The UKSG Annual Conference is a major event in the scholarly communications calendar which attracts delegates each year from around the world – librarians, publishers, content providers, consultants and intermediaries. The conference combines high-quality plenary presentations, lightning talks, workshops, posters and breakout sessions with entertaining social events and trade exhibition.
When
Monday, March 30, 2026 – 08:00 BST
to
Wednesday, April 1, 2026 – 13:30 BST
Where
Scottish Event Campus (SEC)
Glasgow
G3 8YW, United Kingdom
Venue Photos
About the Event
Registration
Registration is now open – click here to make your booking
We look forward to welcoming everyone to Glasgow!
Programme
Please scroll down for the latest programme information.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Content Online are handling the sponsorship again this year – please contact Albert Morian albert@contentonline.com or sign up to our mailing list here. You can view the sponsorship brochure here.
Exhibition
Bookings for the exhibition is now open – https://uksg.jewelion.com. You can download the floorplan here
The 2026 Exhibitor Manual can be found here. All exhibitors can find supplier information for catering, electrics, furniture, IT and signage etc here
Accommodation
Accommodation is not covered by the delegate fee. The official online accommodation bookings service is now open – click here to view and book a range of hotels. Accommodation is sold on a first come, first served basis and will be available until 13th March, however we recommend securing your accommodation as soon as possible.
The Glasgow Convention bureau also provide a booklet containing special delegate offers and discounts for a variety of local tours and restaurants – this can be found here
Travel to Glasgow
More information on how to get to the SEC can be found here
ScotRail offer a special discounted train ticket for delegates travelling between the city centre and the SEC by train. The Conference Rover costs just £5 for up to 5 days’ travel. More information.
The Glasgow Convention bureau also provide a booklet containing special delegate offers and discounts for a variety of local tours and restaurants – this can be found here
Your access needs
We’re committed to running accessible training and events. We want you to feel welcome, included, and able to fully engage in our sessions.
To help us, please share any access needs you have when prompted by our booking form. We may be in touch to ensure we’re making the right adjustments.
We plan to have a quiet room (no meetings or calls please), more details will follow nearer the time of the event.
From information is available from the Accessible Travel Hub providing information and resources about accessible travel in Scotland – click here
Further information on access facilities for the city of Glasgow can be found here.
If you have any more questions or need more information please do not hesitate to contact events (at) uksg.org.
Conference App
The conference app will be available nearer the conference, all registered delegates will receive and email with details on how to download the app. More details on the event app can be found here.
The app includes information on:
- sessions and speakers (build your own programme)
- delegates lists
- sponsors and exhibitors
- maps
- take part in ‘The Passport Game’ with a chance to win £100 in vouchers
- additional information/logistics
- polls, Q&A, session chat
- community/networking pages including ice breaking area’s.
John Merriman Award/Sponsored Places
More details on sponsored places will be available shortly.
The John Merriman award is supported by the generous sponsorship of Taylor & Francis Group
With thanks to our sponsors
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
More details on sponsors can be found here
Programme
- Monday 30 March
- Tuesday 31 March
- Wednesday 1 April
- Breakout sessions
- Workshops
Time
Programme
Speakers
08.00
Registration opens alongside refreshments and exhibition viewing
10.00
Opening of the Conference
followed by Presentation of Awards
Charlie Rapple
Kudos/Chair of UKSG
See Biography
Charlie Rapple is co-founder of Kudos, which works with researchers, funders, publishers and universities to ensure research is more widely found, understood, used and cited. With a background in scholarly publishing technology and marketing, she is passionate about ensuring research is more effectively communicated. She is currently serving as Chair of UKSG, having previously served as Vice Chair, Treasurer, Chair of the Marketing Subcommittee, and co-founder of KBART. She is a member of the Editorial Board for UKSG Insights, a blogger in the Scholarly Kitchen and a Fellow of the UN’s SDG Publishers Compact. Charlie has a BA in the History of Art and Architecture from the University of Bristol, and a postgraduate MDip from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
10.20
Plenary 1
Achieving sustainable, widespread adoption of Open Access for books – Andrew Barker, Tom Morley
This plenary will pay tribute to the work of the late Elaine Sykes, Head of Open Research at Lancaster University, whose commitment to equitable publishing leaves an enduring legacy. Achieving sustainable, widespread adoption of Open Access for books requires urgent, systemic collaboration and cultural shift within institutions. At Lancaster University we have recognized the need to be more strategic in our approach to funding alternative publishing models and to effectively ‘put our money where our mouth is’ with regard to diversifying the publishing landscape. This plenary will illustrate how we have approached the operational and strategic implications of this ambition.
A fox in the henhouse? University presses, corporate takeovers, and implications for the future of scholarly books – Kira Hopkins
Andrew Barker
Lancaster University
See Biography
Andrew Barker has been Library Director at Lancaster University since September 2019. Prior to that he held a number of senior roles within a wide range of UK universities, including both Russell Group and Post 1992 Institutions. Within these institutions he has been responsible for all aspects of library leadership. Throughout his career in HE Andrew has also worked visibly, and actively, across the sector, often working closely with publishers on projects and advisory boards. He was a trustee of UKSG between 2014 and 2022, and was chair of its trustee board 2018 and 2022, he is currently Co-chair of SCONUL.
Tom Morley
Lancaster University
See Biography
| Tom is currently undertaking a secondment as the Research Culture and Open Monographs Lead at Lancaster University Library. Within this role he leads and coordinates programmes of activity to develop an Open Research Culture as well as exploring options to facilitate open monograph publishing. In his substantive post he works across the areas of Open Access, Research Intelligence and Research Data Management to coordinate and deliver a range of projects, services and initiatives as an Open Research Officer. Tom is also co-editor of the UKSG e-News. |
Kira Hopkins
Copim Open Book Futures / Birkbeck University
See Biography
| Kira Hopkins works on Opening the Future, a part of Copim Open Book Futures. Previously, they worked at Ubiquity, a born-OA publishing house in London as a book editor and journal account manager, after completing a PhD in Archaeology. |
12.00
Lunch and Exhibition Viewing
Sponsored by
12.00
Poster Session 1
How Wolverhampton’s Digital Strategy Advanced Accessibility at Scale – Aine Rice
Closing the Gender Gap: Peer Review at Nature Portfolio
We report on gender representation in the Nature Portfolio across multiple stages of the publication journey, considering who is submitting to our portfolio, what impact we make in our editorial decisions, and the impact of peer reviewers. We have considered author self-reported gender data for 215,000 submitted articles across Nature Portfolio journals, 42,000 of which have also been matched to reviewers self-reported gender data. Our analysis provides an opportunity to understand the potential impact that editors have at key stages of the process.
Áine Rice
Vitalsource
See Biography
Aine works closely with libraries and academic teams across the UK and Ireland to support smarter, more sustainable approaches to digital content. She believes librarians are the lynchpin of institutional teaching and learning experiences, connecting students with the right resources, at the right time, and in the right way. At VitalSource she leads engagement through various frameworks. She helps institutions navigate flexible access models, evidence-based procurement, and innovation through partnerships, from adaptive learning to the next wave of textbook access and OER discovery.
Marios Karouzos
Springer Nature
See Biography
Marios Karouzos is the Head of Publishing Strategy – Reviews, News & Opinion for the Nature Portfolio, mainly working on the publishing strategy of the Nature Portfolio hybrid and subscription journals. Marios is an astronomer by training and worked as a researcher before joining Springer Nature in 2016 as one of the launch editors of Nature Astronomy. Marios co-chairs the Springer Nature SDG working groups network and the Springer Nature Women employee resource group
13.30
Breakout Session – Group A
For further details of breakouts click here
13.30
Workshop 1
14.30
Breakout Session – Group B
For further details of breakouts click here
15.30
Refreshments and exhibition viewing
16.00
Breakout Session – Group C
For further details of breakouts click here
17.00
Lightning Talk 1
From Shakespeare to Eurovision – engaging users with Library eResources – Elaine Blair
From blog posts to Instagram stories via database lucky dips and Theatre Thursday, we have explored various tools and activities to enhance user engagement with eResources. This session will outline the work of the eResources Promotion Group at the Andersonian Library, University of Strathclyde which was established in March 2024. The aims of the group are to increase awareness and usage of Library eResources by University staff and students, deliver value for money on purchased eResources and investigate promotion tools and avenues
Reimagining research practices to address sustainability, ethical and inclusivity concerns. Introducing the CREDIT (Community REsearch DIgital Toolkit) to inspire researchers to involve and engage communities in their research – Louise Zambianchi
The “Reimagining Research Practices: Towards a Sustainable, Ethical, and Inclusive Future” project is a 2-year initiative funded by the Wellcome Trust, bringing together various academic departments and Professional Services within Lancaster University, including the Library and Research Services. Its aim is to explore and enhance our understanding of research practices to make them more inclusive and supportive of marginalised or disadvantaged communities. The presentation will give an overview of the project and explore one of the outputs of the project: the CREDIT (Community REsearch DIgital Toolkit) to inspire researchers to involve and engage communities in their research.
Netherlands University Presses (NUPs): Publishing on our own terms – Margreet Nieborg
Elaine Blair
University of Strathclyde
See Biography
Elaine has worked as the Science Faculty Librarian at the University of Strathclyde since 2005. She has a particular interest in promoting the Library and its electronic resources. Previous roles include Engineering Librarian at the University of Leeds and Mailbase User Support Officer at the University of Newcastle.
Louise Zambianchi
Lancaster University
See Biography
Louise Zambianchi has over 20 years’ experience of working in academic libraries. She has been working in the area of Open Access in her role as Open Access Manager and is also currently the Acting Head of Open Research at Lancaster University in the UK. Her professional interests include open access publishing, providing a support service for research students and academic staff and development of skills and training. Louise has engaged in many Open Research groups such as Academic Libraries North, RCUK Open Access practitioners’ group (which shaped the new UKRI policy) and led the open access submission for Lancaster University to REF2021
Margreet Nieborg
University of Groningen
See Biography
Margreet Nieborg is Project Manager and Head of the University of Groningen Press (UGP), and a board member of the Association of European University Presses (AEUP). Trained as an educationalist, she has led several initiatives within the University Library, including the establishment of UGP in 2017. UGP operates as a Diamond Open Access press publishing journals, books and textbooks, and is an active member of the Netherlands University Presses (NUPs).
17.30
Exhibition viewing and reception
19.00
Supper and quiz or free evening
Sponsored by
This event is optional; however, booking is mandatory. Please secure your place when completing your registration.
Time
Programme
Speakers
08.00
Registration opens alongside refreshments and exhibition viewing.
09.00
Plenary 2
Preparing Disaster-Ready Library Leaders: Advancing Advocacy for Libraries and the Communities they Serve – Feili Tu-Keefner Denise Lyons, Marcia A Mardis, David McMenemy
Feili Tu-Keefner
University of South Carolina
See Biography
Dr. Feili Tu-Keefner is an associate professor in the University of South Carolina’s School of Information Science. Her work focuses on health librarianship, health informatics, and health communication, with expertise in disaster management and the role of public libraries in community resilience. From 2015 to 2024, she led six case studies demonstrating libraries’ contributions to emergency response and recovery. She is a founding member and academic advisor for the USC Certificate in Health Communication and also contributes to the iSchool’s Information Security and Cyber Leadership programs. Dr. Tu-Keefner is a WHO-certified infodemic manager trained by the WHO and U.S. CDC.
Denise Lyons
Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives
See Biography
| Denise Lyons serves as the State Librarian and Commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives in Frankfort, Kentucky. She brings extensive experience in library administration and management, strategic planning, family literacy, and advancing library leadership and resiliency during disasters. Over the past 30 years, she has worked in a wide range of libraries and nonprofit organizations and remains active in several library associations. Denise holds a MLIS from the University of South Carolina and a MS in Public Services Management from DePaul University. She has also taught as a lecturer in the Information Science program at UNC Greensboro. |
10.30
Refreshments and exhibition viewing.
11.00
Breakout Session – Group A
For further details of breakouts click here
11.00
Workshop 2
12.00
Lightning 2
Building a community for scholarly communications research from the front lines – Beth Montague-Hellen
Research conducted by practitioners is vital to ensuring that scholarly developments are grounded in reality and aren’t simply theoretical. Within the LIS and scholarly communications communities there is a lot of appetite for research, which isn’t surprising given how closely we work with researchers and research outputs. However, many people who would like to carry out research don’t have the formal training that an academic route provides, and often any training that is present is from a different discipline. This talk introduces a burgeoning community of researchers and the infrastructure that is being put in place to support them: online communities, training materials and a new seminar series for presenting research.
Small changes: taking back control of our universities through open software – Simon Bowie
Universities in the UK are hindered by exploitative corporate software ecosystems. For all the advancement of open research and open access, the use and distribution of open source software in universities and libraries has been neglected in favour of the proprietary software defaults provided top-down by our institutions. Despite progress on open access publishing and open data sharing, university workers still use closed software like Microsoft Word for writing, Microsoft SharePoint for document management, and Microsoft Teams or Zoom for communication and conferencing. I want to discuss the failures of proprietary software in UK Higher Education and advocate for us to take back control of our work using open source software.
Proprietary software companies are openly exploiting universities and we are doing nothing to challenge them. A 2019 report from the UK’s Department of Education (2019) sets out the Government’s vision for the use of technology in education (specifically in England but with a clear agenda for the rest of the UK) and clearly communicates to vendors that UK education is a market ripe for exploitation. In this talk, I will discuss some some individual changes that we can make to our software practices – using Zotero for reference management, using kMeet for videoconferencing, and using Zettlr for note-taking and academic writing – before expanding out to larger software changes – divesting from companies like Microsoft and moving away from proprietary software platforms like Elsevier’s Pure or the Ex Libris suite of academic library systems. By embedding open source software in our working practices, we can divest from expensive and unreliable corporate software and take back control of our university IT
Beth Montague-Hellen
The Francis Crick Institute
See Biography
Dr Beth Montague-Hellen started off academic life as a Molecular Biologist studying at Manchester University. The next 14 years were spent as a bioinformatician, accruing an MSc and a Phd on the way. Following this, Beth decided that supporting others to do excellent research was far more rewarding than actually doing the research and so moved into Libraries and Research Support. Beth takes an as open-as-possible, EDI focused approach to research support and is a big advocate for green OA alongside a completely transparent research cycle including radically open data and software sharing.
Simon Bowie
University of Edinburgh
See Biography
Simon Bowie is an open source software developer focused on community-owned and scholar-led open publishing infrastructures. His academic work focuses on open source software and open access publishing, posthumanism, the expression of irony and sincerity, and radical librarianship.
12.30
Lunch and Exhibition Viewing
12.30
Poster 2
Open Access, Open Metadata, Open Archiving: How to Liberate Metadata Flows across the OA Books Landscape – Hannah Hillen
With open access quickly becoming the standard mode of publishing scholarly publications, including monographs and edited collections, the integration of fully open and high-quality metadata into book production workflows, library cataloging systems, and long-term preservation solutions is gaining importance and urgency.
The poster will showcase metadata workflows of a variety of small and medium-sized scholar-led and university and library publishers from across the globe through the usage of Thoth Open Metadata, a non-profit open source platform providing innovative metadata management, hosting, and distribution solutions tailored to tackle the problem(s) of getting Open Access works into the wider book supply chain, ensuring their long-term sustainability.
Evolution of semi-automated workflows – Alison Hazelaar
Hannah Hillen
Thoth Open Metadata
See Biography
Hannah is Metadata & Publisher Outreach Specialist at Thoth Open Metadata. She works closely with small publishers, onboarding and supporting them in use of the Thoth platform and services, and works on building partnerships and implementing dissemination channels between Thoth and platforms throughout the global book supply chain. She has an MA in Library & Information Management and a background in cataloguing, archiving and preservation of print and digital material in academic libraries.
Alison Hazelaar
University of Leeds
See Biography
TBC
14.00
Plenary session 3
The Value and Impact of EDI-Focused Resource Lists – Alex Mormoris, Lizzie McCauley, The Open University
The Open University Library creates Curated Resource Lists covering EDI, sustainability and wellness topics. The lists have grown to cover 15 different topics, with 10 more underway. The goal is to promote diverse perspectives, so that users can incorporate them into their various research needs and interests.
This session will cover:
– The history of the lists
– How the direction was decided
– Collaboration between the Library and OU institutional networks
– The role that user feedback plays
– The value and impact These lists enable iterative evolution of content offering and exemplify the importance of EDI.
Alex Mormoris
The Open University
See Biography
Alex Mormoris is an e-content manager within the content and licensing team at the Open University. He is also currently a student on the MA Librarianship and Information Science course at the University of Sheffield. He is also a founding member of the Mercian Global Majority community of practice.
Lizzie McCauley
The Open University
See Biography
TBC
15.00
Breakout Session – Group B
For further details of breakouts click here
15.00
Workshop 3
16.00
Refreshments and exhibition viewing.
16.30
Breakout Session – Group D
For further details of breakouts click here
17.00
Exhibition viewing
19.00
Gala evening reception
Sponsored by
Time
Programme
Speakers
08.00
Registration opens alongside refreshments and exhibition viewing.
09.00
Plenary 4
What the Scholarly Community Can- Must- Do About Digital Preservation – Alicia Wise
Disappearing Data: Responding to Government Web Content Takedowns – Toby Green
Alicia Wise
.
See Biography
TBC
Toby Green
Coherent Digital
See Biography
Toby, Publisher, Policy Commons and Co-Founder of Coherent Digital, has 35+ years experience in scholarly, policy and professional publishing. Previously, he held a variety of senior roles with OECD Publishing and Elsevier Science. Besides the formal stuff, Toby has wrestled with data publishing and is now trying to tame grey literature. He is a regular speaker at publishing and librarian events in Europe and North America. He serves as expert advisor to the Open Research Community. Previously, he was a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing Board and Chair of ALPSP. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9601-9130 https://twitter.com/tobyabgreen .
10.00
Breakout Session – Group C
For further details of breakouts click here
11.00
Refreshments and exhibition viewing
11.30
Breakout Session – Group D
For further details of breakouts click here
12.30
Plenary 5
What’s keeping librarians and CISOs up at night?
Rick Anderson
Brigham Young University
See Biography
Rick Anderson is University Librarian of Brigham Young University. He serves on numerous editorial and advisory boards and is a regular contributor to the Scholarly Kitchen. He has served as president of NASIG and of the Society for Scholarly Publishing, and is a recipient of the HARRASSOWITZ Leadership in Library Acquisitions Award. Rick is the author of three books, including Scholarly Communication: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2018), which has been published in three languages.
Susie Winters
Springer Nature
See Biography
Susie Winter is Vice President Communications at Springer Nature.
Susie joined Springer Nature from the Publishers Association, the trade association for the publishing industry in the UK where, as Director of Policy and Communications, she was responsible for developing and leading the PA’s work across the policy agenda as well as promoting the contribution made by the UK publishing industry at both a UK and European level.
Prior to that, she was the first Director General for the Alliance for Intellectual Property, working to ensure that the importance of IP rights to the UK economy is recognised. Having begun her career as a Press and Broadcasting Officer for the Liberal Democrat Party she then spent several years at communications consultancy Luther Pendragon.
13.15
Summary and Close
Debate Club! Hearing Out the Other Side’ on Some Core Tensions in Scholarly Publishing
Beth Bayley
Karger
See Biography
TBC
The Sustain-agility game
Sustainability is increasingly critical in UK academic libraries, not only in environmental terms but also in ensuring long-term access to knowledge, responsible resource use, and inclusive service delivery. Libraries must adapt to changing demands while supporting institutional sustainability goals. In this workshop we will use a board game as the basis for exploring practical strategies for embedding sustainability into library operations and strategies. By considering sustainability in all its forms, librarians can help future-proof services, reduce risk, and contribute meaningfully to a more resilient and equitable academic environment.
Angela Jones-Evans
University of Gloucestershire
See Biography
TBC
Diamond Open Scholarly Communication fund PANEL
Sustainability is increasingly critical in UK academic libraries, not only in environmental terms but also in ensuring long-term access to knowledge, responsible resource use, and inclusive service delivery. Libraries must adapt to changing demands while supporting institutional sustainability goals. In this workshop we will use a board game as the basis for exploring practical strategies for embedding sustainability into library operations and strategies. By considering sustainability in all its forms, librarians can help future-proof services, reduce risk, and contribute meaningfully to a more resilient and equitable academic environment.
Louise Otting-Geevers
Delft University of Technology
See Biography
Louise Otting is the Collections & License Manager at Delft University of Technology (TUD) Library, where she negotiates with publishers for access to sources and publishing. In close collaboration with the Open Access Advisor and the diamond University Press (TU Delft Open Publishing), she writes the policies regarding collection & publishing management. She also manages the collection & publishing budget, which includes a dedicated OA fund and an Open Scholarly Communications fund. She contributes to several national and international groups like UKB, the national consortium, Library Advisory Boards and is dedicated to advance open, sustainable & equitable scholarly communication.
Pascal Braak
University of Amsterdam
See Biography
Pascal Braak is an open access specialist at the Library of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). He has a degree in Library Sciences and Law. He has managed several projects related to open access at the university, amongst others the UvA Diamond Open Access Fund for the last five years. He is member of the Open Access Working Group of the Dutch Consortium of University Libraries and of the Advisory Panel Open Scholarly Communication from OSNL.
Feedback
The conference was great and was organised really well. Everyone was really friendly and I gained loads from it.
Previous delegate
I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and look forward to returning next year.
Previous delegate
Contact
General queries – events@uksg.org
Sponsorship opportunities – albert@contentonline.com
Exhibition queries – Karina Hunt at KHEC – karina@khec.co.uk
Cancellations
The closing date for cancellations is Friday 27th February at 5pm GMT. after which date cancellations will note be eligible for a refund. Cancellations should be sent in writing to events@uksg.org
The UKSG code of conduct can be found here
The General UKSG booking terms and conditions can be found here