NASHVILLE, TN – As booksellers around the world respond to increasing demand for digital textbooks on their campuses, many, including Blackwell's—the leading provider of academic, professional and educational materials in the U.K.—are choosing Ingram's VitalSource to power e-textbook solutions for their customers.
"As the UK's largest Academic Bookseller, our network of campus and online bookshops has always prided itself on ensuring that the right book is in the right place at the right time," said David Prescott, Managing Director, Blackwell's Bookshop and Online. "The education community is now looking to us to provide innovation in the digital age, and with the VitalSource platform, we have the resources to deliver a variety of comprehensive e-textbook offerings to the students and institutions we serve."
Digital adoption continues to grow dramatically in higher education, and the VitalSource reseller solution provides Blackwell's with the tools needed to sell and deliver e-textbooks to customers while maintaining their key campus and online bookstore positions. Students obtain their content through the VitalSource e-textbook platform, but content contracts, orders, and financial management remain completely in Blackwell's control.
The VitalSource platform will also provide Blackwell's institutional customers with new textbook integration options. "Using the platform, Blackwell's will be able to provide e-textbooks through their e-commerce sites and offer innovative campus-system integrations as well," said William Chesser, Vice President of Sales for Vital Source. "With VitalSource, Blackwell's can offer e-textbook program options that are fully integrated with campus Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs)."
Students and educators who purchase Blackwell e-textbooks enjoy all the benefits of VitalSource including integrated download, online, and mobile content options, advanced searching, and annotation, note-sharing, and accessibility features. Through the program, Blackwell's also has access to a full-suite of reporting and content workflow tools. Blackwell's e-textbook offering is expected to launch in May, 2012.
"Vital Source connects students and educators to the newest e-textbooks and interactive learning tools," said Kent Freeman, Chief Operating Officer, Vital Source Technologies, Inc. "Our new bookseller relationships allow more students and faculty to enjoy the benefits and flexibility of digital course materials along with all the advantages the VitalSource platform has to offer. We are pleased to support Blackwell's in their e-textbook efforts."
VitalSource, with more than 2 million users, is the most used e-textbook platform in education today. With a presence on more than 6,000 campuses in 180 countries, educators and students have access to tens of thousands of titles from the world's leading textbook publishers.
About Blackwell
Blackwell is the leading academic bookseller in the UK with over 50 outlets across England, Scotland and Wales. It has built an international reputation for bookselling excellence with links to academic institutions and libraries around the globe and has continued to expand its UK base on high streets and in university campuses up and down the country. Today Blackwell has been trading for over 130 years from its world-famous flagship store at Broad Street in Oxford. Its staff continues to be renowned for their expertise, depth of knowledge and love of books since the first Blackwell shop opened its doors. For more information visit www.blackwell.co.uk
About Ingram
Ingram Content Group Inc. provides a broad range of physical and digital services to the book industry. Ingram's operating units are Ingram Book Company, Lightning Source Inc., Vital Source Technologies, Inc., Ingram Periodicals Inc., Ingram International Inc., Ingram Library Services Inc., Spring Arbor Distributors Inc., Ingram Publisher Services Inc., Tennessee Book Company LLC, and Coutts Information Services. For more information, visit www.ingramcontent.com
