If students become accustomed to e-books, then they will demand them in the future—when they have the economic clout to make a difference. Get them young!
So perhaps CourseSmart might do some good. Founded by six high-ed textbook publishers, including giants like Wiley, McGraw-Hill and Pearson, it will bring together thousands of text books on the same e-book platform. Inram’s VitalSource, which offers shared annotations, among other features, is the software in use. News release follows.
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“Pioneering venture founded by six higher education publishers will leverage Ingram Digital’s e-book platform to deliver thousands of titles in digital form
New York, NY – Ingram Digital SM, an Ingram Content company focused on solutions for digital content management, distribution and promotion, today announced it has been selected by CourseSmart to enable the company’s downloadable eTextbook initiative. Ingram Digital’s Education Solutions unit will provide the software platform for CourseSmart’s downloadable products.
A venture founded by six of the largest higher education textbook publishers, CourseSmart brings together thousands of textbooks, across hundreds of courses, on a common e-book platform. CourseSmart currently includes eTextbooks from Pearson, John Wiley & Sons Inc., Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Houghton Mifflin, Bedford Freeman & Worth Publishing Group and Jones and Bartlett Publishers and is available as a distributor for all higher education textbook publishers.
“In order to fulfill our mission of delivering thousands of the most widely-adopted textbooks on a common e-book platform, we needed a partner whose capabilities were both flexible and scalable,” said Sean Devine, CEO of CourseSmart. “Ingram Digital not only fulfilled our technical requirements, it offered unrivaled knowledge of and expertise in the higher education market.”
Ingram Digital is currently engaged in the conversion of approximately 3,000 textbooks to be made available for download from the CourseSmart Web site. In addition, Ingram Digital will provide a customized e-book reader application to enrich CourseSmart eTextbooks with interactive functionalities.
“We have been leading the market with solutions designed to meet the academic community’s rapidly evolving needs for several years,” said William Chesser, Vice President and General Manager of Ingram Digital Education Solutions. “Our role in the CourseSmart downloadable eTextbook initiative exemplifies the type of innovation Ingram Digital is known for in the higher education arena.”
About CourseSmart, LLC
CourseSmart is a new venture founded by six higher education textbook publishers including Pearson, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, John Wiley & Sons Inc., Houghton Mifflin, and the Bedford, Freeman, Worth Publishing Group. The company’s mission is to improve teaching and learning by providing instructors and students better exposure and access to digital course materials. CourseSmart brings together thousands of textbooks across hundreds of courses in an eTextbook format on a common platform. In doing so they provide a number of unique benefits to instructors, students, partners and institutions. Additional information can be found at the company’s website: http://www.coursesmart.com.
About Ingram Digital
Ingram Digital is an Ingram Content company. Together with Ingram Book Group and Lightning Source Inc., the Ingram Content companies provide a broad range of physical and digital services to the book industry. Ingram Digital provides publishers and other content owners with a comprehensive offering of digital content accession, storage, management and distribution services. Ingram Digital currently has several solution platforms – including MyiLibrary and VitalSource Technologies – which serve the institutional and educational markets respectively. In addition, Ingram Digital also serves the retailer market with full e-book and audio downloads as well as various search-and-discovery and marketing tools such as widgets. For more information, visit www.ingramdigital.com.”
