A historic event for librarians took place in Bangkok in January 2026. The Charleston Conference, a celebrated annual gathering that has shaped library and scholarly publishing conversations for over four decades, crossed the Pacific and came to Asia.

Charleston Conference Asia 2026 brought together hundreds of librarians, publishers, researchers, and professionals from all over the world. The energy was palpable, and throughout the lively conversations, a clear set of themes emerged – predominantly surrounding artificial intelligence (AI).

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Here are five of our key takeaways from the 2026 Charleston Conference Asia:‍

AI is everywhere, and librarians are asking the hard questions

If there was one topic that defined the conference, it was AI. Virtually all vendors, whether publisher or institutional enterprise, promoted their version of AI search tools, agentic workflows, research chatbots, discovery layers with shared similarities. The sheer volume of AI presentations demonstrates the challenges and opportunities posed by this new wave of technology.  

Perhaps even more telling was the reaction from librarians. Rather than excitement about any single platform, the prevailing mood was one of thoughtful skepticism. Session after session, the audience asked variants of the same questions:

• Who pays for all of this?

• From which budget?

• How do we choose when everything sounds the same?

While the questions were left open, one message was abundantly clear: AI incorporation is no longer a differentiator. Knowing how to evaluate, procure, and govern AI responsibly is where the new competitive advantage lies.

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"The market has moved from 'Can we build AI?' to 'How do we justify, govern, and pay for it?'" - Ray Abruzzi

As Ray Abruzzi, Wiley's Senior Director of AI Product Management and Strategy, put it during the conference: "The tools are only as good as the content inside them. If I don't know what's inside them, I'm not using your tool."

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Agentic AI as the next step forward for libraries

The broad buzz of AI also brought forth discussions of agentic AI: systems capable of autonomously planning and executing multi-step research workflows, rather than answering single queries.

Libraries and academic institutions across the region are building agentic AI tools, tailored to their content environments and unique user needs. This shift has profound implications. Libraries that lean into agentic AI development, with the right governance frameworks and content partnerships, redefine their value to their institutions. And rather than choosing from a set of pre-built tools, librarians become active designers of the research experience.

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"AI maturity is shifting from tools to workflows — and libraries want control." - Ray Abruzzi

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‍Ethics and trust aren’t optional; they’re how libraries must safeguard research

Wiley's Ethics Meets Innovation: Guiding Researchers Through the AI Landscape, led by John Morris and Ray Abruzzi alongside Professor Wanida Kanarkard of Khon Kaen University, was a testament to how urgently librarians are thinking about their role in this new wave of AI tech.

The underlying larger question was an important one: What does it truly mean to use AI responsibly in a research context?

"The concept of AI use for researchers right now depends on your literacy, and it's the role of the library to tell them." – Professor Wanida, Khon Kaen University

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Other questions included:

• How do you cite an AI tool that has no traceable sources?
• How do you enforce AI policies when faculty, students, and even proofreaders are using it differently?
• What does it mean for a student to "know" something if they used AI to write their dissertation, and what happens when AI detection tools improve enough to retroactively identify those documents?

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Professor Wanida articulated a framework that resonated deeply with attendees: there is a spectrum of AI users — from those who dismiss it, to those who embrace it uncritically, to those who use it with informed, thoughtful judgment. The role of the library, she argued, is to develop AI literacy across all three groups.

Wiley's Ray Abruzzi added an important nuance: ethics haven't changed, but AI has created new ways to subvert them, and new tools to detect those subversions. The library's role as a trusted guide through this landscape has never been more important.

At the same time, institutions are also considering the research integrity implications of early AI implementations, which in many cases relied on freely available services like ChatGPT due to their accessibility and cost efficiency. However, reliance on free or rapidly evolving tools raises additional concerns around sustainability, cost, data privacy, security, and research ethics, especially when sensitive user queries or institutional data may be processed through third-party platforms.

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Transformational agreements in Asia are maturing, and so are the negotiations

Peeling away from the topic of artificial intelligence freed up space to talk about the current state of open access (OA) via Transformational Agreements (TAs). This has been a growing conversation for years, but the conference made it clear that Asia is entering a new phase: moving from early adoption to optimization.

A panel on Regional Trends and Global Connections brought together library leaders from Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and beyond to discuss their firsthand experience with TAs. Panelists shared concrete examples of impact, including Mahidol University, where Dr Sarawoot reported a 40% increase in research output under a Q1-journal publishing policy. Moreover, researchers who initially needed to be educated about the value of TAs, are now actively asking when the next agreement is coming.

Amidst the enthusiasm, librarians are pushing for greater transparency, fairer pricing models, and more equitable terms, particularly around article caps, rollover policies, and the gap between large research universities and smaller institutions.

It’s important to point out, however, that the number of publisher presentations around Transformational Agreements (TAs) were limited, due to an intense focus on AI. This scarcity of TA-focused sessions highlighted a noticeable shift, where artificial intelligence dominated the conference agenda, leaving less room for in-depth discussions on OA strategies. As a result, attendees seeking detailed insights on TA negotiations and implementation found fewer opportunities to engage with publishers on these topics.

Yet, librarians across the region expressed genuine enthusiasm for publishers willing to engage in transparent, equitable, long-term partnerships, and clear appetite for Wiley to deepen its presence in national and consortium-level agreements across the Asia-Pacific.

‍View a Wiley case study: The evolution of open access for institutions across the globe

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Open access needs to focus on regional solutions, not global templates

Perhaps no session generated more nuanced discussion than the keynote on India's One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) initiative and the panel on Advancing Equity in the Open Access Transition.

Professor Devika Madalli of INFLIBNET presented the remarkable scope and ambition of ONOS: a government-led program designed to provide centrally funded access to scholarly resources for up to 7,000 institutions across India. Critically, APC coverage has expanded from the top 1% to the top 5% of journals, a meaningful step toward ensuring that Indian researchers can publish OA in high-quality venues.

Yet the conversation quickly surfaced the limits of even ambitious national programs. Private universities remain outside ONOS coverage for now, and the complex ecosystem of state public universities, government colleges, and centrally funded institutions creates a patchwork of access that doesn't always serve the researchers who need it most.

The broader OA equity panel, featuring voices from Hong Kong, India, China, and international OA experts, reinforced a theme that echoed across the conference: the global OA transition cannot be designed in New York, London, or Amsterdam and simply exported to Asia. Regional funding structures, government mandates, institutional hierarchies, and research output profiles demand regional solutions.

"Equity in OA means regional design, phased rollout, and political reality." - Ray Abruzzi

Librarians from across Asia are ready to engage in that conversation. And they are looking for publisher partners who are equally ready, who understand that fairness in the OA transition is not just a moral obligation but a prerequisite for a sustainable, inclusive research ecosystem.

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How the Charleston Conference Asia impacts the future

The inaugural Charleston Conference Asia 2026 was a signal that the conversations that matter most are no longer centered exclusively in Charleston, South Carolina. They are connecting librarians in Asia, and so many areas all over the world.

Wiley was proud to be part of these discussions and this historic gathering. The conversations we had in Bangkok will inform how we build products, design agreements, and support communities for years to come.

We look forward to continuing the journey at future events, across our partnerships, and through the ongoing work of librarians who make research more open, more equitable, and more impactful every day.

Want to learn more about how Wiley supports libraries and open research across Asia-Pacific? Connect with a Wiley representative.