About EPICo Conference 2026
Welcome to the third EPICo Conference, hosted at British Library sites in London and Yorkshire, UK.
The European Print Initiatives Collaboration (EPICo) network is delighted to announce its third EPICo Conference, taking place from Wednesday 30 September to Friday 2 October 2026. The main conference will be held at the Library's Knowledge Centre in London (full programme details below), with a limited number of places available for an optional visit to the Library’s high-volume storage facility in Yorkshire the day before the conference starts, on Tuesday 29 September.
Building on the traditions established since the first meeting in Kuopio, Finland in 1999, the 3rd EPICo Conference will once again focus on collaborative approaches to the management and preservation of physical library collections with the theme Libraries Together: Safeguarding Our Collections for the Future.
As in previous years, the conference will bring together library professionals, partners, publishers, exhibitors, and invited guests from across Europe and beyond for an engaging programme of talks, discussions, and networking opportunities. We look forward to welcoming you to the third EPICo Conference in London!
Stacy Brunner
Stacy Brunner is a Senior Product Manager for Decision Support products at OCLC.
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For more than 24 years, she has worked with development teams to bridge the gap between library needs and the products that solve them. Stacy partners directly with libraries to understand their challenges and empower them to tell their story with data
Dr. Maureen Pennock
Dr. Maureen Pennock is the Head of Digital Collection Management at the British Library.
James Suckling
James Suckling is a Sustainability Fellow at the University of Surrey.
Dani Tschirren
Dani Tschirren is Deputy Director of the Zentral- und Hochschulbibliothek Luzern.
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He studied History and Geography and has an MAS in Library and Information Science. From 2001 until 2014 he was head of customer services and facility management at the University Library of Basel and was involved in planning and construction of the CSLS in Büron. Since 2015 he has been Deputy Director of the Central and University Library Lucerne.
Katya Pereyaslavska
Katya Pereyaslavska serves as Network Coordinator for North/Nord and SPAN.
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Katya Pereyaslavska (M.A., M.I.) currently serves as the Network Coordinator for North/Nord: the Canadian Shared Print Network and the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries’ Shared Print Archive Network (SPAN), which support regional and national preservation and archiving of physical library collections across Canada. She advances strategic collaboration and shared print preservation priorities across regional, national, and international partnerships, including serving as Chair of the newly formed Operations Committee for the Shared Print Partnership.
Previously, she held senior academic librarian roles at Scholars Portal, Ontario Council of University Libraries, where she developed and managed a new core consortial service (Accessible Content ePortal) which earned her a provincial award for leadership in accessibility, and at Western Libraries, Western University, specializing in user experience research and delivering graduate-level instruction in this discipline at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS).
Katya has completed the Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians at Harvard University (LIAL), served as a paid consultant to the Ontario Colleges Library Service and the Government of Nova Scotia, and held a year-long secondment as Visiting Program Officer at the Association of Research Libraries. She is also currently a member of the IFLA North America Regional Division which is responsible for building capacity and setting regional priorities.
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Programme
Wednesday 30 September
9.00: Welcome to the conference from Jeremy Silver, CEO of the British Library
9.15: Introduction and update of activities from the EPICo Committee Chair, Daniel Tschirren
9.30: Keynote #1 – Building a sustainable future through shared print programs
By Stacy Brunner, Senior Product Manager for Decision Support products at OCLC
This keynote will explore the evolution of shared print programs from regional storage solutions to globally visible preservation networks. We will examine the critical balance between immediate space and cost pressures and the long term stewardship responsibilities for the scholarly record.
This session will show how shared print integrates seamlessly with cataloguing, discovery and resource sharing to create a sustainable ecosystem.
We will also apply new insights to help strengthen and support current retention strategies. Attendees will learn how Choreo Insights enables users to navigate the complex landscape, ensuring that collections remain accessible while still achieving collective preservation goals.
Join us to reimagine what cooperative print management could look like.
10.30: Break
10.50: Session 1 – Presentations from EPICo by Daniel Tschirren and Santi Balagué Linares
12.30: Lunch break
13.30: Session 2 – Security and Risk Management
15.00: Break
15.30: Session 3 – Poster Session (Lightning Talks)
17.00–19.30: Drinks reception and poster viewing in the Library’s Knowledge Centre
Thursday 1 October
09.00: Welcome back, with tea
09.30: Keynote #2 – Sustainable Collecting: The Big Picture
By Dr. Maureen Pennock, Head of Digital Collection Management, The British Library and James Suckling, Sustainability Fellow, University of Surrey.
10.30: Break
11.00: Session 4 – The Cost of Keeping a Book
12.30: Lunch break
13.30: Session 5 – break out sessions:
- How European Shared Print Programs work with retention metadata - use cases, problems and solutions
- How to Start a Collaboration
- Preservation vs Access
- Are print collections sustainable?
15.00: Break
15.30: Session 6 – Panel – Q
In a world of misinformation and AI hallucinations, what are the three biggest risks associated with library print collections?
By Amina Shah, National Librarian of Scotland; Catriona Cannon, Senate House Librarian and Harry Scoble, Head of Content Acquisition and Strategy at Findmypast
17.00: Finish
19.00: Evening dinner at the King's Library Tower
Friday 2 October
09.00: Welcome back, with tea
09.30: Keynote #3 – The Next Chapter: Global Strategies for Shared Print Collaboration
By Katya Pereyaslavska, Network Coordinator for North/Nord: the Canadian Shared Print Network and the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries’ Shared Print Archive Network (SPAN)
10:.30: Break
11.00: Session 7: Storage Solutions and Architecture
By Teresa Hatton, Capital Projects Officer at Bodleian Libraries; Marco Martens, Adviser for Conservation Research and Neil Michels, Associate Director at Carmody Groarke (Architects).
12.30: Closing remarks, handover to the new EPICo Committee Chair and announcement of the next conference
13.00: Finish
Ticket information
Main Conference Attendance:
Wednesday 30 September – Friday 2 October.
Conference tickets are £135.
Optional Day visit to the British Library site in Boston Spa, Yorkshire: Tuesday 29 September.
Free to attend but limited availability. Please book your space to avoid disappointment. Delegates must arrange their own travel to York Rail Station, free coach travel to and from British Library site in Boston Spa.
Optional Conference Dinner: Thursday 1 October 19.00, British Library St Pancras, King’s Library.
Dinner tickets are £85.
Dietary Requirements
Lunch will be provided on Wednesday 30th Sept and Thursday 1st Oct. For any dietary requirements please email DietaryEpico@bl.uk
For any other requirements please email SupportEpico@bl.uk
For any enquiries regarding ticketing, attendance or how to find us please contact customer@bl.uk.
Breakout Sessions
Please select one of the following break-out sessions to attend. Due to space limitations delegates may only attend one break-out session:
- Break out 1 – Metadata
- Break out 2 – How to Start a Collaboration
- Break out 3 – Preservation vs Access
- Break out 4 – Sustainability, Keynote follow up Discussion.
Poster Submission
The EPICo Conference welcomes submissions for posters to be displayed in the poster session of the conference on Wednesday 30th Sept.
Call for proposals
Delegates are invited to submit their proposals before 1 August 2026:
an abstract of maximum 200 words, including the title
a short biography of the first author.
Forms to submit your proposal
3th EPICo Conference (London, 2026) - Call for proposals – Remplir le formulaire.
The committee will particularly appreciate proposals relating to innovative and original projects of repository libraries for the storage of print material and collaborative journal or book preservation programmes. In these areas, various topics of interest may be addressed: technical building facilities, financial issues, human resources management, success stories of cooperation, statistics of usage, etc.
Authors whose proposals are accepted will be notified in the ten days following the submission. At this time, the authors will receive more instructions for sending their poster.
Commitments and practical issues
The final poster must be sent in high-quality PDF format before 1 September 2026. It will be printed by our hosts from the British Library in A0 format.
The author, or at least one of the authors, undertakes to be physically present during the conference. He must register at the same rate and under the same conditions as the other delegates.
As a poster session is planned, authors may also submit a PowerPoint (or other format) presentation of up to three slides for their very short presentation (few minutes maximum).
Contact address and information
Frédéric Brodkom, UCLouvain (Belgium): frederic.brodkom@uclouvain.be
How To Get Here
Address:
British Library
96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB
Find us on Google maps.
Public transport:
The nearest National Rail and Underground stations are Kings Cross, St Pancras and Euston. Many differnt busses can be found on Euston Road.
Blue Badge Parking:
Parking bays for Blue Badge holders can be found on Ossulston Street.
Our Ossulston Street entrance is fully ramped and is approximately 100 metres from the main entrance. There are also public metered bays in this area.
* Optional visit to British Library site in Yorkshire:
Delegates who book this option will need to make their own way to York Train station for 09.45 on 29 September 2026 where a coach will convey them to the British Library's Boston Spa site. Further travel instructions will be issued via email for delegates who secure a ticket to this event.
London Hotels
The following hotels are within 15 minutes walking distance of the British Library Knowledge Centre:
Premier Inn London St Pancras
88 Euston Road
London
NW1 2RA
Premier Inn London Euston
1 Dukes Road
London
WC1H 9PJ
Pullman London St Pancras
100-110 Euston Road
London
NW1 2AJ
St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
Euston Road
London
NW1 2AR
Great Northern Hotel
St Pancras Road
London
N1C 4TB
Premier Inn Kings Cross
26-30 York Way
London
N1 9AA
Hub by Premier Inn Kings Cross
50 Wharfdale Road
London
N1 9FA
Premier Inn London Angel Islington
18 Parkfield Street
Islington
London
N1 0PS
Four Points Flex by Sheraton London Euston
8-11 Upper Woburn Place
London
WC1H 0JW
Harlingford Hotel
61-63 Cartwright Gardens
London
WC1H 9EL
Goodenough Accommodation
23 Mecklenburgh Square
London
WC1N 2AD
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