CNI Spring 2026 Membership Meeting
April 13-14, 2026
Hyatt Regency Salt Lake City
During breakfast on Tuesday, April 14 (7:45-9:00 a.m.), attendees may join optional table discussions on pre-determined topics. The breakfast discussion tables give attendees an opportunity to engage with each other on issues for which there is strong community interest and/or to learn more about initiatives we believe to be of value. There will still be ample space in the breakfast area for those who prefer unstructured dining and social opportunities.
Designated tables will be marked by table signs and located throughout the breakfast area. There is no signup; participation is first come, first served.
Topics & Facilitators:
- Academic Library Management Community of Practice, Melissa Skinnell (Brown University)
Formed at Brown to support managers/supervisors in their roles, or more generally about how we can better support/grow management skills in academic libraries. The interest in this came out of the Conference on Academic Library Management and their recent grant work that Skinnell participated in. - Articulating Library Value to the Research Enterprise, Hilary A. Craiglow (Attain Partners)
How are libraries demonstrating their impact on sponsored research and advocating for university investment in library support for funded research? - AI Access to Archival Collections, Peter M. Berkery (Association of University Presses)
- Building AI-Ready Collections, Kenneth J. Peterson (Harvard Business School)
AI is reshaping library collections past and future. How can archives and licensed content become AI-ready? What should libraries collect next and how must licensing, budgets, and partnerships evolve? - Digital Accessibility: Hopes, Dreams, & Strategy, Jimmy Ghaphery (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Digital accessibility has recently been framed as a battle against litigation as opposed to a path toward innovation. With the hopes of our users and dreams for frictionless web, how are we building a strategy with existing resources to make it a reality? - Grant-Charged Library Services, Mimi Calter (Washington University)
Discussion on what grant-funded library services entail. How and why libraries define, document, and price their services for direct charging to grants. - Homegrown to Hosted Digital Access and Preservation Systems, Sarah Dorpinghaus (University of Kentucky)
Locally developed digital library and preservation systems are being reevaluated in favor of vendor solutions. What’s driving this, and how do we balance sustainability, control, and local priorities? - How to be a Good Ally, Tim Shearer (University of North Carolina)
Join IT & library peers for breakfast to explore allyship as an ongoing practice. We’ll discuss equity, inclusive hiring, and the responsible use of positional influence. Anyone interested is welcome! - IT Governance, Dale Hendrickson (Yale University)
- Libraries & Environmental Sustainability, Kaya van Beynen (University of South Florida) and L. Angie Ohler (University of Minnesota)
This discussion examines how libraries advance sustainability across teaching, research, facilities, AI energy impacts, and partnerships. Share your leadership, successes, and lessons learned. - Open Source and Community-Supported Tech and AI’s Impact, Bridget Almas (Lyrasis)
AI has upended how software development is done and who can do it. What does this mean for the present and future of the open-source community-supported technologies we use in our libraries? - Team Topologies for Library IT, Nick Steinwachs (Notch8)
Your systems mirror how your teams communicate (and vice-versa). Let’s talk library IT org design, cognitive load, and frameworks for structuring teams effectively. - Understanding the Costs of Data Sharing: Realities of Academic Data Sharing (RADS), Amanda Koziura, (University of Nevada, Las Vegas,), Jake Carlson, (University at Buffalo, SUNY), Shawna Taylor (Johns Hopkins University)
We’ll discuss what we’re learning from the socio-technical aspects of RADS, specifically around how libraries and institutions fund RDM and how recent federal policy shifts are (re)shaping RDM services.
- University Library & AI, Darlene Parker Kelly (SCELC Executive Board member and Charles R. Drew University)
- Women Technology Leaders, Rosalyn Metz (Emory University)
“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man,” ~Taylor Swift. The table will discuss the challenges and opportunities of being a woman technology leader.
Other topics and/or facilitators may be added.
