How do staff register as a new user?
Unlike most of our other resources, members of academic staff need to register to use VitalSource. This is in addition to any prompts to login to the usual University Microsoft account that you may see when accessing online books via our LibrarySearch catalogue or your leganto reading list.
You will be prompted to accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, enter your university email address, and will need to fill out a short registration form to confirm your account. The book that you clicked on to open will then load for you in their online 'Bookshelf'.
Please note: It is not possible to go to the VitalSource home page and register. Instead, the registration process happens automatically the first time you try to open one of our Library books that is hosted on the platform.
Why don't students need to register in the same way?
VitalSource provides eTextbook rentals for the length of an academic year instead of being a permanent part of the Library collections.
Under our current contract, staff use of VitalSource books is 'complimentary', i.e. there is no direct cost to the library for each book you read. We therefore need to be able to separate out an academic's use of the books from that of our students to ensure we are only charged for the student copies. Every time you click to open a VS book for the first time, you will see this message, which confirms you have a staff account with them:
This is why the staff experience is different to students - the required information is slightly different to ensure your account is set up as a staff one.
Provided they go via the library catalogue or a reading list link, students should not be prompted to register to view books on VitalSource. Instead the books should simply load for them through the University's usual SSO authentication process.
The Library is aware of a few issues that might prevent you from successfully accessing VitalSource as a new staff user, such as:
I'm clicking on the option to "Continue with your University of Wolverhampton account" but nothing is happening?
It appears to log me in but I can only see an empty 'Bookshelf'?
Please consider the following:
- If you are trying to use an embedded link in a canvas page (a page of the course content and not the official 'Reading list' in the left-hand menu) it is highly likely that it will not be able to link you to the book correctly and you will not be prompted to create an account in the way described above. We recommend that you try accessing the book through the library catalogue or reading list in the first instance rather than using a Canvas link.
- If you have a staff AND a student account at the University they can conflict, particularly if you used a VitalSource book for the first time as a student. Please ensure you are not logged into any University systems via your student account, or use another internet browser and try accessing the book again.
- The 'Continue with your University of Wolverhampton account' option will ONLY work once you have successfully registered. If you do not have a staff account yet using this button to try and login will send you in a circle because it has no account to connect you to. We recommend that you try a different internet browser and then try and access the book through the library catalogue or reading list which will hopefully prompt the correct registration process.
If you need any support with access to VitalSource, please Contact the Library. Library Assist online chat is often the best way to speak to us. If the issue cannot be resolved immediately the staff will refer you to the appropriate Librarian team.
