Skillshare Event
About the Event
This annual event is a peer networking opportunity for library staff engaged in scholarly communications across COPPUL member and affiliate libraries, and beyond. The event provides a forum for sharing insights, discussing issues and experiences, and exchanging practical approaches.
Sessions typically include workshops, panels, presentations, and group discussions focused on practical skills, emerging trends, and current issues in scholarly communications. In support of a regional community of practice, sessions are predominantly led by librarians and library staff working in COPPUL-member institutions.
Events are held online each spring. SkillShare is open at no cost to staff from COPPUL member and affiliate libraries. Registration may also be opened more broadly to others working in scholarly communications, as space allows.
SkillShare 2026
The online 2026 COPPUL Scholarly Communications SkillShare took place on Wednesday, May 27, 2026.
Program
All times are listed in Pacific Time. Select “View in your timezone” for local time conversion.
| PROGRAM | |
| 08:30 - 08:40 PDT View in your timezone | Welcome and opening remarks, land acknowledgement |
| 08:40 - 09:10 PDT View in your timezone | From Deposit to Discovery: Developing Sustainable Self-Archiving Policies in the Age of OA Mandates Description: Like many Canadian universities, the University of Victoria’s institutional repository hosts a wide range of scholarly outputs, including theses, dissertations, articles, books, and reports. Since the 2015 Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications in 2015, we have explored multiple strategies to increase faculty deposit. These have included promoting self-archiving and capturing Creative Commons–licensed content. Our most effective approach has been the implementation of a mediated deposit service. This service invites authors to submit publications at any stage of the research lifecycle—from reports and preprints to accepted manuscripts and final published versions—reducing the administrative burden for researchers, while addressing copyright and publisher policy concerns. In this session, we will outline the development of our mediated deposit workflow, including key staffing decisions and service enhancements such as bulk uploads and a streamlined “quick submit” option. We will also discuss integration with ORCID service to support researcher identity management and improve discoverability. The success of the service has strengthened library partnerships across campus, expanded support for open access and increased the visibility and impact of UVic research within the global scholarly community. Speaker: Inba Kehoe, Head, Copyright and Scholarly Communications, University of Victoria |
| 09:10 - 11:10 PDT View in your timezone | Generative AI and Scholarly Publishing – Navigating Ethics, Law, and Practice in the Library Description: Generative AI (GenAI) is rapidly reshaping academic practices and challenging long‑standing norms in scholarly publishing. For academic librarians—particularly those supporting research, instruction, and scholarly communication—it is increasingly important to understand not only the ethical dimensions of GenAI use, but also its implications for research integrity, authorship, and compliance within the publishing ecosystem. This session will examine the evolving ethical and legal landscape surrounding GenAI use in academic contexts. Participants will explore how GenAI intersects with key stages of the research and publishing lifecycle, including grant funding and journal and publisher policies. Speaker: Erin Fields, Open Education & Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of British Columbia |
| 11:10 - 11:20 PDT View in your timezone | BREAK |
| 11:20 - 12:20 PDT View in your timezone | Keeping Repositories Running: A Conversation on People and Practice Description: Behind every institutional repository are the people who shape, support, and sustain these important services. This session invites participants into a conversation about how repository work is organized within our institutions. Together, we will explore how roles are defined, whether staffing is adequate in local contexts, and what workflows are in place to maintain and develop services. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on how their repositories are resourced, consider how their experiences compare with those at other institutions, and discuss strategies for advocating for additional support as services evolve. Colleagues working in related areas of scholarly communications are also encouraged to join the conversation and share how their roles align with or differ from repository-focused work in supporting the dissemination and preservation of open access research. Speakers: Robyn Hall, Scholarly Communications Librarian, MacEwan University Priscilla Carmini, Digital Repositories Librarian, University of Waterloo |
| 12:20 - 13:20 PDT View in your timezone | Behind the Buzzwords - Reframing Transformative Agreements in the Library Description: University libraries have increasingly entered into “Transformative Agreements” (TAs), also known as Read & Publish agreements, to bundle together an institution’s subscription and publishing costs. The purpose of these contracts is to provide affiliated authors a no cost open access option to publish their articles. While there is no direct fee charged to the author in these agreements, there are costs to academic libraries that are both obvious (e.g. access costs) and hidden (e.g. labour). Publisher and library statements about TAs use terms like “cost savings,” “funding,” and “cost avoidance,” when developing communications and assessing the agreements. However, this terminology frames TAs in transactional terms that privilege commercial interests over the public good and are potentially misleading or inaccurate. In this interactive presentation, we will critically examine library open access objectives and the current state of TAs within the lens of how they are framed, evaluated, and communicated. We will explore approaches for assessing the broader impact of these agreements, moving beyond narrow financial metrics toward more meaningful forms of evaluation for the institution’s local context. Speakers: Erin Fields, Open Education & Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of British Columbia DeDe Dawson, Open Scholarship Librarian, University of Saskatchewan Jaclyn McLean, Electronic Resources Librarian, University of Saskatchewan |
| 13:20 - 13:30 PDT View in your timezone | BREAK |
| 13:30 - 14:30 PDT View in your timezone | From Commitments to Practice: Library Support for Narrative CVs, Researcher Identity, and Assessment Description: Join Francine, Amanda, and Andrea for a practical discussion of how libraries are supporting responsible research assessment through narrative CVs, ORCID, and researcher identity services. The session will share examples, approaches, and starting points that libraries can adapt locally. Speakers: Andrea Szwajcer, Research Services Librarian, University of Manitoba Libraries; Amanda Wakaruk, Copyright and Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of Alberta Library; Francine May, Associate Dean, Research, Mount Royal University Library |
| 14:30 - 15:00 PDT View in your timezone | Using the HARVEST Upload Service to advocate for sustainable open access Description: Most medium-to-large Canadian institutions now have a repository, or are trying to set one up. Whether you host your repository locally, pay a vendor, or are part of Scholaris, you’ll still have to make decisions locally about how to promote and support the repository, including what kind of supports and review processes there will be for new submissions. At USask, we launched a mediated deposit pilot in the summer of 2023, and then launched the full service in the summer of 2024. In this session, I’ll give a brief overview of the pilot and the service, including workflows and staffing as well as a summary of our results. These includes a lot of new articles collected but also greater opportunities for education and advocacy. The service has been an effective way to interrupt current workflows, alleviate author fears around violating publisher policy, and encourage forms of open access that give authors more options and control. This can help with de-centering the power of large commercial publishers and supporting an equitable and sustainable future for scholarly communication. Speaker: Emily Hopkins, Repository Coordinator, University of Saskatchewan |
| 15:00- 15:10 PDT View in your timezone | Closing remarks |
How to Get Involved
Individuals who are interested in leading a session at a future event are asked to get in touch with the SCWG Chair/Co-Chairs.
Past Events
2026
May 27, 2026 - Online
Recordings on Youtube
Program
Presentation Materials
2025
May 21, 2025 - Online
Program
Mural Results
2024
Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Online
Program & Panel Discussion Summaries
2023
Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - Online
Program
Presentation Materials
2022
Thursday, April 28, 2022 - Online
Program
Presentation Materials
2021
Thursday, April 29, 2021 – Online
Program
Presentation Materials
2020
Thursday, April 30, 2020 – Online using Blackboard Collaborate with support from Royal Roads University
Program
Presentation Materials
2019
Friday, April 26, 2019 – University of Regina, Regina, SK
- Program [PDF] and Details
- Presentation Materials
2018
Friday, May 18, 2018 – MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB
- Program [PDF] and Details
- Presentation Materials