“Libraries Leading Campus AI: Claiming Our Seat at the Table” (Video Recording of Opening Plenary; Coalition For Networked Information (CNI) Spring 2026 Membership Meeting)

Here’s the video recording of the opening plenary talk (recorded at the Spring 2026 CNI Membership Meeting in Salt Lake City) by Rebekah Cummings, Director of Digital Matters and Head of Open Scholarship and Data Services, University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library.

Rebekah is introduced by  Kate Zwaard, CNI Executive Director

Artificial intelligence (AI) has already transformed how people search, read, write, learn, and share information—the very terrain libraries have stewarded for generations. Yet many of the decisions shaping AI policy and adoption on campuses are being made without librarians in the room. In this framing plenary, Rebekah Cummings argues that library values and expertise make librarians essential participants and natural leaders in this critical conversation. Drawing on experiences ranging from a statewide political campaign to co-directing a Summer Institute on Humanities Perspectives on AI, Cummings reflects on her own journey finding a “seat at the table” and shares her conviction that wherever AI touches the information space, librarians must be centered in the conversation. This framing talk will be followed by a panel of library leaders from across the country who are actively shaping campus AI initiatives and demonstrating what it looks like for libraries to lead.

Filed under: Data Files, Libraries, News, Video Recordings