Follett Digital Resources has announced it has developed and will be releasing new proprietary software that it says will provide a superior ebook experience more responsive to the needs of library customers and their increasing use of ebooks.

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.

By creating a new digital reader, the company says it now has the ability to develop and introduce additional functionality for ebooks that will meet the specific needs of K-12 and public libraries. 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 Follett 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.

Source: Follett Digital Resources, www.follettdigital.com