Panels
The programme is still being finalized and is subject to ongoing updates as sessions are scheduled. Please check back regularly for the latest changes.
AI-Augmented Metadata Workflows in library cataloguing
We review the evolution of AI in library cataloguing across the global literature, empirically assess generative AI's adaptability to cataloguing workflows, and propose a full AI-enhanced metadata workflows featuring task decomposition, rule verification, risk-based human oversight, and traceable governance.
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Junzhi Jia
Professor
Renmin University of China
Dr. Junzhi Jia is an professor at the School of Information Resource Management, Renmin University of China. Her research focuses on information organization, ontologies, and metadataband AI literacy. Member of the metadata and AI task group of the DCMI Education Committee. She has published over 170 academic papers and two monographs: Ontology Construction for Chinese FrameNet Ontology and Semantic Association and Aggregation of Chinese Name Authority Records.
Architecting Trust Before Implementation: Governance Design and Policy Readiness in Taiwan’s Data Space Guidance Framework
As global data economies transition toward federated ecosystems, establishing cross-domain trust and seamless semantic alignment remains a pivotal policy objective for emerging digital nations. This presentation shares the strategic governance design and preliminary policy insights from the "Taiwan Data Space Creation Guidance Framework," an initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Digital Affairs (moda) to guide Taiwan through its preparatory and pre-implementation phases.
Reflecting international benchmarks, such as the European Data Spaces Support Centre (DSSC) blueprints and Japan’s Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA) guidebooks, Taiwan’s forthcoming guidance draft formulates a phased roadmap across business, legal, operational, and technical dimensions, customized for an ecosystem at the inception stage. Prior to deploying physical infrastructure, the framework prioritizes the "soft infrastructure" principles needed to operationalize trust. It focuses on the strategic design of Identity and Attestation Management.
Crucially, this session highlights how metadata governance serves as the architectural backbone during this foundational blueprinting phase. By integrating standardized specifications, such as DCAT application profiles, Taiwan envisions a model to guarantee future resource discoverability and data quality without proprietary vendor lock-in. Furthermore, the framework translates abstract legal frameworks into machine-readable readiness models, utilizing Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) formalisms to design policy enforcement mechanisms long before data plane transactions occur.
By charting Taiwan’s journey in defining clear rules, stakeholder roles, and interoperability standards during its inception phase, this presentation underscores the significance of institutional preparation. It outlines a visionary roadmap for a resilient data mesh where public sectors, national access points, and private enterprises can confidently co-create value in a secure, sovereign environment.
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Hao-Ren KE
Dean of School of Learning Informatics
National Taiwan Normal University
Hao-Ren Ke is the Dean of the School of Learning Informatics at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). From 2013 to 2022, he held the position of University Librarian at NTNU. In addition to his academic roles, he serves as the President of the Library Association of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Hao-Ren Ke's research interests lie in various areas, including SDGs in libraries, media and information literacy, library performance measurement, digital library/archives, library and information systems, information retrieval, Web mining, and digital humanities.
Between Standards and Practice: Human‑Centered Metadata under Real‑World Constraints
This presentation and discussion session explores what human‑centered metadata work looks like outside dedicated metadata units, where people, culture, and constraints shape decisions as much as standards do. Drawing on library leadership initiatives and community digital humanities projects at the University of Kansas Libraries, the session examines how librarians, leaders, faculty, and community partners navigate issues such as AI, multilingual description, contributor‑supplied metadata, and the use of Dublin Core in real‑world contexts. Together, the panelists invite discussion on how the metadata community can better support non‑specialists and low‑resource projects while preparing for AI‑enabled discovery systems.
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Brian Rosenblum
Director, International Strategies
University of Kansas Libraries
Brian Rosenblum is Director of International Strategies at the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries, where he provides strategic leadership for KU Libraries’ international partnerships, programs, and professional engagement. He also leads the Institute for Globally Engaged Librarianship (IGEL), which advances global collaboration and exchange through library-wide initiatives. He was the founding co-director of KU's Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities (2010–2025). His interests include digital humanities, scholarly communication, open access, and electronic publishing. -
Carol E. Smith
Dean of Libraries
University of Kansas
Carol E. Smith is Dean of Libraries at the University of Kansas in the United States, a role she has held since 2023. Before joining KU, she served as University Librarian at Colorado School of Mines (2016–2023) and Library Director of Adams State University (2012–2016) in Colorado and held a tenured faculty role at the University of Central Missouri (2006–2012). Her current areas of leadership focus include international library partnerships, fostering participatory leadership, and talent development.
BIBFRAME in Practice: Global Perspectives on Implementation, Challenges, and Lessons Learned
As libraries worldwide transition from MARC-based cataloging to linked data environments, BIBFRAME has emerged as a widely adopted model shaping the future of bibliographic description. While BIBFRAME continues to evolve through ongoing community discussion and development, its practical implementation varies considerably depending on regional infrastructure, system platforms, staffing models, and organizational readiness.
This panel brings together experts from multiple continents who are actively engaged in BIBFRAME implementation across diverse institutional and national contexts. Panelists will share their experiences, including lessons learned, challenges encountered, and strategies for navigating technical change. By highlighting both common themes and regional differences, the panel provides a grounded, comparative view of the global state of BIBFRAME implementation in 2026.
The session will feature lightning talks from each panelist, followed by a moderated discussion and audience Q&A. Emphasizing practical insights over theory, it will focus on how institutions are implementing BIBFRAME today and the challenges that remain, particularly in ensuring interoperability and long-term sustainability. The format is designed to encourage cross-regional comparison and foster dialogue among BIBFRAME implementers.
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Xiaoli Li
Head of Content Support Services
University of California Davis Library
Xiaoli Li’s work focuses on the practical implementation of linked data in library systems, metadata interoperability, and supporting the library community’s transition from MARC to BIBFRAME. At University of California (UC) Davis, she participated in the library’s BIBFLOW project and has led UC Davis’ participation in collaborative linked data projects, including OCLC’s Project Passage, Linked Data for Production Phase 2, and Blue Core. Xiaoli also served as chair of the BIBFRAME Interoperability Group and has coordinated the Ex Libris Linked Open Data Working Group for the past seven years. -
Haliza Jailani
Senior Deputy Director/Senior Principal Librarian
National Library Board Singapore
Haliza Jailani is Senior Deputy Director & Senior Principal Librarian at the National Library Board Singapore. She oversees cataloguing, metadata management and linked data initiatives. Having implemented Dublin Core for digital collections and created metadata crosswalks for Singapore's libraries, archives and museums, she established linked data operations and is now operationalizing AI for metadata processes. Haliza is part of IFLA's Bibliography Section, where she advocates for national bibliographies and the impact of emerging technologies. She also serves in the DCMI Governing Board. -
Nancy Lorimer
Associate Director, Metadata Services
Stanford University Libraries
Nancy Lorimer, Associate Director for Metadata Services at Stanford University specializes in BIBFRAME, metadata standards and ontologies. A former music cataloger, she led the development of a BIBFRAME extension for performed music, now being integrated BF proper. She is Chair of the PCC Metadata Application Profiles Working Group, which is responsible for development of BF and RDA application profiles for use by members, chair of the Share VDE Entity Working Group, a member of the BIBFRAME Interoperability Group. Currently she is working on BF metadata workflows for the Blue Core project. -
Tiziana Possemato
Founding partner and Director of @Cult (Casalini Libri Group)
@Cult - Casalini Libri Group
Tiziana Possemato holds a degree in Philosophy from Sapienza University of Rome and diplomas in Archival and Library Science from the Vatican Schools. She earned a Master’s degree and a PhD in Library Science from the University of Florence. A metadata specialist, she has led national and international projects on library automation, data analysis, and information retrieval. Her work focuses on Linked Open Data and the Semantic Web. She is a member of the IFLA Bibliography Section and author of numerous publications.
Metadata in Practice: Community Constraints, Institutional Conditions, and Human-Centered Innovation
Metadata practice is shaped not only by standards and technologies, but by the communities, institutional cultures, and material conditions in which decisions are made. This interactive session brings together two complementary perspectives from the University of Kansas. The first presenter will examine community digital humanities projects developed with limited funding, technical infrastructure, and dedicated metadata expertise. These cases reveal how non-specialists navigate multilingual and contributor-supplied metadata, community priorities, and pragmatic compromise. The second presenter will consider the institutional conditions to optimize responsible metadata innovation. Drawing upon organizational transformation efforts, the presenter will examine how future-ready practices depend on curiosity, critical judgment, and willingness to experiment across traditional boundaries. Together, the presentations explore the space between formal standards and situated practice, where real-world constraints, values, expertise, and institutional choices shape what metadata becomes. Audience discussion will consider how standards communities and library leaders can support inventive, ethical metadata work across diverse organizational and community settings.
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Brian Rosenblum
Director, International Strategies
University of Kansas Libraries
Brian Rosenblum is Director of International Strategies at the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries, where he provides strategic leadership for KU Libraries’ international partnerships, programs, and professional engagement. He also leads the Institute for Globally Engaged Librarianship (IGEL), which advances global collaboration and exchange through library-wide initiatives. He was the founding co-director of KU's Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities (2010–2025). His interests include digital humanities, scholarly communication, open access, and electronic publishing. -
Carol E. Smith
Dean of Libraries
University of Kansas
Carol E. Smith is Dean of Libraries at the University of Kansas in the United States, a role she has held since 2023. Before joining KU, she served as University Librarian at Colorado School of Mines (2016–2023) and Library Director of Adams State University (2012–2016) in Colorado and held a tenured faculty role at the University of Central Missouri (2006–2012). Her current areas of leadership focus include international library partnerships, fostering participatory leadership, and talent development.
Ontology for Meaning-Driven AI: Grounding, Interpretability, and Trust
Ontologies play a critical role in organizing, connecting, and enabling the reuse of information
across memory institutions and other knowledge domains. As AI systems increasingly generate and consume metadata, ontologies are emerging as essential mechanisms for grounding meaning, supporting interoperability, and building trust. Yet ontology development remains uneven and challenging in AI-enabled environments, requiring new approaches that integrate human expertise, machine reasoning, and scalable workflows. This panel brings together researchers and practitioners to examine how ontology practices are evolving, focusing on design strategies, human–AI collaboration, validation, and the role of ontologies in supporting reliable, interpretable, and reusable knowledge in an AI-driven environment.
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Myung-Ja (MJ) K, Han
Andrew Turyn Processor/Metadata Librarian
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Myung-Ja (MJ) K. Han is the Andrew Turyn Professor and Metadata Librarian at the University of Illinois. Her research focused on digital humanities and metadata studies, with a focus on data interoperability and the use of information technologies. MJ serves on the DataCite Metadata Working Group, the Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) Editorial Board, and the HathiTrust Program Steering Committee. She previously served as Chair of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC), an international program that develops and maintains metadata standards adopted by libraries worldwide. -
Sumin Leem
Postdoctoral Associate
University of Calgary
Sumin Leem works on applied AI and ontology-driven workflows at Clause Technology and is a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Calgary. Her work focuses on evidence-grounded approaches to AI-enabled metadata, interpretation, and decision-assist workflows in policy- and regulation-driven settings. She explores how semantic structures and validation practices can support grounding, interpretability, and trust in AI systems that assist expert decision-making. In industry, she builds traceable LLM/RAG workflows that preserve human judgment and semantic control. -
Josh Falconer
Lead Data Taxonomist & Ontologist
The New York Times
Josh Falconer is the incoming Lead Data Taxonomist & Ontologist at The New York Times. He joins from Bloomberg, where he was Senior Ontologist, modeling events and states for an enterprise knowledge graph, and previously was Ontologist at Indeed. For over a decade, he served in bibliographic metadata cataloging roles focusing on Middle Eastern and North African manuscript collections at HMML and the Library of Congress. His research interests center on knowledge organization systems, event representation, and cross-linguistic typology. He holds an MSLIS from UIUC and is now studying computer science at CU Boulder. -
Inkyung Choi
Assistant Professor
Sungkyunkwan University
Inkyung Choi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Library and Information Science at Sungkyunkwan University. As a current FAIR Fellow, she specializes in metadata architecture, ontology engineering, and knowledge organization, with a focus on implementing FAIR principles to enhance data interoperability and reuse. Her current research focuses on developing a standard-based Knowledge Graph aiming to transform fragmented domain information into sustainable, machine-actionable knowledge infrastructures for AI-driven scientific discovery.
Open Data Spaces — A new distributed data management paradigm in the age of Agentic AI
Open Data Spaces (ODA) is an open and scalable architecture for distributed data management (DDM), while respecting the diversity of organizations and countries. Rooted in the concept of data mesh and classical data spaces (first proposed in the U.S. in 2005), ODS is evolving architecture as the Double Product Quanta Model (DPQM) to enable the DDM across the organization and a trustworthy post-training data pipeline for Agentic AI.
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Michitaka Tsuda
Chief Architect
Information-technology Promotion Agency
Born in Japan, in 1997. Graduated from Osaka University (Quantitative Constructivism) and studied at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia, where he founded a fintech startup. He later joined Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), working on AI and industrial data policy while serving as the lead author of the Digital Economy Report. He currently serves as the Chief Architect of Open Data Spaces, a distributed data management technology for Agentic AI.
Perspectives on Open Metadata
Metadata is shaped not only by the functional needs of description and management, but also by the socioeconomic structures of the global knowledge market. Given the emergence of webscale systems, growing industry consolidation, and shifting models of metadata production in the current environment, the legal interoperability and usability of metadata have never been more significant.
Open metadata is a growing global movement focused on the legal interoperability of metadata–specifically, ensuring that metadata for research, education and cultural heritage is free to access and reuse, unencumbered by copyright or contractual restrictions. It encourages opening metadata itself as well as development of the open systems needed to create, enrich, host and distribute it.
This panel will present perspectives on open metadata from international leaders in the open metadata movement. The panelists will frame open metadata, highlight recent developments in infrastructure, legal issues, economics and sustainability, describe ongoing regional and community-based efforts, and discuss critical considerations for advancing the open metadata ecosystem.
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Tom Cramer
Associate University Librarian for Digital Library Systems & Services
Stanford University
Tom Cramer is the Chief Technology Strategist, Associate University Librarian & Director of Digital Library Systems & Services at the Stanford University Libraries. He directs the technical development and delivery of Stanford’s digital library services, including digitization, preservation, discovery and access to digital resources, as well as the LOCKSS program. He is the President of the Open Library Foundation, founder of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), co-founder of Blue Core and the ai4lam, LD4 and Samvera communities. -
Rochelle Lundy
Director, Office of Scholarly Communications
Stanford University
Rochelle Lundy is the Director of the Office of Scholarly Communications at Stanford University Libraries. She coordinates services related to scholarly publishing, copyright, and open access, including implementation of Stanford University’s open access policy and support for public access to funded research outputs. Prior to her career in academic libraries, she worked as an attorney specializing in copyright and media litigation. -
Wayne Graham
Council on Library and Information Resources
Wayne Graham is the Chief Information Officer and Director of Informatics, Cultural Networks, and Knowledge Systems at the Council on Library and Information Resources. With experience leading open-source projects such as the Digital Library of the Middle East and Neatline, he has developed innovative solutions that leverage technology to advance knowledge sharing. His specialization in spatial humanities, 3D environments, and high-performance computing positions him well to explore new ways to visualize and analyze data and develop digital tools supporting community-based decision-making. -
Amy Warner May
Associate Director, Scholarly Resources
Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Amy Warner May is Associate Director, Scholarly Resources at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. In this role she a member of the Bodleian’s Exec Team, responsible for Collections Management, Open Research and Digital, and chairs the Digital Committee for Oxford’s Garden’s, Libraries and Museums. Before joining the Bodleian Amy was Associate Director at Royal Holloway, University of London, and worked at the UK National Archives as Head of Systems Development and Search. She is a Board Member of the Digital Preservation Coalition and on the Science Museum Collections Committee. -
Jason Kovari
Cornell University
Jason Kovari serves as Associate University Librarian for Collections and Technical Services at Cornell University, where he oversees policy around collection development and ensures timely access to collections. Relevant to open metadata, Jason has worked on linked open data initiatives for over a decade, focusing primarily on ontology development to extend BIBFRAME for use in the special collections community. His commitment to open metadata reflects his dedication to facilitating broad access to research collections.
W3C standards for Data Spaces
As an opening remark for the panel on "Metadata-Governed Data Spaces: Trust, Usage Control, and AI-Ready Data Sharing", I will present W3C's current and upcoming work related to this topic
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Pierre-Antoine Champin
Principal Data Stragegist
W3C/Inria
Pierre-Antoine Champin joined W3C in February 2021, as a fellow from ERCIM, then from Inria. He is a member of the Technical Strategy Team, with a focus on Data Interoperability. Before that, he has been involved in many Linked Data and Semantic Web related working groups (RDF, JSON-LD...). He has been working with RDF and other Semantic Web technologies for as long as he can remember. Pierre-Antoine received an engineering degree from INSA Lyon in 1997 and a PhD in Computer Science from Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 in 2002. He is currently based in Lyon, France.
What makes a dataspace hold
A law, a national reference architecture and a commercial business case are all paying for the same thing: agreement on what data means. Drawing on published validation results, national survey data and hands-on testing, this talk reports how far each one has got — further, in places, than is usually assumed. Agreement turns out to be the achievable part. The open question is what makes it affordable to keep running.
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Masaru Dobashi
Executive IT Specialist / Senior Specialist
NTT DATA Group Corporation
Masaru Dobashi is an Executive IT Specialist and Senior Specialist at NTT DATA Group. He specializes in scalable data platforms, distributed processing, open-source technologies, and large-scale data engineering. He has coauthored technical books on Apache Spark, Apache Kafka, and Machine Learning Engineering. His recent work focuses on Data Spaces, enabling trusted data sharing across organizations and industries through interoperable architectures and technology testbeds. He is also a Visiting Researcher at the University of Tokyo and an active contributor to IOFDS, IDSA, and DSA.
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