UK book retailer of the year and academic bookseller, Blackwell’s, has launched a new digital learning service that promises to solve all your book dramas. Free to access, the service will make the journey of finding and accessing textbooks as simple as possible. It will work anywhere, on any device, including tablets, computers, smartphones and Blackwell’s is planning an app for the new Apple Watch when it launches.
Blackwell’s has worked hard to build a digital learning service with students and academics every step of the way to ensure that is has everything required for studying and research. You can buy and download digital textbooks, then use study tools to add bookmarks, annotations, and search for terms and phrases.
Moreover, Blackwell’s is to highlight books that feature in its Top 100 best selling titles for university students in shops if they are available digitally. ‘Shelf talkers’ in shops include URLs and QR codes that point customers to where they can the purchase these titles on their phone and tablet.
Blackwell’s is already working on NFC-enabled shelf talkers and an app for when the Apple Watch launches in Summer 2015 using the NFC (Near Field Communication) chip and the new Apple Pay function. This will also support Android NFC-enabled devices when this happens. Customers with Apple Watches or other NFC enabled devices would touch on the ‘shelf talker’ to purchase the title.
“Students can bring their own technology to access the service free of charge,” explains Matthew Cashmore, Blackwell’s Digital Director. “This is the first time that a dedicated digital learning tool has been developed for students, academics and professionals. It’s built right here in the UK, is super fast and easy and it’s free to access.”

You can sign up with information available at https://learn.blackwell.co.uk/ and from the many Blackwell’s bookshops around the UK.