Vital Source E-Textbooks

Audience: Franklin University students taking courses with e-textbooks offered through Vital Source.
Disclaimer: The results and functionality of the following article only apply to the audience listed above. 

If your e-textbooks are offered through another publisher besides Vital Source, instructions will differ from those below. For a full list of e-textbook training resources, please click here. 

Topics

1. Vital Source e-textbooks in Franklin University Courses

2. Mobile Access for Vital Source e-textbooks

3. Troubleshooting Vital Source Access Issues

Vital Source e-textbooks in Franklin University Courses

In BlueQuill

If you are taking a course with an online book that is offered through Vital Source (3rd party book distributor), you can access the book using the following steps. 

1. Go to your course. Then, you will need to open a course object with a link to your book. Most likely, such course objects pertain to reading assignments for a week. Course Objects with a link to your book will have a button in the object that opens the book in a new tab in your browser. 

2. If you have never opened a Vital Source book through one of your courses, you will be prompted to create an account. Please choose to create the account. We recommend using your Franklin email address. However, this Vital Source account is not connected to your school myFranklin/email account and is not managed by the Franklin University Technology Help Desk. 

In Canvas

1. Log into your course in Canvas 
2. Click on the eReader in the course left-hand navigation.

Creating an account after opening the book through your course, will allow for continued access to the book, even after that course is complete with a passing grade. 

3. After you have completed step 2, you can then go back to the Vital Source Website to view that book, even after the course is complete. https://www.vitalsource.com/

Vital Source offers a number of tutorials and videos on how to navigate, highlight, and make notes to your e-textbook here: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-us

For videos on how to navigate your e-textbook, go here: http://downloads.vitalbook.com/tutorials/publish/index.html?did=generic#video/online_3_navigating_library

Related Article: https://bluequill.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/228503107

Mobile Access for Vital Source e-textbooks

If you have any questions about your Vital Source account, accessing your books through a mobile application, or other questions, please visit: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-us

Troubleshooting Vital Source Access Issues

Common Problems or Symptoms

- The book will not load.

- The book loads, but I am asked to pay for it. But, I have already paid for it through my course.

If you are having trouble accessing your Vital Source e-textbook for a Franklin University course, please try the following steps:

1. Log out of the Vital Source website if you are logged in already. 

2. Open the book through your course in BlueQuill. For instructions, please see the section above, step 1. 

3. Log in using the account you signed up with for your Vital Source account. 

4. If you are still unable to access your e-textbook, please contact the Help Desk for more troubleshooting.

• Our contact information and hours of operation can be found at helpdesk.franklin.edu. 

5. If you are unable to get ahold of us, our e-textbook supplier (Barnes & Noble College) has 24/7 support available here:

• firstdaysupport@bncservices.com 
• 573-777-5357

Reasons for Directly Contacting Vital Source:

• If you do not remember your what email address you used to access your Vital Source account:
  • While you can use your Franklin University email address when you sign up, it is not required. Therefore, you may be trying to access the e-textbook with a different email address than was used when you signed up. Your account with Vital Source is managed by Vital Source and is not administered by the Franklin University Help Desk. 

Contacting Vital Source: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-us

Wish to log a request with the Help Desk? Use your Franklin University username and password to login: Log A Request