2026 CRKN Virtual Conference in Review
By: Mélanie Plante, Communications Coordinator
https://doi.org/10.82389/fbya-1961
The 2026 CRKN Virtual Conference, held from May 12 to May 14, brought together researchers, librarians, and practitioners from across Canada for three days of thoughtful conversation and knowledge-sharing. With 60 speakers and 23 sessions spanning open scholarship, persistent identifiers, and digital heritage, the program reflected the depth and diversity of work happening across Canada’s research and library communities.
Centered on the theme Creative Collaborations, Collective Momentum, this year’s conference explored how shared infrastructure, community expertise, and innovative approaches are shaping the future of scholarly communication and digital heritage work in Canada.
On Haunting and the Living Archive: How MOBA is Redefining Gaps through Storytelling
In the conference keynote, Dr. Cheryl Thompson, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Black Expressive Culture and Creativity at Toronto Metropolitan University highlighted the limited metadata describing Black life and history in Canada’s archival landscape, which often leaves stories difficult to find or missing altogether. As the Founder and Director of Mapping Ontario’s Black Archives (MOBA), Thompson invited attendees to rethink absence, and what it means to recover what has been overlooked.
Thompson introduced the concept of haunting as a way of understanding the histories and voices that persist despite being excluded from traditional archival records. Through MOBA, she demonstrated how recovering these stories can transform archives into living spaces for discovery, connection, and reinterpretation.
Advancing Open Scholarship Through Collaboration
Several sessions throughout the conference explored common themes around open scholarship, shared infrastructure, and sustainable access to research.
The Future of Collective Funding Models for Open Access
Jessica Dallaire-Clark (Érudit), Joe Deville (Open Book Collective), Sharla Lair (Lyrasis), and Urooj Nizami (Public Knowledge Project) discussed the opportunities and challenges of collective funding models for open access. They reflected on how these approaches, grounded in shared values rather than transactions, are adapting to financial and institutional pressures and what that means for the long-term sustainability of scholarly communication.
Building Scholaris Together: Reflections from Developing a Shared Repository Service through an Early Adopter Program and a Network of Experts
Julia Gilmore (Scholars Portal) and Gabriela Mircea (University of Calgary) shared lessons from developing Scholaris, a national shared repository service. Their presentation highlighted how early adopters and expert working groups helped shape a repository model designed to respond to the needs of institutions across the country.
The HARVEST Upload Service: Using Mediated Deposit to Advocate for Sustainable Open Access
Emily Hopkins and DeDe Dawson (University of Saskatchewan) shared how their mediated deposit pilot evolved into the HARVEST Upload Service, helping researchers more easily share their work through the institutional repository. By reducing administrative barriers and supporting authors with copyright and deposit requirements, the initiative increased participation in open access while promoting more sustainable scholarly communication practices.
Making Evidence-Based Decisions About Open Access Fees with an Open Dataset on Annual APCs
Lisa Matthias (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Sherry Kuang (University of Ottawa) presented an open dataset tracking article processing charges (APCs) across major publishers from 2019–2025. Their session explored rising publication fees, emerging pricing models, and the importance of greater transparency in the economics of open access publishing. The discussion highlighted how open data can support more informed and sustainable decision-making across the scholarly publishing ecosystem.
Additional sessions included Bridging the Language Gap: Adapting SciFree for a Bilingual Audience; Advancing scholarly book publishing in Canada: Access, infrastructure, and the Federation's role, and Questions with Difficult Answers: AI Technologies and Open Community Infrastructures. Together, these presentations explored how open scholarship initiatives are adapting to evolving technological, linguistic, and publishing realities while reinforcing the importance of shared infrastructure, accessibility, and community-led approaches to scholarly communication.
Connecting Research Through Metadata, Persistent Identifiers, and Digital Platforms
These sessions explored how stronger metadata practices, persistent identifiers, and digital platforms are helping build a more connected and interoperable research ecosystem.
Adventures in Funding Metadata
John Aspler (CRKN) and Mike Nason (University of New Brunswick Fredericton) unpacked the complexities of funding metadata in scholarly publishing. From technical barriers to inconsistencies across platforms and publishers, they examined why accurately tracking research funding remains such a challenge.
Building Momentum in Open Science through Persistent Identifiers: The Final Outcomes of the ORCID Implementation Pilot at the University of Waterloo
Laura Bredahl (University of Waterloo) shared the results of her institution’s ORCID implementation pilot, developed by Mary Ochana. By integrating ORCID into institutional systems and workflows, the project aimed to simplify researcher identity management while improving the visibility and reuse of research information.
These discussions showed how metadata and persistent identifiers support discovery, transparency, reporting, and interoperability across the research ecosystem.
All Hands on Deck: The Call for Collaborative Digital Preservation Practices for Data Reuse
Julie Shi (Scholars Portal) and Amanda Tomé (Digital Research Alliance of Canada) examined persistent challenges in digital preservation, including limited capacity, fragmented practices, and misconceptions about the permanence of digital materials.
Developing Guidance on Trustworthy Data Repository Characteristics for Canadian Research
Reyna Broadhurst (University of Victoria), Natalie Williams (Digital Research Alliance of Canada), Neha Milan (University of Saskatchewan), and Chantel Ridsdale (Ocean Networks Canada) presented a collaborative initiative to define trustworthy data repositories in Canada. Their work explored how shared standards can help researchers navigate evolving data management requirements and strengthen confidence in repository services.
Ownership, Control, Access, Possession: Real-World Applications in Working with Indigenous Research Data in UBC Data Repositories
Kayla C. Lar-Son and Eugene Barsky (University of British Columbia) explored how the OCAP principles—Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession—are being applied within UBC’s research data repositories. Through real-world examples, they discussed approaches to metadata, governance, and access that support Indigenous data sovereignty and culturally appropriate stewardship practices. Their session highlighted the importance of embedding respect, collaboration, and community priorities into research data management.
Digital Heritage, Preservation, and Community Memory
Key conversations focused on both the opportunities and responsibilities involved in preserving Canada’s digital cultural record.
Memory, Identity, and Access: Two Decades of Cultural Heritage Digitization in Canada
This panel brought together leaders from CRKN, Internet Archive Canada, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Library and Archives Canada, and KULA: Library Futures Academy to reflect on how large-scale digitization has transformed access to Canada’s cultural heritage. Speakers explored how digitization has evolved from a technical process into a values-driven practice connected to memory, identity, and representation.
Recovery and Rebuild – Life after a Cyberattack
Claire Bennett and Costa Tsangarakis (City of Hamilton) shared the impact of the 2024 cyberattack that permanently erased the City’s museum database and digital collections files. Their presentation focused on the ongoing work to rebuild a more resilient collections management system and the importance of planning for crisis recovery in digital preservation work.
Improving Discoverability of Day Schools Records: Truth, Reconciliation, and Archival Practice
Beth Greenhorne and Brianne Boucher (Library and Archives Canada) discussed the Day Schools Project, a large-scale initiative to digitize and improve access to records documenting the Federal Indian Day Schools system. They reflected on the challenges of working within colonial archival structures while supporting access for Survivors, families, and communities.
Reconciliation through Metadata: Naming the Unnamed in Residential School Photos
Sadie Anderson and Jessica Ye shared a community-engaged initiative centered on historical photographs from the Lebret Indian Industrial Residential School held in the University of Saskatchewan Archives. After Anderson identified previously unseen photos of her grandfather within the collection, the project evolved into a broader effort to improve metadata, increase community awareness, and support stewardship guided by Indigenous protocols and knowledge. The session highlighted how collaborative metadata work can become part of ongoing reconciliation and Indigenous data sovereignty efforts.
Continuing the Conversation
The 2026 CRKN Virtual Conference showcased the ideas, initiatives, and partnerships shaping the future of scholarly communication in Canada. Across discussions of open scholarship, digital heritage, metadata, and preservation, speakers explored both the challenges facing the community and the opportunities emerging through shared infrastructure, innovation, and stewardship.
Browse the full collection of session recordings on Vimeo to revisit presentations and continue exploring the conversations that defined this year’s conference.
Mélanie Plante (https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5563-3743)
Mélanie holds an Honours BA in English from the University of Ottawa. She joined CRKN in February 2024 and is passionate about Canadian literature.