24 June 2025
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.