The International Alliance of Research Library Associations (IARLA), hosted two online webinars on 30 April 2026 on Pathways to Open: The Global Impact of Repositories.

IARLA, of which RLUK is one of the founding members, is an international coalition of several prominent academic and research library associations that seek to advance and promote a shared understanding of the major challenges and opportunities faced by modern research libraries.

As open scholarship continues to grow worldwide, repositories are central to building equitable and sustainable scholarly communication systems. These webinars provided an opportunity to highlight how different regions are strengthening repository infrastructure, the leadership role of research libraries at local and global levels, and opportunities for deeper international collaboration.

Colleagues from Japan, India and the Americas shared their national and regional challenges, the global impact of repositories in accelerating open access to research and data, and the role libraries play in:

  • Leading and implementing effective open access policies
  • Building and sustaining robust, interoperable, community-driven repository infrastructure
  • Collaborating across borders to expand access to research and strengthen global openness

The first session included talks by Kazu Yamaji who reflected on repositories in Japan and Professor Devika Madalli who shared an overview of INFLIBNET and repository infrastructure in India. It was chaired by William Nixon (RLUK). Slides from this event can be viewed here.

The second session featured talks by Dr Kristi Holmes (US Repository Network) and Lautaro Matas (LA Referencia). It was chaired by Jane Angel (CAUL). Slides from this event can be viewed here.

IARLA would like to thank all the speakers and colleagues that joined us for these events, highlighting the critical role research libraries play in advancing Open Access (OA) through their leadership and stewardship of repositories as essential scholarly infrastructure.

As Lautaro Matas remarked, ‘The future of open science will not be built by one platform, country or region. It will be built by connected repositories and non commercial journals, shared standards and infrastructure governed as a public good.’