Schedule

A gold banner with black and white text has the following text: 2026 Southern Miss Institutional Repository Conference. Underneath, a black stripe with two gold horizontal feathers and gold text has the following text: April 23 and 24, 2026.

SMIRC 2026 Schedule

Preconference Schedule

Wednesday, April 22
LIB 206Z/Preconference Room

1 p.m.

Updated Levels of Digital Preservation
Elizabeth La Beaud, University of Southern Mississippi

3 p.m.

Digital Accessibility for Institutional Repositories
Jennie Vance, University of Southern Mississippi
John Blair, University of Southern Mississippi

Thursday, April 23
LIB 206Z/Preconference Room

9 a.m.

Migration Ready: How to Evaluate Systems and Plan a Successful Transition
Elizabeth La Beaud, University of Southern Mississippi

11 a.m.

Preconference dismisses

Conference Schedule

Thursday, April 23
LIB 206Z/Day 1 Room

12:00 p.m.

Check-in Opens

1:00 p.m.

Welcome and Introduction
Dr. John Eye, Dean of Libraries, University of Southern Mississippi

1:10 p.m.

Keynote
Kaleena Rivera, Florida Gulf Coast University

2:15 p.m.

Workshop - Repository Ready Metadata Under the OSTP 2022 Public Access Memo
Jennifer Beamer, United States Repository Network/SPARC
Carly Robinson, SPARC

4:10 p.m.

Posters/Lightning Talks

Poster: “Current Naming Conventions for Institutional Repositories at US Colleges and Universities”
Julia Doelling, West Chester University

“Lowering Barriers to Institutional Repositories”
Federico Verlicchi, 4Science

“An IR for Preserving Unique Voice and Creativity: A Zine Collection at UDC”
Yoko Ferguson, University of the District of Columbia

“Moving from Vision to Action with the U.S. Repository Network”
Jennifer Beamer, United States Repository Network/SPARC

“Open Access Month: Takeaways from an IR Manager's First International Open Access Week”
Matthew Folse, LSU Health Sciences Center

6:00 p.m.

Optional Dinner Meetup

Friday, April 24

8:00 a.m.

Check-in/Breakfast (Cook 209A)

8:30 a.m.

“A Practical Approach to IR Policy Creation and Revision” (Cook 209A/Room A)
Nicole Webber, University of Northern Colorado

“Student Scholarship and Engagement Frameworks Using the University of Toledo Digital Repository as Platform for Student Research” (Cook 206Z/Room B)
Arjun Sabharwal, University of Toledo
Gerald Natal, University of Toledo

9:30 a.m.

“Institutional Independence and a Sustainable Future for Repositories: The DSpace Approach” (Cook 209A/Room A)
Ignace Deroost, Atmire

"Guarding the Record: Building a National Digital Repository for the National Guard" (Cook 206Z/Room B)
Kevin Greene, University of Southern Mississippi
Elizabeth La Beaud, University of Southern Mississippi

10:30 a.m.

"What's New, What's Next, and What You'll Soon See in Digital Commons" (Cook 209A/Room A)
Christa Johnson-Perkins, Elsevier

“Implementing an Institutional Repository Within the Archives: The Challenges Facing Mid-Sized Institutions and Implications for the Future” (Cook 206Z/Room B)
Emma Powell, Elon University
Jason Smith, Lewis University

11:30 a.m.

Lunch (Cook 209A)

12:30 p.m.

“Figshare and the Future of Repositories: How Figshare is Adapting to the Ever Changing Present to Enhance Institutional Impact" (Cook 209A/Room A)
Andrew Mckenna-Foster, Figshare

“Scholarly Commons Updates: Complying with Accessibility Laws at Augusta University” (Cook 206Z/Room B)
Whitney Russell, Augusta University

1:30 p.m.

“Building Open Education Ecosystems: Integrating OER into Your IR” (Cook 209A/Room A)
Yoga Raghavaraju, Elsevier
Danielle De Jager-Loftus, University of South Dakota

"Promoting Institutional Repositories on Campus: Strategies to Increase Faculty and Student Participation" (Cook 206Z/Room B)
Fatimah Jibril Abduldayan, Nigeria Maritime University
Martha Tizhe, Federal University of Technology, Minna

2:00 p.m.

"Promoting Data Sharing and Compliance for Biomedical Data: Introducing the CHOP Dataverse" (Cook 209A/Room A)
Nicole Feldman, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Ene Belleh, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Allison Olsen, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Julie Pakstis, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Jennae Luecke, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

“Joining the 21st Century: The Move to Electronic Theses and Dissertations” (Cook 206Z/Room B)
David Gaither, Louisiana State University Shreveport

2:30 p.m.

“Popping the Berry Bubble: Using AIM Quartex to Promote Scholarship and Creative Works Beyond Campus" (Cook 209A/Room A)
Jessica Hornbuckle, Berry College

“Communicating Accessibility to Partners: Developing a Web Accessibility Communication Toolkit for Editors of Journals and Administrators of ETD Series” (Cook 206Z/Room B)
Julia Doelling, West Chester University

3:00 p.m.

Do Change Horses in Midstream: Navigating the Migration to InvenioRDM” (Cook 209A/Room A)
Aaron McCullough, Paradigm Publishing Services

"Vibe Coding with AI to Clean Messy IR Metadata" (Cook 206Z/Room B)
Challen Wright, University of Nevada, Reno

3:30 p.m.

“Revolutionizing Institutional Repositories with TDNet DataSphere: AI-Enhanced Management, Discovery, and Accessibility" (Cook 209A/Room A)
Paul Cuomo, TDNet

"ETDs: Building in Accessibility" (Cook 206Z/Room B)
Elizabeth Holt, LSU Health Sciences Center

4:00 p.m.

“Revitalizing an Aging Repository: Bringing New Life to TRACE" (Cook 209A/Room A)
Ashley Cate, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

"Are You Lost? Developing a MAP (Metadata Application Profile) for Your Institutional Repository" (Cook 206Z/Room B)
Connor Murphy, Utah State University
David Advent, Utah State University

4:30 p.m.

“Preserving Digital Collections with Fedora: An Open Source Approach" (Cook 209A/Room A)
Arran Griffith, Fedora

"Rebranding a 16-Year-Old Institutional Repository: A Case Study" (Cook 206Z/Room B)
Michelle Shannon, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Betsua Garcia-Trujillo, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

5:00 p.m.

Closing Remarks/Dismiss (Cook 206Z/Room B)