Library Technology Guides

Follett Higher Education acquires Willo Labs. Follett Higher Education, North America's largest campus retailer, announced the acquisition of Indianapolis-based Willo Labs, the leading technology platform that gives campuses complete control over their digital learning access and makes it easier to achieve academic, equity, and total privacy goals with digital course materials. [Full Announcement].

Follett to Feature Vitamin Shoppe Health and Wellness Products in College Bookstores. Follett Higher Education Group has partnered with The Vitamin Shoppe to bring a range of the wellness retailer's exclusive products to a select group of campus bookstores across the U.S., with plans to expand both product lines and sales venues in future semesters. The products include vitamins, supplements, sports nutrition and academic performance products supporting sleep, mood and brain health from brands such as The Vitamin Shoppe, BodyTech, BodyTech Elite, plnt and TrueYou. [Full Announcement].

The Brandr Group, Follett team up to bring player apparel and jersey sales to schools across the country. The Brandr Group, the leading group licensing agency in Name, Image and Likeness in college athletics, and Follett, the largest campus store operator in North America, announced a partnership that will bring apparel and jersey sales to schools with players who have opted in to TBG's group licensing programs across the country. A Product Example from Villanova can be found here. [Full Announcement].

Follett Corporation, the parent of Follett Higher Education, acquired by private investor group. Follett Corporation announced the sale of its corporate entity as well as Follett Higher Education, the company's collegiate retail and Follett ACCESS business, to a group of private investors led by Jefferson River Capital LLC. a private investment company controlled by the James family. [Full Announcement].

Follett returns to Vanderbilt University to manage campus store operations. Follett Corporation, the largest campus retailer in North America with more than 1,100 campus locations, announced that Vanderbilt University will transition its campus retail operations to Follett Higher Education Group on June 1, 2021, with plans underway for a full renovation. The partnership between Follett and Vanderbilt is resurfacing after several years of campus store operations by a competing retailer. [Full Announcement].

New Follett Higher Education Group scholarship to help PBSC students. Follett Higher Education Group, Palm Beach State College's longtime business partner, is giving $125,000 over five years for a new scholarship to help students with tuition and other educational expenses. [Full Announcement].

Follett Higher Education Group Announces 88% Increase in Ecommerce Sales. Follett Higher Education Group today announced that online orders across Follett's 1,250 ecommerce websites increased by 93% YTD as a result of consumers shifting spending from in-store to online since the early days of the pandemic. [Full Announcement].

The Citadel Bookstore to be operated by Follett Higher Education. The Citadel Bookstore in Mark Clark Hall on campus as well as online will now be managed and operated by the Follett Higher Education Group. The contracted agreement becomes effective November 4, 2020. [Full Announcement].

Follett to Manage Wheaton College Campus Store. Follett Corporation, the largest campus retailer in North America, announced today that the Wheaton College Campus Store has transitioned to Follett Higher Education Group management, bringing new products, savings and support for campus store customers. Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois, selected Follett as the campus retail partner with the best resources, technology and product selection to support the unique needs of the campus community. [Full Announcement].

Follett launches All-Campus Model of groundbreaking course materials program aimed at driving student affordability, accessibility and retention. Follett Higher Education Group, the largest campus retailer and eCommerce leader in North America, announced that it has launched Follett ACCESS, an enhanced all-campus version of its popular includED program. Follett ACCESS is an evolution of delivering over seven years of affordability programs for campuses. The powerful new program delivers all required print and digital course materials to all enrolled students at a campus as part of their tuition, or course charges, on the first day of class—resulting in lower costs, reduced stress, and greater student preparedness. [Full Announcement].

Follett to modernize, manage six University of Houston System campus store locations. Follett, the largest campus retailer in North America, announced that it has been chosen by the University of Houston System Board of Regents to manage six campus retail locations across the UH System's four universities: University of Houston, University of Houston-Clear Lake, University of Houston-Downtown and University of Houston-Victoria. With the switch comes new affordability options for course materials, fresh merchandise and integrated online services and learning materials for students. [Full Announcement].

Nebraska Book Company and Follett Higher Education Group form strategic sourcing partnership. Nebraska Book Holdings and Follett Higher Education Group announced a strategic sourcing partnership to expand access, efficiency and savings to institutions involved in wholesale course materials sourcing and selling. Through the partnership NBC will expand its wholesale services business by assuming FHEG's independently managed store accounts. FHEG, in turn, will shift its focus from physical wholesale services to Follett Marketplace and Valorebooks.com, the company's online marketplaceplatformsfor buying, selling and renting books. [Full Announcement].

Follett to Manage Northern Illinois University Campus Store Operations. The Northern Illinois University (NIU) Board of Trustees announced today that the university has selected Follett Higher Education to manage campus store operations. [Full Announcement].

Follett disrupts collegiate campus ecommerce with $50 million technology investment. Follett Corporation, higher education's leading campus retailer and operator of college stores, announced today that it is making a $50M investment to transform the company's collegiate eCommerce platform. The company's shift to “headless” eCommerce keeps Follett at the cutting edge of commercial online retailing. [Full Announcement].

Sogeti Partners with Follett to Deliver a Dynamic eCommerce Experience. Follett Corporation, higher education's leading campus retailer and operator of college stores, announced today that it is making a $50M investment to transform the company's collegiate eCommerce platform. The company's shift to “headless” eCommerce keeps Follett at the cutting edge of commercial online retailing. [Full Announcement].

Follett Joins Educational Publishers and Distributors in Effort to Fight Counterfeit Textbooks. Follett Corporation, the leading operator of college stores, announced today that it has agreed to participate, with Barnes & Noble Education, MBS, Chegg and Ingram, in the adoption of the Anti-Counterfeit Best Practices of publishers Cengage, McGraw-Hill Education, Elsevier, and Pearson. The Best Practices were developed by the four Publishers, which form the Educational Publishers Enforcement Group. The Best Practices have now been endorsed by the largest textbook distributors in the country, and may be viewed as the industry standard in combating counterfeit textbooks. [Full Announcement].

Follett and Lumen Learning to expand adoption of OER Courseware. Follett and Lumen Learning announced a partnership to lower costs and improve student success through the use of academic content and courseware based entirely on open educational resources (OER). Follett will offer Lumen Learning's OER solutions to more than 1,200 colleges and universities where Follett manages course materials delivery. Given Follett's ongoing mission to improve access and affordability for students, Follett has invested in Lumen Learning to help fund future growth and expansion of OER courseware. [Full Announcement].

Follett, VitalSource integration promotes one-click access to 80,000+ digital titles. A new collaboration between Follett Higher Education Group and VitalSource Technologies 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 and click a link for instant access to their needed materials. [Full Announcement].

Follett Acquires Wobo, Inc., BookVolume. Follett Corporation announced that the company has acquired Wobo, Inc., formerly Woody's Books, Inc, a leading service for independent managed campus stores to find and purchase books online in volume. The acquisition includes Wobo, Inc. assets including the BookVolume tool, enabling Follett Wholesale to leverage new technology in transforming the Wholesale business. [Full Announcement].

Follett Names Roe McFarlane Chief Digital Officer for Higher Education Business. Follett Corporation announced that Roe J. McFarlane has been named Chief Digital Officer for Follett Higher Education Group, higher education's largest campus retailer. McFarlane joined Follett in 2013, most recently serving as senior vice president of ecommerce, digital product management and marketing. His latest promotion reinforces Follett's commitment to further advancing academic digital delivery and leading ecommerce platforms for its 1,000+ campus partners and millions of store customers. In his new role, McFarlane will continue to manage and drive business innovation in ecommerce and online analytics for FHEG's 1,600 eFollett.com virtual stores. He will also oversee digital advertising, strategic marketing and product management for Follett's academic tools and digital solutions such as includED, BryteWave and Follett Discover. [Full Announcement].