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

[Deborah Armstrong]

Yeah, it does appear to be the RedShelf Reader and I think there are a few growing pains. For example, the FAQ says there is no TTS but other documentation says each book page has a read aloud button.
I personally found RedShelf very accessible. But I know other students we worked with don't agree.
It's such a slippery concept in many ways because if a student knows how to use one reading platform, they may decide one they haven't learned to use is not accessible even when it is.
Someone tried to tell me this summer that the Bookshare web reader wasn't accessible.
Anyway, it looks like there's a mix of image-based and text-based books. I guess the keyword is reflowable, because Redshelf doesn't say if it's a PDF or an epub as it's wrapped with DRM inside their own platform.
I've written to them to ask them for a few sample books to put on my shelf for a few days; I sent them ISBNS and we'll see.

--Debee


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Deborah Armstrong
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2022 10:35 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Follett and BryteWave, how accessible is it?

I found this PDF
https://content.efollett.com/brytewave/BryteWave_Frequently_Asked_Questions.pdf<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/content.efollett.com/brytewave/BryteWave_Frequently_Asked_Questions.pdf__;!!A-B3JKCz!ALGJuOGsSNzGKUz72v7H5DMWOssp6BYP5Tjm6Wb4Tz6WIROGouHevk-bVxEJD6igwqthYczcOJAlTslbLj2_htb7sWKdey7IzUDo$>
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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