Please note: video recordings of conference presentations are linked throughout the article. All video recordings can be found on the CRKN Vimeo page. Recordings are not available for all sessions.
This year, CRKN took our first step back into in-person events with the hybrid 2022 CRKN Conference.
Our split conference format – which held virtual thematic programming from October 3-7 and in-person CRKN business programming from November 1-2 – was an experiment in offering in-person events again, and in adjusting our event schedule to fit during a busy conference season. Thankfully, these tentative steps into post-pandemic event planning resulted in another highly successful conference, with approximately 600 attendees at our virtual sessions and nearly 100 at our in-person sessions.
As a pre-conference opener, we once again hosted our Intro to CRKN session on September 27, which provided attendees with a holistic overview of CRKN’s programs and activities. On October 3, the conference was officially launched with a keynote address from Senator Michèle Audette. Speaking with humor and vulnerability, Senator Audette shared details of her life and career championing Indigenous women and education in Canada, and provided attendees with ample food for thought on the topics of identity, self-care, and education, particularly for Indigenous communities.
The sessions on October 3 continued with presentations from Université de Montréal on evaluating serials collections; North/Nord on the launch of the Canadian Shared Print Network; Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec on geolocating archival images; the University of Toronto on expanding access to Black Canadian literature, as well as a multi-institutional panel of Blind Canadian scholars speaking on accessibility, and a round of lightning talks.
On October 4, attendees enjoyed presentations on building community through the Indigenous metadata working group at the University of Toronto, expanding access to Indigenous publications through COPPUL, developing an open investments strategy at the University of Guelph, and identifying photographs of servicewomen at Library and Archives Canada. Once again, two multi-institutional panels were featured: “Bridging the Gap: Addressing the Accessible Book Famine in Canada,” and “Healing and Learning through Storytelling: Truth and Indigenous Podcasting,” which focused on the new podcast Taapwaywin.
October 5 opened with two presentations focusing on the work of Érudit and other non-commercial journal publishers in Canada, and Érudit’s longstanding partnership with CRKN. In addition, we featured sessions covering equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) from the perspective of early career librarians; the BC Regional Digitized History project; the work of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, open access publisher “double dipping”; and using researcher article citations to assess collection impact. We also held our second lightning round session, featuring presenters Melissa Belvadi and Hamid Golhasany.
October 6 was our last day of community-led thematic programming, and included presentations on the Federal Open Science Repository, web archives as a collections strategy, the Community Scholars Program in British Columbia, the Subscribe to Open publishing model, and community-led digital preservation efforts, in addition to our final – and fullest – lightning round. We also held a presentation on the strategic planning process of the National Heritage Digitization Strategy (now the Coalition for Canadian Digital Heritage), which CRKN has provided secretariat support for since 2020.
On October 7, we closed out the virtual portion of the conference with two CRKN-led sessions focusing on our recent preservation and access activities and licensing achievements.
After a three-week break, CRKN members were invited to convene in Montreal from November 1-2 for a series of strategic business discussions, the 2022 Ron MacDonald Award Ceremony, and the annual Meeting of the Members. This represented the first in-person meeting of the CRKN membership since 2019, and attracted over 100 attendees (including CRKN staff).
November 1 was devoted to Designing the Future of Open Scholarship in Canada , a full-day workshop during which members discussed recent CRKN activities in support of open access, what the CRKN community hopes to achieve through these activities, and the status of current and future negotiations. Designing the Future of Open Scholarship in Canada also included a co-presentation by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and CRKN on shared open access principles, and a presentation on the expansion of the Scholars Portal Journals platform to all CRKN members in preparation for a vote on November 2.
In the evening, members and special guests gathered for the Ron MacDonald Award Ceremony. This year’s ceremony honoured Larry Alford, our 2022 recipient, as well as Tony Horava and Jonathan Bengtson, our 2020 and 2021 recipients, who were unable to receive in-person celebrations. CRKN thanks our award recipients for joining us, as well as their nominees and colleagues, outgoing CRKN Chair Dr. Annette Trimbee, and our wonderful photographer and Concordia University musicians for making the night a memorable one.
The next day, attendees participated in another full-day workshop: Digital Cultural and Heritage Collections of the Future: Enabling Innovative Access and Expanding Research. Members listened to presentations from members of the CRKN Researcher Council, Preservation and Access Committee, and staff, and held discussions on the potential for Canadiana to become a hub for digital collections build on community open infrastructure.
Afterwards, attendees met for the annual Meeting of the Members, during which several strategic votes were held. In addition to approving three new Associate Members (Northern Ontario School of Medicine University, Université de Hearst, and Université de l'Ontario français), the membership voted to expand the Scholars Portal Journals platform to a nation-wide service supported by CRKN members, and to pursue transforming Canadiana through an application to the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Innovation Fund.
There is no denying that the 2022 CRKN Conference was a whirlwind event – as we continue to evolve our programs and services, the discussions we need to have are also evolving. For many of us, we are entering new territory, and we are grateful to our members and stakeholders for their invaluable contributions to our expanding work.
Whether you tuned in for a single session, for the whole event, for the virtual sessions, or in-person: thank you for joining us. Be sure to follow CRKN for news on the 2023 Conference, and we wish you the best for the year ahead.
