Frequently Asked Questions

Click here for the application. It will take about 15 to 20 minutes to complete AFTER you have done the necessary planning and had conversations with colleagues and key stakeholders.

Via this rudianapbric. We will not collect responses from you, so feel free to rate your application using this form.

The Indianapolis eLearning Fund will offer $1,000 to $5,000 in grants to individual high schools in Marion County to provide more equitable access to e-books, up to a total of $60,000. 

Successful applications will focus book purchasing for students where the applicant has identified an achievement gap. Examples might be students learning English, students who struggle with literacy or dyslexia, or another group identified by a gap in achievement on test scores. Ebooks may be purchased for classroom or individual use, but an emphasis on engaging reading is required. This grant will not cover textbooks.  

Working with the Axis 360 Community Share platform, schools can offer their students and faculty streaming or downloadable e-books and audiobooks from the Indianapolis Public Library as well as those shared by other Community Share members.  Members benefit from the 15,000 titles available from IndyPL, as well as 5,000 copies of 900 titles in the Community Share collection. 

The matching grant is open to all Indianapolis schools offering grades 9 through 12. School principals, librarians, curriculum directors, teachers, guidance counselors, and teachers are invited to submit a proposal. We hope proposals will be made in collaboration with the school’s library staff.

No, this grant is intended to develop the capacity for high schools to share ebooks amongst each other.

No, this grant is intended to develop the capacity for high schools to share e-books amongst each other.  In order to do that, high schools will have to use the same platform.

In some circumstances, a special project-based Axis 360 Community Share platform can be used by the project sponsor so students can access the ebooks requested.

Axis 360 Community Share was launched six years ago to allow public libraries to share their e-book collections with schools.  It was expanded four years ago to allow school libraries to share their ebook collections amongst themselves.  This allows schools to purchase large numbers of ebooks and share the cost.  Rather than purchase 30 e-books for an English teacher who will use them just once a year, several schools can share the cost and the books can be used several times a year.

Axis 360 Community Share allows school librarians to tailor their e-book collection to their school library audience, just as they would curate their print collection.  Teachers can assign books to students, groups or classes, and see progress on those books, but they can’t see what else students have checked out.  Teachers also can’t confine student choice of books to a particular reading level.

In addition to sharing, leveraging resources, maintaining confidentiality and allowing free choice reading, Axis 360 Community Share is free to students, families, and schools.

Spend up to $2,500 on ebooks for your school in Axis 360 Community Share; receive credit for up to $2,500 to be spent on titles you recommend for the shared collection.  (You don’t have to spend $2,500.  We will match what you can afford up to $2,500.)

• You can change to Axis 360! If you purchased individual titles on a different platform (as opposed to subscribing to all the titles on the platform), then you actually purchased the license for those ebooks from the publisher through the platform.  You can transfer your license to Axis 360.  About 95 percent of the publishers will allow you to do that.  If the licensing structure has changed, you will retain the original license.  (For example, you bought a one copy/one user title and now it is available only as a two-year license.  You still get the one copy/one user license in Axis 360 Community Share.) 
• In some circumstances, In some circumstances, a special project-based Axis 360 Community Share platform can be used by the project sponsor so students can access the ebooks requested.

Most schools already have a Follett Titlewave account.  Axis 360 e-books are available through Follett and will be uploaded to your school or district’s site automatically.  (If you don’t have an account, go to titlewave.com to sign up.)

The project manager will create a list of ebooks they would like to use, and then fill out a form with author, title, quantity and format information.  IndyPL will purchase the books and they will go directly into the Shared Pool where they will be available to you and all other members of Community Share.

Applications open May 9, 2022 and are due June 13, 2022.  We will announce recipients the following week.  Lists of books to be purchased can be sent at any time, but the grant money must be spent by November 15, 2022. Final grant reporting will be completed by January 31, 2023.

At this time there is not.  The person managing your school’s e-book platform will upload student data so students can login.  In addition, if your teachers will use the assignment feature, that person will upload a list of courses, teachers, and students enrolled in those courses.  Once the initial upload is done, changes to enrollment can be made from the administrative side of Axis 360 either by your Axis 360 administrator or by the teacher. 

No, but there is overlap. Some, but not all, members of the Shared System are part of the Community Share. Most Community Share members, however, are not part of the Shared System.

Sarah Batt, IndyPL, sbatt@indypl.org, 317-275-4707