January 18, 2017
WESTCHESTER, IL – A new collaboration between Follett Higher Education Group and VitalSource Technologies LLC is making it easier for college students to access their digital learning materials. By integrating systems, Follett, the nation’s largest campus retailer, and VitalSource®, Ingram Content Group’s educational technology division, are eliminating the need for passcodes to access VitalSource content via Follett’s BryteWave digital textbook reader. Students simply log in to their learning management system (LMS) and click a link for instant access to their needed materials.
Follett has been delivering streamlined access to VitalSource content at Northeast State (Tenn.) Community College since last summer. Northeast State first approached Follett in March 2016 to develop an all-digital course material delivery model in collaboration with VitalSource. Follett launched a pilot in May 2016, providing participating Northeast State students with one-click access to VitalSource digital content on or before the first day of class. Since, the Northeast State program has grown exponentially to include nearly 150 courses and more than 7,000 students this spring.
“Immediate access to required materials is fundamental to student completion and success; however, it is not happening nearly enough for today’s college students,” said Dr. Mike Hale, VP, Education, North America, VitalSource. “This type of collaboration between VitalSource and Follett has gone a long way to putting learning materials in the hands of Northeast State students when they need it most.”
Follett’s new integration with VitalSource extends seamless content access to all students purchasing VitalSource content through a Follett managed campus store, in-store or online.
“Follett is investing in integrations with leading Educational Service Providers (ESPs) like VitalSource to improve access to quality educational resources,” said Roe McFarlane, Chief Digital Officer, Follett Higher Education Group. “By leveraging Follett integrations and digital solutions like Follett Discover and BryteWave, our campus partners are able to streamline technology touchpoints and access to digital content so faculty and students can focus on what’s most important – learning.”
Follett Discover and BryteWave are part of Follett's Academic Tools and Utilities solutions suite. Follett works directly with its partners to identify and implement the best solutions to drive access, affordability, and most importantly, academic success on each campus. For more information on Follett, visit www.follett.com. To learn more about VitalSource, visit www.vitalsource.com.
About Follett Corporation | Follett.com
For more than 140 years, Follett has been a trusted partner to preK-12 schools, colleges and campus stores, taking care of the critical details that make it easier for schools to run, teachers to teach, students to learn and fans to celebrate. A leading provider of education technology, services and physical and digital content, Follett currently works with 70,000 schools and operates more than 1,250 local campus stores and 1,600 virtual stores. With the 2016 acquisition of Baker & Taylor, LLC, Follett’s reach also extends into the public library and global retail markets. Today Follett Corporation is the world’s largest single source of books, entertainment products, digital content and multi-media for libraries, schools and retailers. Follett is a $3.6 billion privately held company headquartered in Westchester, Illinois.
About VitalSource | VitalSource.com
VitalSource Technologies LLC, part of Ingram Content Group, is improving the learning experience by making it easier to create and deliver effective and affordable content. The preferred choice among educational institutions and companies for digital learning materials, VitalSource® helps over 1,000 educational content providers create and deliver seamless interactive learning experiences through its exclusive Bookshelf® platform to millions of learners at 7,000 institutions. Bookshelf users opened more than 18 million digital textbooks last year and read more than 2 billion pages.