Ebooks: Lyrasis Becomes the Sole Owner of The Palace Project, Move Will Enable Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) to Take Up “New Efforts” to Advance Its Mission

From Today’s Joint Announcement (Full Text):

The Palace Project — a mobile app and digital platform that provides ebooks and audiobooks to more than 700 libraries — is changing ownership. Co-created by the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and Lyrasis in 2020, the app will now be owned solely by Lyrasis, a nonprofit that supports libraries, archives and museums.

“DPLA is proud to have been part of creating the nation’s first digital content platform designed for and by libraries. Now, we’re excited to hand it to Lyrasis, which will continue to empower librarians to serve readers,” said John S. Bracken, Executive Director of DPLA. “Establishing Palace fully within Lyrasis will enable DPLA to take up new efforts to advance our mission to maximize access to information in new ways.”

DPLA and Lyrasis formed Palace in 2020 to provide libraries with control over their digital collections, building on DPLA’s ground-breaking 2017 ebook effort, the DPLA Exchange. The project has been enabled by philanthropic support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Institute of Museum and Library Service, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

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Lyrasis, working on behalf of libraries, brought its expertise in building large-scale infrastructure, development, and business models to bear on the project.

“In creating the DPLA Exchange in 2017, DPLA pioneered a library-friendly ebook marketplace where people could download books anytime,” said John Wilkin, CEO of Lyrasis. “Together, DPLA and Lyrasis built on that success to create Palace as an ebook platform owned and managed by libraries. Lyrasis will continue to enhance and grow Palace by adding functionality, streamlining the buying experience for libraries, adding more publishers and content, and more models for ownership and licensing.”

Lyrasis and DPLA will work together closely to ensure a smooth transition in the coming months. Micah May, previously DPLA’s Director of Ebooks Services, will become the Director of Business Development for the Ebooks & Community Engagement (EBCE) department in Lyrasis, focusing on publisher partnerships and the ebook content strategy.

DPLA and Lyrasis will share more about the transition during Ebook Friday on June 27 at the 2025 ALA Annual Conference in Philadelphia.

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Associations and Organizations, Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Digital Collections, Interactive Tools, Libraries, News, Public Libraries, Publishing