Sweet Briar to partner with online textbook giant Akademos

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Staff Writer

Akademos Inc., a leading provider of college bookstore solutions and integrated online marketplaces for educational institutions, announced today that Sweet Briar College has joined its fast-growing list of partner schools.

Sweet Briar is the fourth Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (CICV) member institution to adopt the Akademos online bookstore solution — following Bridgewater College, Mary Baldwin College and Roanoke College.

Starting in the fall, Sweet Briar students can shop for textbooks in new, used, rental and eBook formats on any device using a custom-branded version of the mobile-optimized Akademos online bookstore. Students will save an average of 60 percent off the list price of their course materials using Akademos’ exclusive marketplace of more than 100 million new and used textbooks.

The next-generation Akademos online shopping platform will be fully integrated with Sweet Briar’s student information system (SIS), enabling students to automatically see the textbooks required for their courses and order books for an entire term in less than five minutes. Students will also be able to seamlessly apply financial aid to their course material purchases.

In addition, Sweet Briar faculty and administrators will be able to take advantage of the state-of-the-art Akademos Adoption & Analytics Portal to streamline the textbook adoption process. The portal provides easy access to course adoption history and visibility into course material pricing to help instructors select books that are both high quality and affordable.

“When our students struggle financially to purchase the materials they need for academic success, it jeopardizes our mission to create a supportive educational environment,” said Pam DeWeese, dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs.

“Partnering with Akademos helps fulfill this important part of our mission by enabling us to offer students high-quality textbooks at the lowest possible price, and by giving our faculty powerful tools for assessing book costs.”

The savings will allow students to “focus less on how they’re going to afford their textbooks and more on their studies,” said John Squires, chief executive officer at Akademos.

“We’re looking forward to working with Sweet Briar to launch a state-of-the-art online bookstore with a highly personalized, intuitive and expeditious book-buying experience.”

To learn more about expanding affordable textbook options for students and online bookstore offerings for educational institutions, visit akademos.com.