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VitalSource® PUBLISHER PARTNER GUIDE SAML Certificate Refresh Guide October 2026 |
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What you need to know… The action sits with the institution’s IT team. Your role is to make sure your school and campus store contacts know about it. |
How the VitalSource SAML integration works
SAML SSO lets students and instructors sign in to VitalSource with their institutional credentials. The institution’s identity system trusts a certificate published by VitalSource. That certificate is nearing its expiration date, so a new one is being introduced.
- Where the certificate lives. Our metadata page publishes it: https://bc.vitalsource.com/federation/saml_auth/authentications/metadata
- Two ways institutions use it. Some systems read our metadata automatically and pick up changes on their own. Others store a copy, and that copy must be replaced by hand.
- What breaks if it is missed. For an institution still using the old certificate, SSO stops working once we remove it. Users cannot sign in through campus credentials until the new certificate is installed.
Key dates
| Date | What happens |
| Week of October 19, 2026 | The new certificate is available. Our metadata lists both old and new for a short window, so institutions can switch without interruption. |
| Monday, October 26, 2026 | We remove the old certificate from our site. It no longer works for authentication. |
| Friday, October 30, 2026 | The old certificate expires. |
VitalSource Customer Success is emailing institutions directly: a heads-up now, a note when the new certificate is available, and a final reminder before removal.
Who this affects, by role
| Your team | What to know |
| IT / Security | Our certificate is changing on the dates above. If your own systems or a school-specific integration store our certificate, replace it. Our metadata page is the source. |
| Product | Know the dates, so you can anticipate any sign-in disruption for students in schools that miss the update. |
| Support | A missed update shows up as students and instructors who cannot sign in through campus SSO. Point them to their school’s IT team and success@vitalsource.com. |
| Channel Management and Field Sales | You are the voice to schools and campus stores in direct relationships. Use the talk track below. |
| Executive and Business Leadership | No action required of Publishers. A missed update at a school is an access problem for its students, not a content problem. |
Working directly with the school
Who to talk to
- Campus store manager or course materials manager. They field student and instructor questions first. They do not change the setting, but they can reach IT.
- IT / Systems Admin or LMS Admin. They own the certificate. They care about security, stable integrations, and fewer support tickets.
- Instructors. They care about students having access on day one. Keep it to one line: access stays on if IT completes a quick update.
What to say
- Lead with the access risk. Students could lose SSO access to assigned materials on October 26 if the certificate is stored locally and not replaced.
- Ask them to confirm: Does your system retrieve our certificate automatically, or store a copy?
- Request the single action: If stored, replace it before October 26 using the metadata page, test, and confirm to success@vitalsource.com.
- Offer the long-term fix. Dynamic retrieval means future updates need no action.
What to avoid
- Do not walk a school through system-specific configuration. Send them to success@vitalsource.com so Customer Success can help.
- Do not promise a workaround or extension on the October 26 removal date.
- Do not skip the IT team. A store manager alone usually cannot make this change.
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Sample message to a campus store or school contact Subject: Heads-up: VitalSource SSO certificate update, action needed before Oct 26 Hello [Name], I wanted to make sure this reaches your team. VitalSource is replacing the SAML certificate behind single sign-on for Launch. If your IT team stores a copy of that certificate, it needs to be replaced before October 26, 2026. Otherwise students and instructors could lose SSO access to their course materials. If your system retrieves it automatically from VitalSource metadata, nothing is needed. The new certificate is available from the week of October 19 at: https://bc.vitalsource.com/federation/saml_auth/authentications/metadata Could you forward this to your IT or identity team and ask them to confirm which setup you use? VitalSource Customer Success can help at success@vitalsource.com. I am glad to help coordinate. Thank you, [Your name] |
Common questions from Publisher teams
Do we have to do anything for our own content?
No. This update changes the certificate institutions use to sign in. It does not change your titles, pricing, or distribution setup.
A school says students cannot sign in. What do we tell them?
Ask them to have IT confirm they have installed the new certificate, and to email success@vitalsource.com with the institution name and the error they see.
Can a school keep using the old certificate after October 26?
No. We remove it on October 26 and it expires October 30.
Where do we escalate?
success@vitalsource.com. Your Publisher Customer Success contact can also help with schools in direct relationships.