Plenary Sessions

CNI Fall 2025 Membership Meeting
December 11-12, 2025
Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill Hotel, Washington, DC

Opening Plenary

Thursday, December 11, 12:30–2:00 pm ET

Shaping CNI’s Future Together

Kate Zwaard, Executive Director, CNI

Recently appointed CNI Executive Director Kate Zwaard will open the meeting with an invitation for members’ continued participation in shaping the future of CNI, including a discussion of recent member survey results. She’ll share her appreciation for the CNI community and provide an overview of what’s ahead for the organization in the coming year.

A Landscape of Artificial Intelligence in Libraries, or “What Librarians Talk About When They Talk About AI”

Benjamin Lee, Assistant Professor, University of Washington

Talk of artificial intelligence (AI) is ubiquitous, and libraries are no exception. Some have posed AI as a panacea for libraries, from reshaping discoverability to improving operations. Others have foregrounded the real and material harms of AI systems, from labor to patron privacy to intellectual property, which have only intensified over the past few years. Within this context, libraries across the world have begun exploring this tradeoff through experimenting with and operationalizing approaches using contemporary AI systems, including large language models. This work has brought its own set of questions related to developing staff AI literacy, defining AI policies, and creating patron programming. Lee will explore the state of the field surrounding these approaches, with a focus on efforts to apply AI to collections. Informed by his research on “computing cultural heritage” and teaching focused on cross-campus AI literacy at the University of Washington, he will reflect on future directions for this collective work, and how libraries are uniquely positioned to contribute to the development of AI systems while also embodying library values through experimentation and even refusal.

About the Speakers

Kate Zwaard is executive director at the Coalition for Networked Information. She is responsible for leading CNI in its mission, directs all activities and functions, and works with the Steering Committee to guide CNI’s programs and priorities. She joined CNI from the Library of Congress (LC), where she served in various leadership roles from 2011 to 2025, including associate librarian for Discovery and Preservation Services, where she managed a $125 million annual budget and more than 600 staff members and led the Digital Services, Preservation, and Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorates. More about Zwaard is available at https://www.cni.org/about-cni/staff/kate-zwaard.

Benjamin Charles Germain Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Information School at the University of Washington, where he has started the Lab for Computing Cultural Heritage. Ben’s research explores how to re-imagine search and discovery for large-scale digital collections held by libraries, archives, and museums. Previously, Ben has served as an Innovator in Residence as well as a Kluge Fellow in Digital Studies at the Library of Congress. He also was the inaugural Digital Humanities Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a Visiting Fellow in Harvard’s History Department, and the Richard and Ina Willner Memorial Fellow in the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Washington. Ben received his Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Washington, which was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in machine learning. His public writing has appeared in publications including The New Republic, WIRED, and Longreads.

Closing Plenary

Friday, December 12, 2:15–3:30 pm ET

The State of Funding for US Higher Education, Science, and Technology in a Time of Change

Deborah Altenburg, Vice President for Research Policy and Advocacy, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU)

Federal research funding and policy shifts are transforming the foundation of the US science and technology ecosystem. In 2025, the academic research community has faced unprecedented changes—including grant cancellations, agency eliminations and reorganizations, executive directives affecting research practices, and new legislation altering educational borrowing for undergraduate and graduate students. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of these developments. Deborah will analyze key research and education policy updates, assess the current federal funding landscape, and highlight emerging opportunities for institutions and researchers navigating this evolving environment

Deborah Altenburg serves as Vice President for Research Policy and Advocacy at the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). She is responsible for issues related to federal research policy and funding advocacy. She leads the Office of Research Policy as well as research policy work with the Office of Congressional and Governmental Affairs to ensure integration and cohesiveness of APLU research advocacy.

Prior to this role, Deborah served as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Federal Relations for The State University of New York (SUNY). In this position, she led federal research and policy advocacy efforts for the 64 campus SUNY System.

Deborah also previously served for 15 years as Director of Federal Relations for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). During her tenure at RPI, she served a term as President of the Science Coalition and a three-year term as a Board Member for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). Deborah began her career in Washington, D.C. working for her hometown Congressman–United States Representative Sherwood Boehlert. Congressman Boehlert served as Chairman of the House Science Committee. Deborah worked for Congressman Boehlert for over seven years rising to the position of Legislative Director. Deborah received her Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.