SCELC News

Nick Shockey to Speak at SCELCapalooza on Catalysts for Change

Nick Shockey, Associate Executive Director at SPARC, will deliver two talks at SCELCapalooza 2025 on the topic of SPARC and Catalysts for Change.

Mr. Shockey will speak at the Deans and Directors Symposium and also at SCELCapaolooza Colloquium.

Symposium Session

Since being founded in 1998, SPARC has been tasked by its membership of academic and research libraries to be a catalyst for action to advance knowledge sharing as a public good. To maintain this role, SPARC has continually evolved and adapted—proactively pursuing new opportunities as they arise, sunsetting projects as circumstances change, and collaborating with new partners to achieve common goals—all while centering the values and interests of libraries in this work. In this presentation, Nick Shockey, SPARC’s Associate Executive Director, will discuss how SPARC has worked to drive progress as a catalyst for action and how this work contributes to a future where libraries are even more central in knowledge creation and dissemination.

Colloquium Session

Learning From the Past in Addressing Today’s Rapid Scholcomm Developments

As we reach the third month of 2025, it is difficult to think of a time when the scholcomm environment has faced more uncertainty. From the transition into a new administration at the federal level to abrupt business model changes from key library vendors, there is a firehose of developments to keep up with, process, and respond to. Despite that reality, aspects of these challenges aren’t completely new. We’ve faced—and effectively responded to—challenges in the past that we can learn from in this present moment. In this presentation, Nick Shockey, SPARC’s Associate Executive Director, will provide an overview of recent developments in the open research space while drawing parallels to past challenges that we have overcome or meaningfully addressed, highlighting what we can take away in responding to what we face today.

About the Speaker

Nick Shockey is the Associate Executive Director of SPARC, where he has worked since 2009. Nick is responsible for a wide variety of programs to support SPARC members and for identifying emerging strategic areas where SPARC can be a catalyst for action. Among these are SPARC’s communities of practice focused on negotiations and privacy. Most recently, Nick has co-authored detailed analyses of vendor privacy practices that highlight the undermining of library privacy standards and the risks associated with publishers’ evolution into platform businesses. Nick is also deeply involved in SPARC’s policy efforts, which have helped to deliver landmark federal policy in the United States opening up access to publicly funded research.

See the conference schedule for more details.