In an era of misinformation, disinformation and information overload, academic libraries are no longer simply repositories for the products of research. The University of Victoria (UVic) Libraries’ new Kula: Library Futures Academy will provide a hub for accelerating transdisciplinary research and fostering a robust intellectual community to address global challenges in a democratic society.
“Academic libraries are places for conversations, debates and sense-making in a world of increasingly polarized and entrenched views,” says UVic University Librarian Jonathan Bengtson. “The academic library is at a critical juncture in its evolution due to the dismantling of long-held infrastructures of knowledge and fact-based research. The library plays a critical role in the university as a place that facilitates collaboration to address global issues and promote innovation. The Kula: Library Futures Academy is the world’s first library-based institute of advanced studies and is intended to be a connector of people and community to knowledge and digital infrastructure.”
The Kula: Library Futures Academy integrates UVic Libraries’ programs, such as KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination and Preservation Studies, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal; the Kula Dialogue Series, exploring pressing issues of the day; the Conflict Aftermath Digital Archives Project, practice-informed research based on photographic archival initiatives; the Farallon Book Arts Lab; the Historic Computing Lab; and Libraries Enabling New Scholarship (LENS@UVicLib), an emerging initiative that reimagines UVic Libraries’ digital activities for future research. The academy also provides seed funding to support initiatives that advance UVic Libraries’ strategic priorities of offering open, engaged and enduring resources for students, researchers and the global community.
To formally launch the Kula: Library Futures Academy, a public symposium with a series of moderated panel discussions is planned Sept. 15–16 on the theme of truth, knowledge and society. Speakers include Bodley’s Librarian, University of Oxford, 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.
“Libraries and archives are being systematically dismantled in the United States: books and datasets are being banned, librarians, archivists and staff fired, and their lives threatened—why?” asks Kula Director Matt Huculak. “There is a sacred pact between the reader and the librarian in a democratic society. What will Canada’s role and legacy be in protecting truth, information and the media in this moment of information crisis?”
Kula: Library Futures Academy is supported by UVic donors Brian R. Gaines and Mildred L. G. Shaw.
This initiative aligns with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): good health and well-being (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), and peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16).
