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New collaborative effort to develop a national digital ebooks platform for libraries announced

This post originally appeared on dp.la

DPLA, New York Public Library, and LYRASIS to help give public libraries greater say in managing their e-reading services


The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), The New York Public Library (NYPL), and LYRASIS are pleased to announce a new collaboration to help provide all public libraries with a free, open, library-controlled platform for managing their ebook and audiobook services.

Through this newly-established collaboration, DPLA, NYPL, and LYRASIS will each offer core services and tools that, in combination, will provide public libraries across the United States with a full-service pathway to acquire and deliver ebooks and audiobooks through a library-controlled marketplace and platform. 

The DPLA Exchange (https://exchange.dp.la), launched in 2017 and now providing access to over 300,000 titles including thousands of openly-licensed works, offers a new model for a library-centered marketplace for ebooks and audiobooks. 

NYPL provides the foundation of the new platform with its free-to-use ebook reader, SimplyE, which was developed to make ebooks easily accessible to the public through their libraries, and to allow libraries to organize and deliver their ebooks directly to patrons through a library-controlled app.  

LYRASIS, a leading non-profit delivering hosted solutions and technology support to libraries, offers preferred cloud-based hosting, ensuring that every library, large and small, can adopt and use SimplyE and the DPLA Exchange.

“DPLA’s collaboration with NYPL and LYRASIS exemplifies the shared approach that is core to our work and represents an important step in the expansion of the DPLA Exchange and other ebook initiatives over the coming years, with support from the Sloan Foundation,” said DPLA Executive Director John Bracken. 

“The New York Public Library is excited to work with these two great organizations to help public libraries across the country and to continue supporting our shared mission to make information as freely accessible as possible to all,” said NYPL President Anthony W. Marx.

“Public Libraries are crucial to our communities, our engagement with knowledge and learning, and in linking people-to-people. As a mission driven organization, LYRASIS is proud to partner with DPLA and NYPL in this effort to deliver a solution that is focused on library-centered control and maximizing impact on their communities.” said Robert Miller, CEO of LYRASIS.

In addition to announcing their expanded collaboration, DPLA, NYPL, and LYRASIS are excited to work more closely with members of the library community across the US. The SimplyE Community Leadership Advisory Council, representing institutions across the country, will provide critical on-the-ground insight and guidance about the development of new tools and features, as well as strategies for reaching more libraries.  The members of the inaugural SimplyE Advisory Council are:

  • Kendall Wiggin, State Librarian, Connecticut State Library
  • Michael Blackwell, Project Manager, Maryland State Library Digital eLibrary Consortium
  • Deirdre Brennan, Executive Director, Reaching Across Illinois Library System
  • Paul Swanson, Technology Director, Minitex
  • Christine Peterson, Project Manager, Amigos
  • Paula MacKinnon, Executive Director, Califa
  • John Herbert, Technology Director, LYRASIS
  • Michele Kimpton, Director of Business Development, DPLA
  • Tony Ageh, Chief Digital Officer, NYPL

To learn more about DPLA’s ebooks initiatives, visit ebooks.dp.la or join the DPLA Ebooks mailing list


About Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America empowers people to learn, grow, and contribute to a diverse and better-functioning society by maximizing access to our shared history, culture, and knowledge. DPLA amplifies the value of libraries as Americans’ most trusted sources of shared knowledge. We do this by collaborating with partners to accelerate innovative tools and ideas that empower and equip libraries to make information more accessible. DPLA’s Ebooks initiatives are supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. To learn more, visit https://dp.la

About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves 17 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at nypl.org.

About LYRASIS
LYRASIS is a non-profit membership organization that supports enduring access to shared academic, scientific and cultural heritage through leadership in open technologies, content services, digital solutions and collaboration with archives, libraries, museums and knowledge communities worldwide.

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