The Palace Project Launches New Platform and App to Enable Equitable Econtent Access

Supported by the Knight Foundation, the nonprofit library-centered platform provides all-in-one econtent management and lending

The Palace Project (“Palace”), the nonprofit library-centered platform and ereader app for digital content and services, announced its official launch today.

Informed by librarians and supported by a multi-year, multi-million dollar investment from the Knight Foundation, The Palace Project is an easy-to-use platform for the management and delivery of ebooks, audiobooks and other econtent and puts libraries at the center of their communities’ digital experience.

The Palace Project’s open-source system empowers librarians to manage collections, hosting and circulation in a single app, while protecting patron privacy and strengthening libraries’ direct relationships with their patrons. The Palace App, available for iOS and Android, allows libraries to serve all their econtent—from all major vendors including OverDrive, Baker and Taylor, Bibliotheca, and Bibliolabs—to patrons in one easy-to-use interface.

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“This community-driven initiative is informed by library values, and ensures an option focused on library needs for maximizing access to econtent offerings for patrons,” commented Michele Kimpton, Senior Director of The Palace Project. “Our main objective is to support the mission of public libraries by increasing equitable access to econtent and carrying the relationship between library and patron into the virtual realm.”

The Palace Project team negotiates directly with publishers to make a variety of unique and flexible licensing models available to libraries via Palace Marketplace, the only nonprofit econtent marketplace. Titles from the five major publishers are offered in the Marketplace, as well as from  Amazon Publishing and hundreds of independent publishers. Flexible licensing terms are available on thousands of Marketplace titles, allowing libraries to maximize their budgets and provide access to a diverse range of content beyond the bestsellers.

“California is excited about its partnership with LYRASIS and working together to make it easier for Californians to access all the ebooks they want,” said California State Librarian Greg Lucas. “Ebooks are becoming more and more popular but they’re also expensive. Creating a statewide eLibrary with LYRASIS ensures all Californians have access to the ebooks they want – and need.”

A division of LYRASIS, working in strategic partnership with Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), and funded by a multi-year, multi-million dollar investment by the Knight Foundation, The Palace Project is committed to building and expanding a digital future for libraries and their patrons. Palace already serves more than 100 libraries, and is currently onboarding libraries in California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington.

“The pandemic accelerated libraries’ move to digital services to meet people where they are with equitable access to information,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president of the Knight Foundation. “The Palace Project is a transformative opportunity to put librarians back at the center of connecting people to information. Having digital access to knowledge is more important than ever to build informed and engaged communities.”

Drawing on the long tradition of libraries as community centers of citizenship and engagement, The Palace Project name was chosen to highlight the central role libraries play in public life and the idea of public libraries as “Palaces for the People.

The Palace Platform – Nonprofit, Library-Centered

Palace App

• Free, easy-to-use patron e-reader for iOS and Android
• No personal data is collected
• Libraries:
  • Retain identity and branding
  • Provide access to all econtent from multiple sources via one interface
  • Customize patron experience and drive collection use, enhance relationships

Palace Manager

• Libraries:
  • Seamless connection to collection via Palace app
  • Curate and manage econtent from multiple providers
  • Manage user authentication process
  • Create custom econtent lists for patrons

Palace Marketplace

• The Big 5 and Amazon Publishing
• Nonprofit econtent marketplace
• Flexible licensing models maximize budgets and offerings, ensure fair author compensation

Systems Implementation & Hosting

• LYRASIS:
  • Home of The Palace Project
  • Provides interoperable, end-to-end system based on open-source codebase
  • Provides onboarding services, low-cost frontline service support
  •  Manages software setup and configuration, administers cloud-based hardware