Follett Digital Resources Introduces ''Education-Friendly'' eBook Reader

MCHENRY, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Follett Digital Resources, the premier provider of digital solutions to help publishers and educators meet the needs of 21^st century learners, today announced it has developed and will be releasing new proprietary software that will provide a superior eBook experience more responsive to the needs of library customers and their increasing use of eBooks.

“Our new digital reader has been built with Follett customers in mind by software developers who are familiar with the requirements of education and public library customers”

The new offline Follett Digital Reader will become available for downloading and installation on customers’ computers on February 9. Users will be alerted and directed to the Follett eBook Web site, www.follettebooks.com/readersupport for the installation. The new Follett Digital Reader will replace the Adobe technology customers currently use to download and read a Follett eBook.

“We decided that a new format would protect publisher content while continuing to allow downloaded eBooks to utilize ‘education-friendly’ features and functionality desired by educators and life-long learners,” said Steve Siegel, Follett Vice President of eContent Markets. “By creating a new digital reader, we now have the ability to develop and introduce additional functionality for e-books that will meet the specific needs of K-12 and public libraries.”

Siegel said eBooks are valuable educational tools that can be used in a variety of ways, both in and out of the library.

“Our new digital reader has been built with Follett customers in mind by software developers who are familiar with the requirements of education and public library customers,” said Bill Rampey, Follett Vice President of eContent Technologies. “It will make eBooks great classroom learning tools and will help users integrate downloaded eBooks into lessons and assignments, thereby increasing the value of the Follett eBooks in a library’s collection.”

Rampey said customers downloading eBooks with the new Follett Digital Reader will find a more engaging, “right-sized” reader with the following enhanced capabilities:

A selection of eBook Library views (thumbnails and cover flow) for browsing your downloaded eBook collection

Two different page views (single and facing)
Search tools, including “find text” and “find next” functionality

Publisher pre-defined copy/paste and print capabilities

Zoom in/out function to customize your views (by percentage, fit to page, height and width)

Pre-defined bookmarks to jump to relevant content when set by the publisher

Note-taking tools with highlighting

To be able to download purchased eBooks, customers must install the new Follett Digital Reader on all computers on their networks that can access and download eBook content from Follett. On March 2, existing eBook collections will be switched to the new format. The online viewer for Follett eBooks is not affected by this transition in any way. To find out more about customer and technical requirements for the new Follett eBook Reader, please visit: www.follettebooks.com/readersupport.

About Follett Digital Resources

As part of Follett Corporation and benefiting from more than 135 years of industry innovations and leadership, Follett Digital Resources provides software, services and experience to help publishers and educators meet the unique needs of 21^st century learners. Drawing on deep expertise in the educational publishing and distribution fields, Follett Digital Resources delivers a single source for digital solutions that not only incorporates the most advanced technology available but is also exclusively focused on improving the learning process. Learn more at www.follettdigital.com.