ConnectED Annual Report 2025-26
In the 2025-26 school year (Sep – Jun), 5,819 students used their ConnectED accounts, checking out 30,359 books. Print books account for 83% of the circulation while eBooks and eAudiobooks represent 17%.
In addition to the student circulation, educators used ConnectED accounts to check out 6,626 books on behalf of their classrooms, giving us a circulation total of 36,985.
For most school districts, this represents a drop from the 2024-25 school year, unfortunately. We attribute the decrease to an unusual amount of organizational change in both WCLS libraries and the school districts and believe that 2026-27 will be more stable.
Despite the decrease from last year, WCLS celebrates Whatcom County’s thousands of young people who read tens of thousands of books in 2025-26 and we look forward to continuing this valuable partnership with our school districts.
How are the schools doing?
Checkouts by school and year
- Blaine School District: 705 students used ConnectED, checking out 5,030 books. Blaine students checked out 17% of the books though they represent 12% of all ConnectED students.
- Ferndale School District: 40% of all ConnectED book circulation came from Ferndale students, although they represent 28% of all ConnectED students. 2,034 Ferndale young people checked out 12,157 books.
- Lynden Christian: These students continue to be avid readers of eBooks and eAudiobooks, using the Sora app for access. These 526 readers checked out 1,201 books.
- Lummi Nation School: LNS is the school that uses the WCLS print collection the most at 99%, with 57 students checking out 291 books.
- Lynden School District: 305 students used ConnectED to check out books and use research databases, checking out a total of 730 items.
- Mount Baker School District: MBSD had the highest percentage of total students using ConnectED at 44%. 733 students checked out 3,993 books.
- Meridian School District: Meridian had the highest circulation per ConnectED borrower of any of the school districts, with 5,552 checkouts by 666 students
- Nooksack Valley School District: 40% of students with ConnectED accounts used the service, with 793 young people checking out 1,405 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/.
Checkouts by school and year
| SCHOOL | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|
| BLAINE | 8,779 | 5,030 |
| FERNDALE | 19,363 | 12,157 |
| LUMMI NATION | 1,902 | 291 |
| LYNDEN CHRISTIAN | 1,567 | 1,201 |
| LYNDEN | 1,253 | 730 |
| MERIDIAN | 5,084 | 5,552 |
| MOUNT BAKER | 3,925 | 3,993 |
| NOOKSACK VALLEY | 1,878 | 1,405 |