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ConnectED Annual Report 2024-25

ConnectED grows 52% in 2024-25!

students with librarian Tamar Clarke
Two students looking at a book
Students with librarian Sarah Lavender
image of 5.3 space needles stacked
5.3 Space Needles stacked on top of each other.

ConnectED, a partnership between Whatcom County Library System and Whatcom County schools, had another record-breaking year. Student readers at the following schools checked out 43,751 books, a 52% jump over the prior year.

  • Blaine School District
  • Ferndale School District
  • Lummi Nation School
  • Lynden Christian School
  • Lynden School District
  • Meridian School District
  • Mount Baker School District
  • Nooksack Valley School District

In addition to the student checkouts, teachers in Whatcom County used their WCLS Educator accounts to check out 8,006 books for classroom use, giving us a total of 51,757 ConnectED checkouts.

If the books average a width of .75 inches and we stack them all on top of each other, they would be as tall as 5.3 Space Needles!

How are the schools doing?

Chart of books checked out by school and year
  • Blaine students almost tripled the number of books they checked out, jumping from just under 3,000 in 2023-24 to 8,779 in 2024-25. 35% of Blaine students checked out books or used ConnectED resources for homework. Those students averaged reading 9 books each from September through June, the highest average of all the school districts.
  • Ferndale students have grabbed the ConnectED torch and run with it, with 2,332 students checking out 19,363 books, almost doubling their count from last year. That’s an average of 2,150 books for each of Ferndale’s 9 schools.
  • Lummi Nation School is our smallest school by student count, but it checked out more books per capita than any of the other schools in 2024-25 at almost 4 books per student.
  • Lynden Christian students enjoy the digital library app Sora for young people. 17% of ConnectED ebook and eAudiobook circulation is due to Lynden Christian readers, although they represent just 7% of all ConnectED students.
  • Lynden School District readers increased their reading count by 20% over the prior year, with 523 students checking out 1,253 books.
  • Meridian ConnectED circulation jumped more than any other school, with an increase of 214%!  655 Meridian students checked out 5,084 books.
  • Mount Baker, the school district that started ConnectED, unfortunately fell in circulation in 2023-24 for the first time since 2020-21. Still 775 students checked out a respectable 3,925 books.
  • Nooksack Valley had the highest percentage of students who used ConnectED in 2024-25 at 57%.  They checked out 1,878 books.

WCLS commits to tailoring ConnectED services to each school district in ways that best help the most students discover amazing stories and build their love of reading. We invite teachers, librarians or administrators to learn more at www.wcls.org/connected-for-educators/.