LISNews: Librarian News

From Publishers Weekly: CourseSmart, a consortium of major textbook publishers that offers cheaper digital versions of their textbooks, has launched eTextbooks for iPad 2.0, an upgraded version of its iPhone and iPod Touch app that is optimized to run on the iPad. The CourseSmart iPad app is free to download and offers access to more than 7,000 digital textbooks from 5 major publishers at discounts of up to 60% of the print editions.

The digital textbook provider has launched a web site with more info on the new CourseSmart iPad app as well as a contest to give away an iPad-a-Day beginning today. CourseSmart claims to offer students the ability to access more than 90% of higher education textbooks in digital format on any device, mobile or PC. The new CourseSmart site also integrates social media into its functionality including Facebook Connect.