From "Junk Drawer" to Powerhouse: Strategies for Maintaining Your EdTech Library
Let’s be honest: "library maintenance" can sound a lot like "house cleaning." It’s a chore that typically sits at the bottom of the to-do list. However, maintaining your district’s EdTech library is the critical difference between having a cluttered "junk drawer" of software versus a curated, high-performance EdTech library.
In our recent Virtual Office Half Hour, we dove deep into why maintenance matters and—more importantly—how to make it manageable. By implementing a rigorous maintenance workflow, you ensure every dollar spent serves a purpose, student data remains protected with current agreements, and teachers have immediate access to effective tools.
Here is a recap of the strategies, automations, and expert tips we shared to help you build a modern, equitable, and data-driven EdTech ecosystem.
Choose Your Maintenance Strategy
There is no single "right" way to maintain a library; it depends on your district's size and resources. During the session, we identified four common strategies districts employ:
- The Standardized Cycle: A highly organized approach where products are reviewed on a strict cadence by a dedicated committee.
- The Yearly Refresh: A mass update strategy that aligns with end-of-year decision-making and budgeting for the upcoming school year.
- The Priority Focus: A targeted strategy where districts focus only on maintaining high-stakes tools—those with high costs, expected high usage, or potential risk (e.g., ensuring "denied" products remain blocked).
- The "As-Needed" Approach: Updating tools only when a discrepancy is noticed or a teacher reaches out. While less proactive, it is sometimes a necessity.
Leverage Automation to Save Time
Moving from manual tracking to automated systems is the most powerful way to keep your library current.
- Date-Triggered Workflows: Relying on memory to track contract expirations is risky. Instead, set up workflows triggered by specific dates (e.g., 90 days before a Data Privacy Agreement expires). This can automatically notify admins, assign review tasks, or update product statuses to "Under Review" without you lifting a finger.
- Manual Workflow Triggers: For free products that don’t have contract dates, you can still streamline the process by manually triggering review workflows directly from the library menu.
- Tag Checklists: Enhance your vetting process by using tag checklists. Reviewers can check off features like "accessibility compliance" or specific data privacy standards during the review, which makes the library infinitely more searchable for teachers later on.
- Automation-Only Steps: Create "hard stops" in your process. For example, if a reviewer marks a tool as failing accessibility standards, the system can automatically set the status to "Denied" and notify the requester immediately.
Tips and Tricks for a Cleaner Library
An updated library is defined as much by what you exclude as what you include.
- Don't Fear the Archive: If a product has been active for years with zero usage, it’s time to let it go. You can mass archive legacy tools to declutter your view. Remember, archiving isn't permanent—you can always bring a product back if a teacher requests it.
- Mind Your Dates: Automation only works if your data is good. If you renew a contract, make sure to update the expiration date in the system immediately. Otherwise, your date-triggered workflows won't fire when you need them next year. While you are updating contract dates, it is also a good time to update or make note of any pricing changes.
- Review Your Resources: Maintenance isn't just about the tool itself; it's about the metadata. Periodically check attached resources and custom statuses (like "Pilot" or "Sunsetting") to ensure they are still relevant for your educators.
- Pro-Tip from the Community: If you need to restart a workflow for a product, try doing it from the Management>Workflows area rather than Management>Products. This ensures the original requester's form (and their "why") stays attached to the new workflow.
Looking Ahead
Whether you are preparing for the spring budgeting season or bracing for upcoming accessibility compliance laws in 2026, taking the time to "clean house" now will pay dividends later.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined the session and shared their own strategies!
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