Lyrasis and Paradigm Publishing Services (Paradigm) are proud to announce a powerful new tool for students, faculty and staff to access Open Access (OA) ebooks. The tool also allows libraries to incorporate them seamlessly into their collections. The collaboration between Lyrasis’ Ebooks and Community Engagement Division and Paradigm allows access to the University Press Library Open (UPLOpen) collection on mobile devices using The Palace Project.
This integration enhances the discoverability and accessibility of educational resources developed by University Presses as well as their open-access scholarly works. Using The Palace Project mobile app, users can easily access library ebooks and audiobooks from multiple academic and trade providers in a single, user-friendly platform which increases visibility and utilization of OA materials available to students and incorporated into Academic Library collections. The goal of this effort is to encourage more development and publication of these resources and support student curriculum and scholarship.
The Palace Project app serves both DRM-protected and DRM-free content from a wide range of ebook service providers and content repositories, such as UPLOpen. Built with accessibility in mind, the app supports assistive technologies and provides a streamlined, mobile-first reading experience. This platform enables libraries to unify their digital collections and shape discovery around institutionally supported resources — improving access, supporting research and promoting curricular alignment.
“Making UPLOpen books available through the Palace Project is a critical step in ensuring that open access scholarship reaches readers where they already are,” said Peter Potter, Vice President for Open Access at Paradigm Publishing Services. “By integrating UPLOpen into a library-centered, mobile-first platform trusted by both public and academic libraries, we remove friction from discovery and access — helping OA monographs move from being open in principle to used in practice by students, researchers, and communities worldwide.”
James English, Director of Business Development for Ebooks and Community Engagement at Lyrasis, added: “The collaboration between Lyrasis and Paradigm Publishing demonstrates our model for helping increase the visibility and use of open access and commercially licensed scholarly research materials. Paradigm, which provides digital services for its University Press Partners, continues to host and distribute all UPLOpen titles directly. To enable this integration, Paradigm updated its repository API to support the Open Publication Distribution System (OPDS) Standard for platform interoperability with The Palace Project.
“For Lyrasis, this work is about making these resources more discoverable by presenting them within a unified, high-performance interface, including a mobile app. By integrating Paradigm’s scholarly ebooks into the Palace app, we provide a streamlined, mobile-first experience that removes the technical friction of navigating multiple siloed repositories. This ensures that university press content is easily accessible and presented in an intuitive format that encourages active engagement from students and researchers.”
By combining the power of open publishing with a centralized, inclusive discovery and access experience, UPLOpen and Lyrasis continue their respective commitment to innovation, equity and student success.
For more information, visit uplopen.com.
About Lyrasis and The Palace Project
The Palace Project’s vision is to strengthen the library’s vital role as the digital center of the community with unique programs and software solutions. The Palace Project is a product of Lyrasis, a community-supported membership organization whose mission is to support enduring access to the world's 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.
About Paradigm and UPLOpen
Paradigm Publishing Services is a division of De Gruyter Brill. It is a union (2024) of the Sciendo, Ubiquity and University Press Library brands that were separately acquired or created by De Gruyter Brill. Paradigm is a global provider of products and services to smaller publishers, university presses, librarians, archivists, journal editors and societies. Our expertise strengthens our partners’ operations, extends their global distribution options, drives research integrity, and ensures their financial sustainability while helping to maintain their independence.
University Press Library Open (UPLOpen) is an ambitious effort to democratize access to scholarly knowledge and advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The innovative website, uplopen.com, offers a single access point to a curated collection of over 11,000 open access books from many of the world’s leading scholarly publishers.