Seed Fund projects
The UVic Libraries and Kula: Library Futures Academy Seed Fund is designed to support initiatives and projects that will explore and advance UVic Libraries’ strategic priorities.
Listed below are the 2026 Seed Fund recipients.
2026 funding recipients
Growing the Open Science Community of Victoria
Monique Grenier | James Clay | Anthony Truelove | Caroline Winter
This project supports the sustained continuation of the Open Science Community of Victoria (OSCV), ensuring its growth and its ability to deliver programming that strengthens open research skills and advances a more equitable research culture.
As leader of the OSCV, Monique Grenier will champion membership growth and deliver programming that strengthens open research skills and advances a more equitable research culture.
Creating sustainable custom language revitalization apps with community partners & the capability to maintain and create new apps
The primary goal of this project is to collaborate with Lik̓wala language learning teachers in Campbell River to build their capacity to create custom language-learning games that support language revitalization efforts. As part of this initiative, we will adapt Digital Scholarship Commons workshops on Vibe Coding and Audio Recording & Editing to address the specific needs of language-learning game development and Indigenous language revitalization.
The project will also fund a part-time student assistant position in Campbell River, helping to build local expertise within the language revitalization community. In addition, project staff will travel to Campbell River to deliver workshops on audio production and vibe coding, collaborate with local educators to develop appropriate privacy protocols, and gather community feedback to guide the design and implementation of custom language-learning games.
Project partners:
- Dana Roberts, Lik̓wala Language Teacher at School District 72
Exploring Yezidi diaspora digital heritage in Nebraska and Manitoba
Nathaniel Brunt | Marc Marin Webb
This initiative uses the Sersal Project as the framework for two exploratory pilots with Yezidi diaspora communities in Nebraska and Manitoba, areas with the largest diaspora populations in North America. The project tests how a library-supported, post-custodial model of photographic and oral heritage stewardship can be adapted across dispersed international communities. It builds on previous work in Iraq and forthcoming work with the Yezidi diaspora community in Lower Saxony, Germany.
The pilot operationalizes commitments to ethics-based research infrastructure, international knowledge partnerships and community projects aligned with Kula, enhanced metadata for distinctive collections, digitization, and long-term digital access. It also provides a live test case for how a research library can participate in community-led digital heritage work beyond conventional custodial models.
Project partners:
- University of Victoria Libraries
- Sersal Project international research team
- Community partners in Nebraska and Manitoba
Sensitive data deposit pilot – phase 2
This project advances Phase 1 of the Sensitive Data Deposit Pilot, and aims to finalize the ethics language, technical workflows, and documentation required to enable the preservation and controlled access of sensitive research data at the University of Victoria.
Building on the momentum and progress from Phase 1, which largely focused on community building and exploration, Phase 2 will move to finalize the groundwork necessary to begin accepting the deposit of real research data. This will include completing and validating ethics and consent language, formalizing workflows for deposit and access procedures, and producing clear, user-facing documentation to support researchers through the deposit process. Additionally, Phase 2 will focus on mobilization and visibility.
Project partners:
- Sarah Huber, Research Computing Services
- Ryan Enge, Research Computing Services
- Eugenie Lam, Research Ethics
- Kenna Miskelly, Research Ethics
- Joshua Smith, Innovation and Partnerships
- Jen Kyffin, Innovation and Partnerships
- Christopher Gillespie, Privacy and Access
- Arshdeep Kaur, Research Security
Creating a culture of accessibility
Artie Goshulak | Samantha MacFarlane
This project will launch an accessibility community of practice in the Libraries and Art Collections, with Artie Goshulak and Samantha MacFarlane as the inaugural co-chairs. Through this community, we plan to combine accessibility efforts and build greater capacity for this work across the UVic Libraries and Art Collections.
Project partners:
- Karen Munro, Engagement and Learning
- Courtney Lundrigan, Engagement and Learning
- Nicole Herron, Access Services & Advanced Fulfillment
- Cara Segger, University Systems
Integrating Indigenous data sovereignty into STEM through a workshop
Krista Godfrey | Nick Rochlin | Jessie Lampreau | Dr. Ryland Giebelhaus, Department of Chemistry | Dr. Jaime Grimm, Department of Biology
This project will pilot a one-day, partnership-driven workshop on Indigenous data management for STEM graduate and faculty researchers at UVic while developing openly accessible resources to support scalable, nationally relevant training in ethical and community-engaged data practices.
The workshop will bring together expertise from UVic Libraries, Indigenous scholars and community-informed frameworks, and campus research support units to co-develop and deliver content that is both principled and practically relevant to STEM contexts.
Piloting OCR as a service: supporting researchers and building community led AI literacy
Shahira Khair | Chloë Farr
This project seeks funding for a work study student to pilot an “OCR as a service” workflow and create related documentation that helps UVic researchers understand which AI tools and virtual large language models to use with their digitized analogue data and how to structure requests for meaningful outputs.
This pilot builds community-led AI literacy and positions UVic as the first library (to our knowledge) offering OaaS, with potential for expansion within the library, and transferability to other institutions.
Building a community archive for at-risk, marginalized communities
Page DeWolfe | Annamarie Stockwell, Chair of Kink Archives Northwest
This project will document the startup of a community archive for at-risk materials and provide documentation to support other marginalized communities and groups seeking to do the same.
The project will document the foundation of the Kink Archives Northwest through interviews with the founding Board Members from which a highlight reel will be created, and a package of print (digital) material to be made available for other interested communities seeking to build their own archives. A guide to the archives for researchers will also be created as part of the available documentation.
Project partners:
- Dr. Rachel Hope Cleves, Department of History
Pathways to the archives: creating archival instruction kits
Jessie Lampreau | Sarah Miller
The “Pathways to the Archives” project will create two curated instruction kits to incorporate archival materials into library and course instruction. This project aims to bridge the gap between archival resources and research, fostering critical thinking and experiential learning.
Each kit will focus on a specific archival collection that is held at the UVic Special Collections and University Archives. The goal is to provide a comprehensive, ready-to-use resource for librarians and instructors. These instruction kits can be scaffolded to meet the needs of undergraduate and graduate students. The kit materials can be used to take an in-depth look at the subject or they can be used more generally as an introduction to archival research.
Project partners:
- UVic Special Collections and University Archives
Beyond the ban: a book discussion series in support of intellectual freedom in libraries
Courtney Lundrigan will deliver a transdisciplinary, cross-sector book discussion series on intellectual freedom in libraries, engaging campus, community, and international partners to facilitate conversations that advance civil discourse and strengthen democratic engagement. The series will feature titles that centre intellectual freedom and civil discourse largely in the context of book bans in libraries.
Discussion events will be delivered in a hybrid format. In addition to facilitating general attendance, a hybrid format will allow us to extend the invitation to community members and colleagues at Kula’s MOU institutions.
Project partners:
- Kula Undergraduate Research Academy
AI opportunities: building a shared resource for AI and automation at Leeds and UVic Libraries
Karen Munro | Michael Fake, Associate Director of Student Learning and Experience, University of Leeds
This project will create a shared, living resource to encourage cross-institutional knowledge sharing about how our libraries are using AI and automation, and to guide our decision-making about AI tools and workflows. It will encourage structured, critical, collaborative, and innovative thinking about new ways in which these technologies can be effectively used.
The finished resource will allow staff to see existing uses of AI and automation across our libraries, submit new uses, and ideally interact with the app. The project will not only reveal uses of AI and automation across our institutions, but will model the use of AI as a collaborative capacity-building tool.
Project partners:
- Members of AI communities of practice at University of Leeds and UVic
- Managers and supervisors of units adopting AI and automation at Leeds and UVic
- Support staff at Leeds and UVic
Exploring a UVic Libraries parent outreach program
In consultation with Development, University Communications, and OREM, we will investigate, plan, and begin the process of building an invested, engaged and supportive community of parents in support of UVic Libraries.
Recruitment will take place at Move-In Day and Explore UVic events, as well as during key touchpoints provided by OREM. This will be followed by consultation with local parents, and ultimately we will facilitate a workshop for parents that will communicate current realities of student life, the role of the Libraries in providing student supports, the type and scope of those supports, and ways that parents can support their students. We will assess these events with the goal of establishing a longer-term project plan for this program in future.
Project partners:
- Karen Munro, Engagement and Learning
The Inkameep children’s art reprint project: creating Nk’Mip language and art education futures through WWII print blocks
Heather Dean | Dr Andrea Walsh, Smyth Chair, Department of Anthropology | Jacob Maddison, Master Printer, Farallon Book Arts Lab, UVic Libraries
We are supporting an Indigenous-led initiative to harness the historical and modern potential of the Farallon Book Arts Lab to reprint and reproduce World War 2-era print blocks carved at the Inkameep Day School, and creating opportunities for cultural programming, education, and language resurgence at the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre through the reprinting of this historic collection.
This project harnesses the material technologies, past and present, housed in the Farallon Book Arts Lab to assist Taylor Baptiste and Jenna Bower of the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) to reimagine prints and carvings made by their forefather, Sis-hu-lk Francis Baptiste, at the Inkameep Indian Day School. We will focus this prototyping for a community with an immediate interest and need for the overlap of historical materiality and modern maker methods, aimed at growing an understanding of their Day School histories and holding their stories in physical forms for future generations.
Project partners:
- Ms. Taylor Baptiste (Osoyoos Indian Band, Cultural Coordinator, Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre)
- Ms. Jenna Bower (Osoyoos Indian Band, Executive Director of the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre)
- Ms. Sheri Stelkia (Osoyoos Indian Band, nsyilxcən speaker and teacher)
Understanding graduate skill needs for success: informing library workshop design
Krista Godfrey | Ying Liu | Sarah McGill | Zahra Premji
This project will engage graduate students and others through a variety of user-focused engagement opportunities to make data-driven decisions to improve new and existing library graduate workshops and services, while also providing a holistic understanding of campus services and identifying future partners in graduate support.
Through a series of focus groups and a graduate student survey, the project aims to fully understand what skills needs and gaps graduate students encounter from their first year through graduation. It will include analysis by discipline, career goals, and graduate lifecycle to identify support opportunities at optimal times. This needs assessment will allow the library to make data-driven decisions on topics and timing for workshops and skill development, ensuring the library offerings are most advantageous for graduate student success.
Place-based book history and arts: empirical bibliography and experiential pedagogies at UVic
Heather Dean | Dr. Mary Elizabeth Leighton, Department of English | Jacob Maddison, UVic Libraries | Christine Walde | Juls Macdonell, Campus Community Garden
Our transdisciplinary research team will engage in research and learning in book history and book arts by making paper and dye using local and locally grown plants. The proposed project will build on and extend our previous project, Paper and Pigment: Locating Book Arts in the Physical Environment, by further examining connections between the environment and historical and contemporary book arts. We will incorporate learnings from our first project to further refine research and teaching in the areas of empirical bibliography and experiential pedagogies.
Our work provides opportunities for experiential learning, including critical crafting and maker education pedagogies. The project will further reinforce relationships across campus, including the Campus Community Garden and the Humanities, as well as solidify connections with local artists. In this way, our project situates UVic Libraries—its people and collections—as a critical partner in research and learning.
Project partners:
- Dr. Natasha Reid, Associate Professor, Art Education, Curriculum and Instruction
- Dr. Andrea Walsh, Associate Professor, Smyth Chair in Arts & Engagement, Anthropology
- Emily Geen, Limited Term Faculty, Visual Arts
- Claire Irvine, Sustainability Coordinator, Office of Campus Planning & Sustainability
In Situ: a student art exhibition in UVic Libraries
Using unpredictable and unusual non-gallery spaces and places in the Mearns Centre – McPherson and Priestly Libraries, we will present a curated exhibition of themed, juried student art works in Spring 2027 that will activate these library spaces with art that explores the conceptual framework and identities of the library.
Students whose work is selected for the show will receive a flat stipend and may request help with installations. A self-guided tour may be created depending on the types of work installed, and the duration of the show. A reception will be held to celebrate the work and to encourage transdisciplinary conversations around creative work on campus and with the Libraries. Our partnership will further model how Engagement & Learning can collaborate with colleagues across the Libraries to increase overall capacity around student engagement.
Project partners:
- Caroline Riedel, UAC (consultation)
Mapping and monitoring Black Seaweed Pyropia on Graham Island Haida Gwaii
daniel Brendle-Moczuk | Nancy Shackelford
This project will map and monitor Black Seaweed Pyropia on Graham Island Haida Gwaii through the use of historical imagery and current acquired UAV imagery.
Project partners Old Massett Village Council and folks from TideWalkers will participate with in-person UAV and QGIS workshops on Graham Island conducted by a Master of Geomatics for Environmental Management student.
Project partners:
- Nancy Shackelford, Associate Professor, School of Environmental Studies; Academic Director, Restoration of Natural Systems Program