York University Libraries’ Alexandra Wong, Data Visualization and Analytics Librarian, presented the closing keynote for the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians (CAPAL) 2025 conference on June 3, 2025. CAPAL is a national professional association that brings together professional academic librarians throughout Canada and advocates for academic librarian issues at the local, provincial, and national level. CAPAL 2025 took place in conjunction with the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Congress 2025 at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario. 

The theme of CAPAL 2025 was The Fabric of Librarianship: A Patchwork of Experience. The conference explored how academic librarians incorporate their diverse community, research, work, and lived experiences into their professional work and scholarly practices. 

Alex’s closing keynote, ‘The Fabric of Librarianship, Literally: Collaborative Storytelling Through Data and Craft,’ focused on moving beyond traditional applications of data using the practices of data physicalization. Engaging with data physicalization can help researchers slow down the process of engaging with data, providing opportunities for more critical reflection and engagement with data, while also creating dynamic modes to display and facilitate viewer interaction with the material outputs of data. Learn more about Alex’s keynote by accessing a copy of the presentation slides on YorkSpace.