Blackwell is currently the United Kingdom’s top academic bookseller and has an extensive network of campus and online bookshops where it sells its textbooks. Today the company has announced a deal with Ingram’s VitalSource to provide a new digital textbook solution.
Digital Textbooks in the UK are starting to see a wider adoption and recently CourseSmart has entered into the market to take advantage of the growing demand of cheaper eTextbooks. The VitalSource reseller solution provides Blackwell with the tools needed to sell and deliver e-textbooks to customers while maintaining its 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).”
Blackwell’s new digital textbook store is set to launch in the first few weeks of May. The plan is to launch early enough to work out all of the kinks in the system and be fully operational for a number of months before the upcoming fall semester.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
