Posted: March 19, 2020
As classes have now moved to a remote learning environment, you may have questions about how to access your textbooks and other reading materials remotely. You can now get access to most of your books as e-textbooks on Bookshelf from VitalSource. This access is granted to Penn State students who were enrolled in courses as of March 16, 2020 and will be available through May 25, 2020.
Please follow these steps to ensure your access:
- Visit bookshelf.vitalsource.com where you can either log-in or create a Bookshelf account.
- If you are accessing Bookshelf for the first time, instructions on creating an account can be found here: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020563694-Create-an-Account
- After creating an account, login and click on the “Explore" tab in the upper left corner of the screen. This tab provides access to the freely-available e-textbooks.
- If you already have an existing Bookshelf account through your Penn State email address, login and click on the “Explore" tab in the upper left corner of the screen. This tab provides access to the freely-available e-textbooks.
- If you already have an existing Bookshelf account but it is not linked to your Penn State email address, an article explaining how you can access your Bookshelf account and change it to a Penn State email account is available here: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-us/articles/201957733/
Free access to e-textbooks are available through May 25, 2020 to ensure you are able to use required learning materials through final exams.
If you have additional questions, please visit Penn State's Remote Learning FAQ site. Keep up with the latest Coronavirus updates from Penn State here.
