Library Technology Guides

Strong foundations for The Palace Project: A collaboration between OAPEN and Lyrasis. OAPEN and Lyrasis announced the implementation and integration of the OAPEN Library collection with The Palace Project. Through this joint effort, more than 22,000 open access books have been made available through OAPEN's Metadata Export Module for Open Access Books. This open source metadata management and integration tool by OAPEN invests in the principle of open and interoperable community owned infrastructure and is built on open standards and licensing of content. [Full Announcement].

Lyrasis joins C4DISC, advancing equitable and inclusive scholarship. Lyrasis has joined the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications as a member organization. Lyrasis also joins 150+ organizations worldwide, including several of our institutional members, in endorsing the C4DISC Joint Statement of Principles. [Full Announcement].

Lyrasis becomes an ORCID member to support open research best practices. Lyrasis is now an institutional member of ORCID, via the ORCID US Community consortium, with plans to officially recognize contributions from individual community members by writing professional activities to ORCID records using the ORCID Affiliation Manager. ORCID is a nonprofit organization that operates globally to help researchers and contributors get credit for their work and to help organizations streamline their workflows and confirm relationships with individual contributors across the research and scholarly community ecosystem. [Full Announcement].

The Palace Project IMLS Grant Report, Part 2: Access for All. In 2020, Lyrasis received an IMLS grant to develop and pilot an ebook and audiobook service for state and public libraries. The Palace Project deploys a cloud-based, remotely supported digital library reading platform for collection management and provides a curated set of ebooks and audiobooks through the Palace app and Virtual Library Card (VLC) that allows immediate patron access. During the grant period of September 2020 through February 2024, Lyrasis developed and tested service components, piloted the service for 17 months with pilot libraries, provided training and support for library staff and their patrons, and assessed value and impact for libraries and patrons. Each pilot library received $25,000 of digital content. [Full Announcement].

Lyrasis Partners with 4Science to Improve ORCID Functionality in DSpace. Lyrasis has partnered with 4Science to implement improvements to the ORCID API integration functionality in DSpace as part of the 2024 ORCID Global Participation Fund grant. This collaboration continues a historical and long-lasting relationship between Lyrasis, ORCID and 4Science with a shared goal to foster collaboration enhancing Open Science and Open Access initiatives to mak research and scholarly material more accessible, secure, sharable and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). [Full Announcement].

Lyrasis partners with Open Syllabus. Starting in the Spring of 2024, Lyrasis partnered with Open Syllabus to offer Lyrasis members and non-members the opportunity to subscribe to the Open Syllabus Analytics subscription resource supporting open infrastructure in higher education. Analytics is a tool for exploring millions of anonymized syllabi and other curricular materials drawn from thousands of colleges and universities around the world. Analytics helps instructors design classes, students explore fields, publishers develop books, and educators at all levels better understand the curriculum of higher education. It is a window onto higher education as a global project built from millions of decisions about what and how to teach. [Full Announcement].

Better together: BTAA Libraries, CDL and Lyrasis commit to strengthen Diamond Open Access in the United States. Representatives from the Big Ten Academic Alliance Libraries, California Digital Library, and Lyrasis attended the Global Summit on Diamond Open Access in Toluca, Mexico in October 2023. The Summit convened the international community to engage in dialog about how to advance Diamond Open Access to secure scholarly research as a public good and ensure equitable access to both the publishing and reading of that research. You can learn more from the recently released Report of the 2nd Diamond Open Access Conference. The Summit made evident the substantial global commitment to Diamond OA. If the United States is to be a strong participant in this important global movement, it is our observation that collaborative action is needed to develop this model at a national scale within the US as an equitable, robust and values-driven pathway to open access. We acknowledge the deep commitment to Diamond OA already exemplified by the activities of the library publishing and repository communities in the US, and we seek to build on this commitment, strengthening the Diamond OA pathway by committing to working together and making our shared resources go further. [Full Announcement].

DOAJ and Lyrasis collaborate to facilitate library support for open access. The Directory of Open Access Journals and Lyrasis, two prominent players in the global scholarly communications landscape, announced a new partnership that enables libraries to provide crucial financial support to DOAJ. This collaboration underscores the commitment of both organizations to strengthen Open Access and democratize access to scholarly research. This partnership opens up the possibility for US libraries, without existing opportunities to support DOAJ via a consortial arrangement, to directly contribute to DOAJ's sustainability and its mission of enhancing the visibility and accessibility of Open Access research. [Full Announcement].

Lyrasis announces the 2023 Catalyst Fund recipients and their projects. Lyrasis, a non-profit member organization serving the global landscape of academic and public libraries, scholarly research, archives, museums and galleries, is pleased to announce the 2023 recipients of the Lyrasis Catalyst Fund. The Catalyst Fund is an award program that provides support for new ideas and innovative projects from the Lyrasis membership. This year, to support our open and inclusion initiatives, and our Catalyst Fund theme of community-driven projects and projects with community impact, all Lyrasis members voted on which projects to fund. [Full Announcement].

Performing Arts Readiness Extension. Lyrasis, a mission-driven, community-led nonprofit serving libraries, museums and cultural heritage organizations, announced that they have been awarded a $1.5M grant from the Mellon Foundation to continue and expand the Performing Arts Readiness project. PAR, initially funded in 2017 through a $2.5 million grant from Mellon, was created to strengthen emergency preparedness within performing arts organizations across the United States. [Full Announcement].

CCAHA and Lyrasis announce Succession Planning Initiative for Collections Stewardship. The Collections Stewardship Succession Planning Initiative is a two-year project of the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, in partnership with Lyrasis, created to actively address the need for leadership development and knowledge transfer in the cultural heritage workforce. Funded by a National Leadership Grant for Museums from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the initiative will gather data and build professional development resources to support succession planning for collections stewardship staff and volunteers. As succession planning is a critical instrument in addressing a long-term shift at cultural heritage organizations toward greater diversity, equity, and inclusion, the suite of resources will promote strategies to keep these important concerns at the forefront during times of transition. [Full Announcement].

Columbia University joins The Palace Project Platform and App. The Palace Project, the nonprofit library-centered platform and e-reader app for digital content and services, announced that the Columbia University Library has adopted its platform. The Palace Project is an easy-to-use platform for the management and delivery of ebooks, audiobooks, and other e-content and puts libraries at the center of their communities' digital experience. [Full Announcement].

Lyrasis announces John Wilkin as new Chief Executive Officer. Lyrasis, a mission-driven, community-led nonprofit serving libraries, museums and research communities, announced the appointment of John Wilkin as the organization's new CEO. Wilkin, who is currently Dean of Libraries and University Librarian at the University of Illinois, brings deep experience in building community-driven programs with a focus on increasing access to knowledge, a core tenet of the Lyrasis mission. Wilkin played a key role in the creation of HathiTrust, a nonprofit collaborative digital library that preserves and provides access to 17+ million digitized items, serving as its first Executive Director. [Full Announcement].

The Palace Project to provide Ebook and Audiobook service to 10 libraries in diverse US Communities. LYRASIS, a global nonprofit committed to increasing equitable access to knowledge, and The Palace Project, the nonprofit library-centered platform and ereader app for digital content, are pleased to announce a new pilot initiative to expand digital access to a group of 10 diverse libraries. The libraries are located across the US and the unincorporated US territory of American Samoa. [Full Announcement].

LYRASIS Open Access Community Investment Program meets funding goals. LYRASIS announced that the supporters of the LYRASIS Open Access Community Investment Program have achieved the 2022 funding goals. OACIP is a community-driven framework that enables collective stakeholders to evaluate and fund open access content initiatives in a strategic way. OACIP brings together investment opportunities in one place and also provides important and consistent information about those opportunities that support informed and principled investment decisions. Using this approach, OACIP provides tailored match-making between mission-driven scholarly publishers that are seeking financial investments from entities that want to support OA publishing aligning with their mission and values. [Full Announcement].

The Palace Project launches new platform and app to enable equitable econtent access. The Palace Project, the nonprofit library-centered platform and ereader app for digital content and services, announced its official launch . 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. [Full Announcement].

LYRASIS and The Palace Project announce the addition of OverDrive titles, transforming the landscape of eBook Access for libraries and patrons. LYRASIS, a global nonprofit committed to increasing equitable access to knowledge, and The Palace Project, the nonprofit library-centered platform and ereader app for digital content and services, announced that OverDrive content will soon be available in the Palace app. This addition will bring the largest provider of library ebooks into The Palace Project platform, allowing libraries to deliver the majority of their ebooks and audiobooks from multiple vendors through a single app. [Full Announcement].

LYRASIS announces Interim CEO Erin Tripp. LYRASIS has appointed Erin Tripp as Interim CEO. Robert Miller, who served as LYRASIS CEO since June 2015, will step down effective May 13, 2022 to pursue other opportunities. [Full Announcement].

Celebrating 7 Years of Service, LYRASIS CEO to Transition at End of June 2022. Following seven years of service, Robert Miller, the Chief Executive Officer of LYRASIS, a leading non-profit member organization serving and supporting libraries, archives, museums, and cultural heritage organizations globally, will be leaving the organization as of June 30, 2022. [Full Announcement].

LYRASIS to expand Open Access Community Investment Program new round of funding opportunities increases engagement in open initiatives. LYRASIS announces the expansion of the Open Access Community Investment Program. Following a successful pilot program, LYRASIS is opening a new round of funding opportunities to support Open Access publishing by scholarly journals. The journals seeking investments in OACIP's second phase include Algebraic Combinatorics, History of Media Studies, and Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication. [Full Announcement].