Library Technology Guides

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].

Open Source Software Survey Report: Understanding the landscape of open source software support in American libraries. LYRASIS, a non-profit member organization serving the global landscape of academic and public libraries, scholarly research, archives, museums, and galleries, announces the release of the LYRASIS 2021 Open Source Software Survey: Understanding the Landscape of Open Source Software Support in American Libraries authored by Hannah Rosen, Strategist for Research and Scholarly Communication, and Jill Grogg, Strategist for Content and Scholarly Communication Initiatives. The report can be accessed on the new LYRASIS Research Repository and the survey results button below. [Full Announcement].

DSpace 7.0 is now available. The long awaited and much anticipated DSpace 7.0 is now available. This release introduces a brand new (Angular) UI which brings together the best of both the JSPUI and XMLUI worlds. All the features you've come to expect from DSpace are re-imagined and re-implemented. This new UI is also backed by a brand new REST API, which opens all data and features to the web, allowing DSpace to integrate or interact with external systems/services like never before. This release brings the entire user community under a single UI, allowing us to move more quickly together. [Full Announcement].

New digital platform empowers public libraries and patrons, boosts equitable access to knowledge. A powerful partnership of industry leaders announced The Palace Project, a transformational, library-centered platform for digital content and services. The Palace Project, with a $5 million investment by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for LYRASIS, and in strategic partnership with Digital Public Library of America, will develop and scale a robust suite of content, services, and tools for the delivery of ebooks, audiobooks, and other digital media to benefit public libraries and patrons. The Palace Project builds on a collaboration between DPLA and LYRASIS over the last several years and uses the Library Simplified platform, an opensource code base originally designed and developed by the New York Public Library. [Full Announcement].

The New York Public Library and LYRASIS announce next steps in national e-book collaboration. The New York Public Library and LYRASIS have announced that, following a two-year collaboration to empower public libraries around the country to gain control over their e-book delivery platforms, they will be expanding their efforts on delivering a library driven library empowered ebook platform, pursuing two different opportunities towards the same goal. [Full Announcement].

LYRASIS announces acquisition of BiblioLabs. LYRASIS, a global non-profit serving libraries, archives, museums and research communities, announces the acquisition of BiblioLabs, LLC., a Charleston, SC-based library technology firm. The acquisition unites two organizations on the leading edge of library software and support services and transitions BiblioLabs from a mission-aligned for-profit firm into the mission-driven non-profit model of LYRASIS. The acquisition is complete effective June 15, 2021 and was funded through cash purchase and charitable contribution by the owners of BiblioLabs. [Full Announcement].

DOAB and OAPEN enter into a new partnership with LYRASIS to develop its services for their U.S. partners. The DOAB Foundation and OAPEN Foundation announced a new partnership with LYRASIS. Through this partnership, DOAB, OAPEN and LYRASIS will establish a pathway for U.S. institutions to support the continuing development of open infrastructure services for open access (OA) books. [Full Announcement].

LYRASIS and Columbia University Libraries announce new partnership to bring eBooks to academic library communities. LYRASIS and Columbia University Libraries announce a new partnership to bring SimplyE, an open source eBook management platform, to Columbia University Library users. This partnership will increase access to materials available from Columbia University Libraries with an improved and more consistent reading experience and will foster discoverability and use of eBooks for all students and faculty at Columbia and beyond. [Full Announcement].