[Athen] Follett and BryteWave, how accessible is it?

[Steven Bianco]

It is my understanding that Follett acquired RedShelf.

Steven Kolberg, MA
Florida SouthWestern State College
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Coordinator Accessibility and LMS Administration
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From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Deborah Armstrong
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2022 1:35 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Follett and BryteWave, how accessible is it?

CAUTION: Please Be Aware - This Email Originated Outside of FSW

I found this PDF
https://content.efollett.com/brytewave/BryteWave_Frequently_Asked_Questions.pdf
which says nothing about accessibility.
I did try out a few books on Redshelf and found they were mostly accessible, though not always. I'm unclear if BryteWave is redshelf renamed or not.

=--Debee


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Deborah Armstrong
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2022 10:24 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: [Athen] Follett and BryteWave, how accessible is it?

So our bookstore was taken over last year by Follett. Our campus PR states:

>Follett, which operates more than 1,100 college and university bookstores across the United States and Canada, brings the advantages of extensive supply

>chain, economies of scale and new technology. The company offers the nation's largest textbook rental program, an extensive selection of used, digital,

>new and OER materials, and a price-matching program.


Their website is:
              https://highered.follett.com/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/highered.follett.com/__;!!A-B3JKCz!H4rLOcmBrwUBo1qTdc7riB4QRN6pk9scHu3wzw_sYCskdhIlwPJc7xijt9fyRCdpZ1ZaTceECXhGqS94ahY7MP81ozjqp7sn8WQo$>

So far it seems to be really welcomed by faculty, and when I've checked prices, textbooks are a bit cheaper.

One thing I'm seeing repeatedly though is how inexpensive renting digital copies of textbooks is. They are using a platform called BryteWave which I've never heard of.

I hate to tell a student to buy an over $150 textbook for me to scan and imperfectly convert if the digital version they can rent for $34 a quarter is actually accessible.

But of course, I don't know if that textbook is accessible.

Here's their customer service page on ebooks; it's very generic:
              https://customersupportcenter.highered.follett.com/hc/en-us/articles/360061500574-Digital-Materials<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/customersupportcenter.highered.follett.com/hc/en-us/articles/360061500574-Digital-Materials__;!!A-B3JKCz!H4rLOcmBrwUBo1qTdc7riB4QRN6pk9scHu3wzw_sYCskdhIlwPJc7xijt9fyRCdpZ1ZaTceECXhGqS94ahY7MP81ozjqp5jj8RJy$>
I found nothing about  who actually provides the digital copies, only a lot of stuff about DRM.  Our own bookstore site mentions BryteWave several times.

Any thoughts on how I can further investigate it. The above prices were not exaggerations!

--Debee



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