The Kula: Library Futures Academy formally launched with a public event on September 15 & 16, 2025. Day 1 featured a series of moderated panel discussions. Speakers included University of Oxford Bodley’s Librarian Richard Ovenden; Librarian and Archivist of Canada Leslie Weir; authors Lawrence Hill, Richard Van Camp and Esi Edugyan; UVic Chancellor Emerita Shelagh Rogers; filmmaker Atom Egoyan; and many others. Full schedule below.
Schedule
Day 1: September 15. “Truth, Knowledge, & Society”
8am-9am: Registration
9am-9:30am: Opening
- Indigenous Elder welcome
- Welcome by Provost & Vice President, Academic, Elizabeth Croft
- Plan for the day, Host, Matt Huculak, Director, Kula: Library Futures Academy
9:30am-11am: First panel
Authors
- Lawrence Hill (Author)
- Esi Edugyan (Author)
- Richard Van Camp (Author & UVic Indigenous Storyteller-in-Residence)
- Moderator: Shelagh Rogers (Canadian Broadcast Journalist and former Chancellor of UVic)
11am-11:30am: Coffee break
11:30am-1pm: Second panel
Librarians & Archivists
- Leslie Weir (Librarian & Archivist of Canada)
- Richard Ovenden (Bodley’s Librarian, University of Oxford)
- Michael Witmore (Director Emeritus, Folger Shakespeare Library and Principal, Witmore Consulting)
- Moderator: Guy Berthiaume (Librarian and Archivist of Canada Emeritus)
1pm-2pm: Lunch (provided)
2pm-2:30pm: Comments & formal launch of the Kula: Library Futures Academy with University Librarian, Jonathan Bengtson
2:30pm-4pm: Third panel
Media & Film
Atom Egoyan (Armenian-Canadian Filmmaker)
Dave Obee (Editor & Publisher of The Times Colonist)
Sean Holman (Wayne Crookes Professor of Environmental and Climate Journalism at the University of Victoria)
Moderator: Carol Linnett (Journalist, editor, and co-founder of The Narwhal)
4pm-4:30pm: Wrap up
4:30pm-6pm: Reception (on site). Sponsored by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
Day 2: September 16. Truth, Knowledge, Society, & Digital Preservation
8am-8:30am: Registration
8:30am-8:45am: Opening
Plan for the day, Host, Shahira Khair, Associate University Librarian, Advanced Research Services
8:45am-9:30am: Richard Ovenden (Bodley’s Librarian, University of Oxford), “Clinging to the truth: digital preservation in libraries and archives as a service to society”
9:30am-10:15am: Michael Witmore (Director Emeritus, Folger Shakespeare Library and Principal, Witmore Consulting) , “The Persistence of Memory: Digital Vellum and Long-Term Digital Access to Cultural Materials”
10:15-10:45am: Coffee break. Sponsored by The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL)
10:45-11:30am: Ry Moran (Associate University Librarian – Reconciliation, University of Victoria Libraries), “When Evidence Is Destroyed: the Independent Assessment Process Records”
11:30am-12:10pm: Lightning talks
- Corey Davis, Digital Preservation Librarian, University of Victoria Libraries, “”Reframing Digital Preservation: Communication, Context, and Continuity”
- Shauna Jean Doherty, New Media Art Curator & Critic, Victoria, BC, “Remember Tomorrow: A Telidon Story”
- Chloë Farr, Graduate Student in Computer Science & Kula Academy Student Fellow, University of Victoria, “Digitize to Democratize: Archives, AI, and Access”
12:10pm-1pm: Lunch (provided)
1pm-1:45pm: Charles Henry (President, Council on Library and Information Resources), “The Last Stories We Tell. Digital Preservation and Climate’s Ruin.”
1:45pm-2:40pm Lightning talks
- Brenna Corner, Artistic Director, Pacific Opera Victoria, presentation on Remembering Mary’s Wedding and POV/UVic Libraries collaboration
- Janelle Jenstad, Professor, English, University of Victoria, presentation on “Why Think about the End Before you Begin a Digital Project“
- Michael Radmacher, Transgender Archives Metadata Librarian, University of Victoria Libraries, presentation on “Digitizing the Rikki Swin Institute Trans+ Activism and Outreach Media Collection” (Amplifying Unheard Voices)
- Charlotte Schallié, Professor of Germanic Studies, University of Victoria, “Survivor-Centred Graphic Narratives and Memory”
2:40pm-3pm: Coffee Break
3:00pm-3:45pm: Susan Brown, Professor, School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing, University of Guelph, “Deplatformed? The Future of Born-Digital Scholarship”
3:45pm-4:30pm: Nathaniel Brunt (Aspirations 2030 Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Victoria Libraries), “‘The Future Depends on What We Do in the Present’: Archiving Histories of Armed Conflict and Mass Violence”
4:30pm-4:45pm: Wrap up
Sponsors
