Bulk licensing deal for childrens story books

As educators, we are often lamenting that publishers of digital resources don't cater very well for the way we need to work at school level. App purchases on the iPad are a case in point, where you must buy a copy of the App for each iPad due to the licensing constraints. So we all understand that iPads are best suited for use as a personal device, but libraries and schools for many reasons are using them in shared ways. So how to accommodate this?

Well one publisher has really thought about the use of their books for a variety of markets. A Story before Bed was already a great App with its ability for children to record audio and video of themselves reading a book.

One of our educators has been using this App for a long time and finds it a great App for developing children's oral language and literacy. Children can share their recordings too. The books have great quality graphics and early this year they won the won the first ever Publishing Innovation Award at Digital Book World. Have a look at my recording of Itsy Bitsy Spider via the iPad.

Now they are providing licences for schools and libraries to utilise the App. With the ability to access over 300 books via the App or via the Web this could be a really useful purchase for schools and libraries.

Maybe other publishers/developers will think about doing the same thing for schools.