Jul 13, 2026
Today’s episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Zakayo Kjellstrom, Investigator, Swedish Agency for the Media, which “works to promote freedom of expression and diversity in the media market, where multiple voices are heard and consumers have access to a wide and accessible range of radio, television and news media.”
Zakayo currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden. He first earned a bachelor's in cultural studies with a focus on digital culture, and then a master's in library science, both from Lunds University, where he also worked in the University Library for several years. In this conversation, Zakayo talks with Michael about having just completed his PhD on Shadow Libraries, and why we should be interested in academic piracy and black open access. He says shadow libraries “put the finger on the very issue of publishing in a very explicit way: this needs to circumvent very robust traditional infrastructures in order to get what's needed to do your job.”
The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/j-nh0XXw2C8
Social Media:
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakayo-kjellstr%C3%B6m-5945221b9/
Twitter:
Keyword #ShadowLibraries #Commons #BlackOpenAccess #AcademicPiracy #ParadoxOfLegitimacy #KnowledgePreservation #ProblemSolver #Access #Research #ResearchTools #LearningResources #EdTechTools #LibraryResources #InformationProfessionals #AcademicLibraries #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #PublishingIssues #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts