LYRASIS Announces Acquisition of BiblioLabs; Combination Supports Mission of Library-Driven Content and Expands Community Engagement

LYRASIS, a global nonprofit 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.

BiblioLabs will continue to operate with the same staff, programs and name as a division of the LYRASIS organization. There will be no interruption of service for BiblioLabs or LYRASIS, and no action needs to be taken by current clients, subscribers, members or partners. All services will continue as-is and all client contracts will be honored in full. Please visit our FAQs for more information.

The organizations share a mission to take library eBooks into the next era and have pursued parallel paths around library eBook technology and distribution models over the past few years. BiblioLabs launched their BiblioBoard platform to the library market in 2011, providing community engagement services and content distribution used by public, academic and K-12 libraries. LYRASIS has been a leader in library software and technologies for more than a decade, and for the last three years has worked to support the development and adoption of SimplyE/Library Simplified.

"With BiblioLabs, we saw an opportunity to strengthen our existing eBook services and offer more value to our members and other public, academic and K-12 libraries. By adding community engagement and local content creation tools, on top of the library-focused technology provided by our SimplyE/Library Simplified offerings, we can give users a seamless eBook management experience. Furthermore, this highlights the personalized, local nature of library communities while harnessing the safety and benefits of large-scale, community-driven technologies. Bibliolabs is a fantastic addition to the LYRASIS portfolio of programs and services. It gives all of the members and users the best available experience of library-focused technologies. As a non-profit, we are able to focus on the community benefit in a unique way, and we are excited to bring BiblioLabs into our mission-driven organization," says Robert Miller, CEO of LYRASIS. "In addition, I would like to thank all the partners of BiblioLabs (three of whom are joining the LYRASIS team), for their generous donation to LYRASIS, which was key in this merger being possible," said Miller.

"As many of our library partners will attest, we have been a mission-based organization from the start," said BiblioLabs founder and CEO Mitchell Davis. "To continue our work as a nonprofit is the perfect way to ensure the library community reaps the benefits of the work we have done over the past decade and that we will continue to do into the future. Libraries are in the midst of a transformation. Our priority is helping libraries compete for digital attention and building cooperative business models that provide sustainable impact for the work bringing about this transformation. The intersection of mission between ourselves and LYRASIS in these areas is undeniable."

BiblioLabs has used its BiblioBoard discovery platform, initiatives like the Indie Author Project and their community publishing tool, Creator, to create local digital content workflows for all types of cultural institutions and the communities they serve. "We help libraries and museums excel at local content with software and program support that creates strong local value and effectively engages writers, artists, musicians, researchers, museums, cultural organizations, and every other member of the community they serve," Davis continued. "We have made a lot of progress over the past ten years but feel like we are just getting started. We look forward to seeing these programs grow as part of the LYRASIS community."