The Palace Project has made more than 100,000 ebooks and audiobooks available to libraries for true digital ownership. For the first time in library history, libraries of all types can acquire digital content rights at scale that mirror the Right of First Sale: a durable, preservable, and transferable asset available to one user at a time for the long haul.

While licensing has allowed libraries to serve digital books, we have also seen the risks inherent in the license model. When Clarivate acquired ProQuest, the subsequent shift in its business model raised concerns about the long-term stability and pricing of academic collections. Similarly, when Baker & Taylor’s Boundless product shut down, though later reopened under new ownership, the frailty of digital licensing was exposed as libraries tried to transition content to other platforms. And outside library land, we’ve also seen “disappearing” content in the streaming world, such as when Warner Bros. Discovery pulled licensed content from digital platforms, further illustrating that if a library doesn’t own the file, they don’t truly control the collection.

These incidents, coupled with the mission to collect and preserve our heritage, have driven libraries to seek digital ownership. In response, we are developing a model that allows libraries to own rather than license content, without the operational burden of negotiating individual publisher deals, manually ingesting book feeds, or managing private hosting servers.

Learning from the Pioneers

The desire for digital ownership isn’t new. In the early 2000s, leaders like Jamie LaRue developed the “Douglas County Model,” where libraries worked directly with publishers to host files on their own Adobe Content Servers. While pioneering, projects like Douglas County and CALIFA’s Enki collection proved technically onerous and difficult to scale. Today, Palace provides the scalable, library-owned infrastructure needed to modernize this vision without the administrative headache.

As John Wilkin, CEO of Lyrasis, notes:

“Libraries must own, not just license, ebooks to fully deliver on their mission of preservation and access. At Lyrasis, we are proud to facilitate this new model, helping libraries build lasting digital collections that serve their communities for generations.”

A New Model for Digital Rights

Palace worked with library leaders to develop a model that is fair to publishers while granting libraries robust ownership rights. Launched in 2024, this model allows libraries to:

  • Lend to one user at a time indefinitely (One Copy/One User)
  • Share through ILL (Not in the typical OCOU license)
  • Transfer the file to another host (Not in a typical OCOU license)
  • Take possession of the file (Not in a typical OCOU license)
  • Preserve a copy, e.g., in Protaco or LOCKS (Not in a typical OCOU license)
  • Update the file format for continued service if needed (Not in the typical OCOU license)

Most of these rights are not covered in the typical OCOU model. More legal details here. 

Currently, over 110,000 titles are available for ownership through the Palace Marketplace. This includes award-winning indie presses such as House of Anansi Press, Coach House Books, Image Comics, Inc., and Brick Books, along with respected children’s publishers like Orca Book Publishers, Annick Press, and Groundwood Books. The collection also features major audiobook providers like Recorded Books, Tantor, Dreamscape, and Ascent Audio, as well as essential academic titles from the Universities of Manitoba, Calgary, Wayne State, and Alberta.

Get Involved

Libraries can access this offering by participating in The Palace Project. It is designed by and for libraries to provide a seamless, equitable experience for patrons while putting the power of collection management back into the hands of librarians. To learn more about bringing this to your community, reach out to Valerie Kavanagh at valerie.kavanagh@lyrasis.org.