past twelve months.

To find out more visit www.softlinkint.com/oliver/orbit/

About Softlink:  Softlink is a world-leading developer of knowledge, content, library management solutions, supporting more than 10,000 education, government and public organisations and libraries across 108 countries.  Softlink’s leading education solution, Oliver v5, is an integration and functionally rich, fully customisable platform for digital and physical learning asset management, discovery and delivery.  Softlink is based in Australia, the United Kingdom, America and New Zealand.  Softlink has supported the Australian education industry for 30 years.