> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://openscholarship.gitbook.io/open-and-engaged-2026/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://openscholarship.gitbook.io/open-and-engaged-2026/open-and-engaged-2026-the-costs-of-inequity-infrastructure-and-trust.md).

# Open and Engaged 2026: The Costs of Inequity, Infrastructure and Trust

Who bears the financial, social and institutional costs of making knowledge open and what does it take to build an open knowledge system that is equitable, sustainable and worthy of trust?

The British Library is delighted to host its annual ***Open and Engaged Conference*** online on ***Tuesday, 20 October 2026***, as part of the [International Open Access Week](https://www.openaccessweek.org/).

This year’s Open and Engaged Conference aligns with the Open Access Week 2026 theme, “[The Cost of Knowledge](https://www.openaccessweek.org/theme/english)”, by asking what it takes to make knowledge, research and cultural collections open, accessible and sustainable. These costs are not only financial: they include the technical, human and environmental resources needed to sustain openness. These raises questions about who bears these costs, who benefits, and how the systems that support the knowledge sharing can better serve the public interest.

Bringing together people working across research, libraries, cultural heritage, scholarly communication, technology and open knowledge, Open and Engaged 2026 will explore these questions from different disciplines and sectors. As emerging technologies change how research, data and digital collections are created, accessed and reused, the conference will consider questions of trust, attribution, accountability and benefit, and what is needed to sustain knowledge as a public good.

## Programme

Through three sessions, the conference will ask how openness can support more equitable and responsible ways of sharing and reusing knowledge; how repository infrastructures and services supporting them can remain sustainable amid uncertain funding, technical debt and environmental pressures; and how persistent identifiers and other infrastructures can bring greater transparency to how research, data and digital collections are used and reused, making their contributions to knowledge more visible.

Visit the [***Programme***](/open-and-engaged-2026/programme.md) page to meet our speakers and explore the sessions planned for the day.

## Registration <a href="#registration" id="registration"></a>

Open and Engaged 2026 is free to attend, but ***registration is required.*** Please register using [**this link**](https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/bdb380c9-ab2a-4499-802a-28fc19894ec8@21a44cb7-f9c3-4f00-9afa-bd1e8e88bcd9?source=copyLinkOneEventsShareDialog)**.** Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to join the event.

## Contact us <a href="#contact-us" id="contact-us"></a>

The hashtag for the event is ***#OpenEngaged*** on social media platform of your choice. If you have any questions, please contact us at openaccess\[at]bl.uk.