The Digital Reader

From the press release:

Blackboard (Nasdaq: BBBB) and Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and leading operator of college bookstores, today announced a partnership that aims to make it easier for millions of higher education students to access and use interactive e-textbooks as part of their online course experience.

The partnership will also create greater interoperability between Blackboard Learn and NOOKstudy™ . NOOKstudy was built by students for students and works on the computer device they rely on the most, their PC or Mac. Among NOOKstudy’s critical features include enabling students to navigate e-textbooks as they would printed ones, to view multiple books and sources at once, and to access complementary content. Students can also highlight and take notes that are searchable and customizable. All of this will help students study smarter, not harder.

This is a really smart move on the part of B&N. Tying NOOKstudy into Blackboard means they won’t have to develop the server software themselves. Blackboard will do it. The possibilities for collaboration are intriguing.