Friday 24 April, 2026
In Spring 2025, we interviewed 22 racialized academic librarians across Canada to understand how EDI initiatives are perceived by racialized librarians, and how EDI has affected their work. This presentation shares the results of that research and will cover methods to embed the ethics of care into research design (such as data agency), as well as major themes and generational differences that have emerged from the interviews. We will explore how EDI as a policy is perceived by racialized aca...
Interest in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) has renewed attention to inclusive collection development in academic libraries. While libraries have adopted strategies to diversify collections, applying these approaches in STEM fields presents distinct challenges due to publisher concentration, limited inclusive metadata, and the absence of author positionality statements. This presentation reports on a scoping review examining how academic libraries are currently addressing inclusiv...
During Spring 2025, at the Faculty of Information of the University of Toronto, I launched a 3-part workshop series called “Beyond the Page.” The workshops were designed to empower students to explore alternate ways of publishing beyond journals, articles, and books. I combined my experience working at the library to introduce the world of academic publishing, then invited community members and experts working in digital humanities, oral ...
Generative AI is rapidly reshaping legal research, making AI literacy essential for law students. This study evaluates a one‑credit, week‑long course on AI in Legal Research and Practice, structured around the Framework for AI Literacy (Hervieux & Wheatley, 2024). Using pre‑ and post‑course surveys, librarian-instructors measured changes in students’ familiarity with AI tools, confidence in evaluating them, and ability to identify benefits, risks, and EDI-related concerns such as bias and...
This presentation explores a pedagogical framework that positions generative AI as an ally in teaching information literacy. Drawing on classroom practice in a first-year composition course, the presentation demonstrates how tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot can support metacognitive reflection, source evaluation, and verification without undermining academic integrity. Through an AI-assisted misinformation analysis assignment, students learn to use generative tools transparently and e...
As information literacy professionals, academic librarians have questions about the pros and cons of using AI in light of its environmental impacts. In the summer of 2025, two librarians conducted a survey and focus groups to determine how academic librarians in North America view AI’s environmental impacts and if their views affect how they approach AI usage. This study found that academic librarians are trying to balance their concerns about AI with their need to engage with AI at work. The...
La bibliothèque publique est traditionnellement vue comme une institution neutre qui défend la liberté intellectuelle et, plus récemment, la justice sociale. Mais qu'arrive-t-il quand ces valeurs entrent en conflit? Cette étude trace l'histoire des événements contestés en bibliothèque publique au Québec depuis 1960, allant des phénomènes paranormaux à la nudité, en passant par l’heure de conte drag et le conflit entre Israël et la Palestine. Les exemples analysés nous permettent de voir ...
As attempts to restrict or remove books in libraries continue to proliferate across the United States, Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) has taken steps to bring attention to a crucial component of the freedom to read: how patrons get library cards. In 2023, BPL undertook a national research project to study the practice of cardholder registration in public libraries across the United States. Findings informed a draft policy framework containing recommendations for libraries committed to bar...
As universities and colleges seek to improve affordability for students, some are indicating which courses use free, low cost, and/or open course materials during course registration, in a process known as course marking. As leaders in open education and access to course materials, academic libraries may initiate, support, or lead course marking programs on their campuses. In this presentation, I’ll share the results of a national survey examining course marking practices at post-secondary in...
As LGBTQ+ books are continuously among the most challenged in North American libraries, I present LGBTQ+ and feminist community libraries as both stewards of these resources and safe spaces for their users. The Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE) at McGill University is home to one of these community libraries. Findings from my interviews with UGE Library users indicate that the library acts as a third space, fills an information gap, and is valued by users based sheerly on its existence. In t...
This project examines outreach and community engagement conducted at the community and university archives levels. Through their work at the not-for-profit community archive, The ArQuives, Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives, and a project in process regarding post-secondary students, Toronto Metropolitan University, this presentation will discuss the presenters’ findings from their outreach initiatives. Presenters will propose interventions for community engagement for libraries, archives, and special...
Community engagement is a critical aspect of archival practice. Experiential opportunities are one way to positively support learning and engagement and can be used as means to connect students and the wider community with archival materials. This presentation considers how Concordia University Library’s Special Collections and Archives’ Black History Archives Student Residency (BHASR) program helps to (re)connect archives documenting Black li...
In the summer of 2025, a team of three librarians ran a six-week online LIS Research Accelerator program that led participants through the research process, from project ideation to dissemination. While this program was initially designed to support participants’ developing their research skills, it was also intended to be a community-building mentorship program. Participants were provided mentorship support by the facilitators, and the sessions were designed to encourage peer-to-peer engagem...
This presentation will showcase the preliminary results of an analysis of masters and doctoral theses produced by students from five departments, over a ten-year period, at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. A list of 64 search terms targeting preprints and 78 different preprint servers was created. These terms were used to search the full-text and reference lists of 815 theses to identify citations to preprints. Rates of citation to preprints over time, across disciplines and between ...
