Overview
Provides student-level detail on Bookshelf usage by item, including session details, page views, pages printed, highlights, notes, and bookmarks. The report draws on Bookshelf engagement events and helps institutions understand exactly how individual students are engaging with assigned content.
Key Questions This Report Answers
How is a specific student or user engaging with an assigned title (page views, prints, notes, highlights, bookmarks)?
Which titles, courses, or distributors are generating the most item-level engagement within an institution?
How does a user's engagement vary across devices and platforms (Bookshelf online, desktop, mobile)?
How to Use This Report
Start with the filters — Set a date range to scope your results (defaults to "Last 7 Days"). Use Asset Item ID or Asset Item Name to narrow to specific content, or Distributor, Publisher, Course Name, Instructor, User, Device, or Platform to filter further.
Interpret the results — Review student- and item-level engagement (sessions, page views, prints, notes, highlights, bookmarks) broken out by device and platform. These are cumulative counts, not unique — a user re-reviewing the same content multiple times adds to the total each time.
Take action — Use this granular detail to identify individual students or titles that may need outreach, or roll up to the Engagement by Asset Report or Engagement by Institution Report for a higher-level summary view.
| 💡 Tip: Use Asset Item ID to multi-search up to 16,000 ISBNs/VBIDs at once — paste them as a comma-separated list or copy directly from a spreadsheet column. Semicolon-separated values are not supported. |
Filters
Filter Name | Description | Required? | Default Value | Example Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Date Range | Date range for when engagement took place | No | Last 7 Days | "Last 30 Days", specific date range |
Distributor | Name of the company that distributed the content | No | All | Distributor name |
Asset Item ID | Unique identifier for the item, typically an ISBN or VBID. Supports multi-search (up to 16,000 values, comma-separated or pasted from a column). Semicolon-separated values are not supported. | No | All | Single or multiple ISBNs/VBIDs |
Asset Item Name | Name of the content accessed | No | All | Specific title name |
Publisher | Name of the publisher related to the distributed content | No | All | Publisher name |
Course Name | Name of the course the engagement is associated with (if available) | No | All | Course name |
Instructor | Name of instructor, with related safe-email for distinction | No | All | Instructor name |
User | First and Surname of user | No | All | "Jane Doe" |
User Email | Email address of the user | No | All | "jdoe@relay.vitalsource.com" |
User Reference ID | Reference associated with the user, set by the Distributor | No | All | "STU-004821" |
Device | Format of the device used to access the content | No | All | Desktop, Mobile |
Platform | Online platform used to access the content | No | All | Bookshelf Online, Bookshelf App |
Fields & Metrics
Field Name | Description | Data Type | Example Value |
|---|---|---|---|
Distributor | Name of the company that distributed the content | Text | "ABC Bookstore" |
User | Name of the student/user | Text | "Jane Doe" |
User Email | Email address of the user | Text | "jdoe@relay.vitalsource.com" |
User Reference ID | Reference associated with the user, set by the Distributor | Text | "STU-004821" |
Course Name | LMS course title from Launch | Text | "PSY 101 - Fall 2024" |
Course Label | LMS course label from Launch | Text | "PSY101-F24-02" |
LMS Course ID in Launch | LMS Course ID stored in Launch | Text | "88213" |
Asset Item Name | Name of the content accessed | Text | "Intro to Psychology, 5th Edition" |
Asset Item ID | Unique identifier for the item, typically an ISBN or VBID. Derived based on the following: Asset ISBN-13, else eISBN, else VBID. | Text | "9781234567890" |
Related Print ISBN | Related print ISBN of the content | Text | "9780987654321" |
Item Format | Format in which the content is delivered | Text | "eBook" |
Author(s) | Name of the author(s) who wrote the content | Text | "Jane Smith" |
Publisher | Name of the publisher related to the distributed content (Manage Company name) | Text | "ABC Publishing" |
Imprint | Publisher's imprint for the item | Text | "ABC Academic" |
Last Access Date (Overall) | Most recent date the user accessed the material. May fall after the filtered date range — this field always reflects the most recent engagement, regardless of the filter. | Date | "12/02/2024" |
Last Access Date (Online) | Most recent date the user accessed the material from Bookshelf Online | Date | "12/02/2024" |
Last Access Date (Download) | Most recent date the user accessed the material from Bookshelf Native | Date | "11/28/2024" |
Sessions (Overall) | Total number of unique sessions. Sessions spanning multiple devices are only counted once here, but also counted under each respective device, so device-level sessions generally will not sum to this total. | Number | "42" |
Sessions (Online) | Total number of unique sessions from Bookshelf online | Number | "18" |
Sessions (Desktop - Mac) | Total number of unique sessions from a Mac Desktop App | Number | "6" |
Sessions (Desktop - PC) | Total number of unique sessions from a PC Desktop App | Number | "9" |
Sessions (Mobile - iOS) | Total number of unique sessions from an iOS Mobile App | Number | "5" |
Sessions (Mobile - Android) | Total number of unique sessions from an Android Mobile App | Number | "4" |
Page Views (Overall) | Total number of pages viewed | Number | "1,204" |
Page Views (Online) | Total number of pages viewed on Bookshelf online | Number | "612" |
Page Views (Desktop - Mac) | Total number of pages viewed from a Mac Desktop App | Number | "210" |
Page Views (Desktop - PC) | Total number of pages viewed from a PC Desktop App | Number | "260" |
Page Views (Mobile - iOS) | Total number of pages viewed from an iOS Mobile App | Number | "78" |
Page Views (Mobile - Android) | Total number of pages viewed from an Android Mobile App | Number | "44" |
Pages Printed (Overall) | Total count of pages printed | Number | "18" |
Pages Printed (Online) | Total count of pages printed from Bookshelf online | Number | "9" |
Pages Printed (Desktop - Mac) | Total count of pages printed from a Mac Desktop App | Number | "4" |
Pages Printed (Desktop - PC) | Total count of pages printed from a PC Desktop App | Number | "3" |
Pages Printed (Mobile - iOS) | Total count of pages printed from an iOS Mobile App | Number | "1" |
Pages Printed (Mobile - Android) | Total count of pages printed from an Android Mobile App | Number | "1" |
Notes (Overall) | Total number of notes created | Number | "6" |
Notes (Online) | Total number of notes created from within Bookshelf online | Number | "3" |
Notes (Desktop - Mac) | Total number of notes created from a Mac Desktop App | Number | "1" |
Notes (Desktop - PC) | Total number of notes created from a PC Desktop App | Number | "1" |
Notes (Mobile - iOS) | Total number of notes created from an iOS Mobile App | Number | "1" |
Notes (Mobile - Android) | Total number of notes created from an Android Mobile App | Number | "0" |
Highlights (Overall) | Total number of highlights created | Number | "12" |
Highlights (Online) | Total number of highlights created from within Bookshelf online | Number | "5" |
Highlights (Desktop - Mac) | Total number of highlights created from a Mac Desktop App | Number | "3" |
Highlights (Desktop - PC) | Total number of highlights created from a PC Desktop App | Number | "2" |
Highlights (Mobile - iOS) | Total number of highlights created from an iOS Mobile App | Number | "1" |
Highlights (Mobile - Android) | Total number of highlights created from an Android Mobile App | Number | "1" |
Bookmarks (Overall) | Total number of bookmarks created | Number | "3" |
Bookmarks (Online) | Total number of bookmarks created from within Bookshelf online | Number | "1" |
Bookmarks (Desktop - Mac) | Total number of bookmarks created from a Mac Desktop App | Number | "1" |
Bookmarks (Desktop - PC) | Total number of bookmarks created from a PC Desktop App | Number | "1" |
Bookmarks (Mobile - iOS) | Total number of bookmarks created from an iOS Mobile App | Number | "0" |
Bookmarks (Mobile - Android) | Total number of bookmarks created from an Android Mobile App | Number | "0" |
Avg Session Length (Overall) | Average time the user engaged with the content | Duration | "00:12:35" |
Avg Session Length (Online) | Average time the user engaged with the content through Bookshelf online | Duration | "00:10:02" |
Avg Session Length (Desktop - Mac) | Average time the user engaged with the content through the Mac Desktop App | Duration | "00:14:20" |
Avg Session Length (Desktop - PC) | Average time the user engaged with the content through the PC Desktop App | Duration | "00:13:55" |
Avg Session Length (Mobile - iOS) | Average time the user engaged with the content through the iOS Mobile App | Duration | "00:08:41" |
Avg Session Length (Mobile - Android) | Average time the user engaged with the content through the Android Mobile App | Duration | "00:07:12" |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why don't my numbers match the Engagement by Asset Report or Engagement by Institution Report?
A: This report presents student- and item-level detail, while the Engagement by Asset and Engagement by Institution Reports aggregate engagement to the asset or distributor level. Totals should reconcile, but the level of granularity differs.
Q: Why are my engagement counts higher than the number of users I expect?
A: Engagement metrics (page views, prints, notes, highlights, bookmarks) are cumulative counts, not unique. A user re-reviewing the same pages multiple times increases the total count each time.
Q: Why is my data limited to the current year and the previous two years?
A: This report only displays engagement events for the current year-to-date plus the previous two full years, to keep the report performant and relevant.
Q: Why does the Last Access Date show a date outside my selected date range?
A: The Last Access Date fields always reflect the most recent date the user engaged with the item, regardless of the filtered date range. Engagement metrics themselves only reflect activity within the filtered range.
Q: Why don't I see any publisher courseware activity in this report?
A: Engagement events are only captured from within Bookshelf. VitalSource does not have access to publisher courseware activity data, so it is not included in this report.