Research Symposium

I will present on how I developed a method to quickly test the accuracy of optical character recognition in different software programs, using digitized historical documents from archives and special collections. My goal was to come up with an easy way for a librarian or archivist to choose the right software for their project, without a lot of time or technical knowledge.

I'll also speak about the process of publishing an article about my experiment in the Code4Lib journal -- how I came up with the topic, how I overcame (or didn't) imposter syndrome, how I involved a co-op student in the work, and what it was like revising the paper with a journal editor.

In this talk, I will use an example from my research project, “Can I prove that I descend from Jacob Gordanier, UEL?”, to demonstrate Palladio dh, a free, web-based visualization tool developed at Stanford University that specifically caters to humanities data. It supports CSV or tabular formats and offers a user-friendly interface, making data analysis more accessible—even for those without extensive technical or programming backgrounds. Since Palladio runs entirely online, you can get started simply by uploading your spreadsheet—no downloads or installations required. Once your data is loaded, Palladio detects and flags inconsistencies like odd date formats or place names, helping you create cleaner, more reliable datasets.

Beyond its basic list and gallery views, Palladio also includes mapping and network analysis features. These allow you to spot patterns, clusters, and outliers in your data, often revealing new avenues for research or confirming existing hypotheses. Whether you’re a digital humanist, a genealogist like me, or simply looking for a way to visualize your information, Palladio provides a user-friendly environment that helps you to clean, analyze, and share your data with ease.

In January 2025, the U.S. federal government released a number of executive orders and memoranda, including ones which barred the use of a number of terms relating to gender and equity on government web sites. As a result, many of the U.S. government datasets used by researchers around the world abruptly disappeared from those government web sites, along with articles, reports and other related documents. Next entire departments and data collection systems began to disappear.

Canada has its own ignominious history of data destruction. Data destruction is different from data loss, which may be inadvertent: it is a deliberate effort to disrupt and control discourse by limiting what can be known. This talk will provide a look at recent developments in data destruction and data rescue in Canada and the United States, and discuss current and anticipated impacts.

The emergence of artificial intelligence as a tool for creative production has prompted renewed debate about the nature of creativity, particularly concerning attribution and authorship. In 2023, the Government of Canada launched a public consultation on “Copyright in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence,” inviting input on how the national copyright framework might evolve to continue protecting the rights of creators.

This initiative reflects a broader cultural and legal discourse surrounding the shifting definitions of creation—who participates in it, who benefits from it, and who is entitled to recognition and remuneration. In the context of generative AI, these questions become especially complex: whose intellectual property underpins the training of these models, and how should we understand the outputs generated by such systems?

While this session will not attempt to provide definitive answers, it will offer an overview of the current landscape, consider possible future developments, and propose key considerations for individuals engaged in creative practice—recognising that creative labour, in some form, touches all of us.

Western's and the affiliates' libraries collections have been built by relying on commercial publishing defined by colonial heteronormative hegemonic structures. Thus, it is essential to explore how our collections support equity-deserving/denied groups, to ensure that the libraries are providing our communities with the full range of perspectives, representations, and ways of knowing that are important for research and instruction.

This issue is not unique to Western. Libraries across North America are examining their collections to identify and correct historical gaps in coverage caused by systemically hegemonic collection practices. For most libraries, this work involves a “collection audit”, which identifies areas of the collection for in-depth study, and then performing a statistical analysis on the subject matter in those areas to determine salient aspects of the authors’ identities (Walters 2023).

Alternatively, this project is aimed at identifying how our current collections support, or fail to support, people on campus who teach about or do research related to these equity-deserving groups. We have done this by surveying the user community to identify impacts of our collection management practices, rather than only looking inward at the materials on the shelves.

Our presentation will discuss the project conception and status, plus the next step of qualitative analysis.

Can an AI exercise cataloguer judgement? Ex Libris partnered with eBook Central to provide AI enriched records in their shared metadata pool. DDM sampled records from our entitlement before and after AI was applied to evaluate the changes and consider how it compares with what DDM would do. This presentation will share our process and our findings to date.

In 2022-23, various members of the Collections and Content Strategies team (CCS) embarked on a group research project investigating the environmental sustainability practices (and promises) of academic publishers. Their research paper examines the relationship between the practices of publishers and the sustainability goals of academic libraries, related to collection management, through the lens of a green audit featuring a customized rubric. Findings are drawn from an audit of 16 international academic publishers that examined material elements, as well as transportation and infrastructure considerations. In this session, the group will discuss the formation of the research project, the successful application of a SSHRC Explore grant, and knowledge sharing via conference presentations and publication.

Western Libraries has developed a curriculum rooted in epistemic justice, challenging conventional library instruction. Through iterative refinement based on student and faculty feedback, a conceptual model has emerged. This model guides learners to seek diverse voices by acknowledging the “edges” or limits of peer-reviewed literature. The framework emphasizes perspectives often excluded from Euro-Western knowledge paradigms, including those with lived experience, community advocates, caregivers, institutions, power holders, and independent observers.

This pedagogical shift has been implemented across nursing, health studies, and counseling psychology programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels. In response to student and faculty needs, we are developing an Open Educational Resource (OER) to support the application of epistemic justice principles in research and professional practice. We are currently conducting a research study in undergraduate nursing seeking to evaluate how an epistemic justice learning module and assignment influence students' perceptions of practicing cultural humility in patient care provision.

This research team’s work has broad implications for knowledge production and librarianship. We are examining how epistemic justice can inform systematic and scoping review methodologies, ensuring that research incorporates diverse perspectives beyond conventional academic publishing. Furthermore, we are exploring how librarians can coach students and researchers in conducting more inclusive and equitable reviews, fundamentally re-shaping knowledge production at an institutional level.

By shifting from searching for sources to finding diverse voices, we enact epistemic justice in research and practice. This presentation will highlight key insights from our implementation and challenges encountered throughout the research process.

Contributors: Dr. Shokoufeh Modanloo and Dr. Penny Tryphonopoulos

Traditional systematic and scoping review methodologies perpetuate epistemic exclusion by prioritizing peer-reviewed sources and silencing marginalized voices. Epistemic justice- the fair recognition, inclusion, and valuation of diverse knowledge systems and knowers- ensures equitable access to knowledge production and dissemination. This presentation explores how applying an epistemic justice lens can reshape systematic and scoping review methodologies to better represent diverse perspectives.

Using a case example, we explore a graduate student’s initial approach to conducting a literature review for their Master of Science in Nursing thesis proposal. The thesis seeks to explore the integration of equity, diversity, and inclusion in case-based learning to advance culturally safe healthcare education and practice. Following consultation from Western Libraries, their initial methodology prioritized peer-reviewed sources, aligning with conventional academic norms. However, traditional search strategies often exclude voices of lived experience and deprioritize grey literature, limiting the diversity of perspectives included in research. We will present a revised methodology that integrates epistemic justice principles by expanding search strategies beyond peer-reviewed sources while maintaining academic rigor.

This revised approach offers a structured framework for identifying diverse sources of knowledge, including voices from 1) Institutions & Powerholders, 2) Allies & Advocates, 3) Care Providers, 4) Arms-Length Observers and Representative Groups, 5) Families & Communities, & 6) Individuals with Lived Experience.

We will discuss how librarians and faculty can support students in adopting more inclusive research practices by: 1) recognizing epistemic exclusion in conventional review methods; 2) developing search techniques that incorporate diverse voices, and; 3) strengthening methodological rigor while centering epistemic justice.

Librarians play a crucial role in preventing epistemic exclusion in knowledge production. Rethinking systematic and scoping review methodologies through an epistemic justice lens is essential for more equitable research. Collaboration between researchers, librarians, and educators can drive meaningful changes toward more just and representative academic practices.

In 2020, Daniel, Anne; Oliver, Amanda; and Jamieson, Amanda published "Toward a Competency Framework for Canadian Archivists," in the Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies (Vol. 7, Article 4). The article is available at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol7/iss1/4.

In 2023, the Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA) invited us to join a working group tasked with advancing the development of a professional competency model for Canadian archivists. As two members of this four-person group, we contributed to the successful creation of the competency framework in 2025 [https://archivists.ca/Latest-News-Announcements/13447188]. This framework has been endorsed by the ACA and is intended for use by archivists in Canada and potentially abroad. Currently, we are in the early stages of drafting a paper that will discuss the research and creation of the competency framework, including challenges and successes, and visions for the continuation of this work. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the key challenges and successes experienced during the framework’s development and highlight lessons learned. This presentation may be of interest to those who want to develop similar competency models for their specific work, and, more broadly, individuals who are interested in parlaying research activities into service opportunities or vice versa.

In 2023, Dr. Heather Hill and Melanie Mills initiated a national study to identify the competencies required by graduates of ALA-accredited Library and Information Science (LIS) programs in Canada. The study invited perspectives from various communities of interest, including current and recent graduates, as well as full-time and contingent faculty from ALA-accredited LIS programs in Canada. Library and information sector workers and employers were also invited to participate, with an aim to better understand how and if the LIS curriculum is adequately equipping graduates with the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed for library and information work in Canada today. The research situates Canadian LIS education and work within the national and international context, engaging the LIS competency frameworks of accrediting bodies such as the ALA with its recently revised Core Competencies (2022) as well as broader professional organizations like IFLA with its Guidelines for Professional Library and Information Science (LIS) Education Programmes, published that same year. Initial research findings indicate that ‘core’ LIS competencies are shifting in the profession, with an increased awareness of and need for KSAs connected to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and in Canada, KSAs specific to decolonization, Indigenization, and reconciliation. This talk will share initial research findings and will highlight opportunities for the library and information community at large (i.e., LIS scholars and researchers, practitioners and employers) to work in concert to improve LIS graduates’ preparedness for today’s dynamic work environment.

Organizations are shaped and understood through storytelling. Individuals within organizations construct narratives about themselves and others, responding to both real and imagined stories. This process is essential, unavoidable, and especially critical in times of uncertainty, transition, and disruption.

This talk examines the cycle of storytelling and sensemaking, bridging lived experience with theory. Drawing on narrative theory, organizational psychology, and case study, we provide a framework for understanding how archetypal storytelling fosters engagement, innovation, and collective meaning-making. Ultimately, we suggest that organizations are not solely driven by facts and data, but by the power of the stories they tell.

In this lightning talk, I will present highlights from a study that explored the practices and perspectives of academic librarians and archivists (L/As) in Canada with respect to research in areas outside of librarianship or archival studies (LIAS). These findings are timely since, as of 2023, L/As at Western can carry out research in any academic area.

Across Canada, 32% of survey respondents have conducted non-LIAS research as part of their job. Nearly half of respondents said that doing non-LIAS research and producing or performing creative works were extremely or very important. However, comments revealed a range of perspectives about non-LIAS research – some said that all research areas are acceptable and important, others said that non-LIAS research is acceptable in some cases, and yet others wanted to see a connection between L/As’ research and professional work. How can we, collectively, make sense of these varying perspectives? What implications does this have for our research? Let’s start to explore these questions together.