New York’s Columbia University Libraries announced that it has joined The Palace Project platform and app, in a bid to streamline the management and delivery of ebooks, audiobooks, and other e-content. The Palace Project is a nonprofit library-centered platform and e-reader app for digital content and services.
“Columbia University Libraries is pleased to announce a significant expansion in access to mobile ebooks on The Palace Project app. Columbia University faculty, students, and staff can now download The Palace Project app and access hundreds of thousands of ebooks,” said Robert Cartolano, associate vice president of technology and preservation at Columbia University Libraries.
“There are many reasons why we began working with Palace but ultimately it was our common goal to maximize access to e-content, increase literacy and reduce the equity gap. All of which ultimately improves the academic reading experience,” he said.
Currently in use in more than 400 public libraries across the country, The Palace Project gives library patrons a single app to access all of their library’s digital content. Users can access content across a library’s holdings from commercial ebook providers to open-access collection providers, publishers, and institutional digital repositories.
In a press release, The Palace Project said the addition of Columbia University Libraries marks a “significant expansion” of the platform to academic settings, where students, researchers, and faculty can now streamline their library e-content through one simple-to-use app.
“Students and faculty are increasingly relying on tablets and smartphones to access reading materials, conduct research, and do their course work. The majority of online users today access the internet on mobile devices and most of that traffic is via a mobile app vs a PC and web browser,” said James English, Director of Business Development at The Palace Project.
“The Palace Project is unique in that it provides academic material access and reading where users are – whether they are on or off-campus – using just their university login. No need for complex VPNs software or content sideloading into 3rd party reading systems,” he said.
