CNI Spring 2026 Membership Meeting

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.

Note: The panel portion and Q&A will not be recorded. 

Building Infrastructure by Investing in People: Seven Years with CollectionBuilder
Evan Williamson, University of Idaho

Introduction to Project VECTOR, Creating Open Engineering Visualizations
Macarena Lange, Colorado State University

Deploying an AI Sandbox: A Libraries-Led Service Pilot for Scalable Research Infrastructure  
Varun Sayapaneni, University of Oklahoma

Facilitating Use of Unencumbered Publications as Data for AI
Nicholas Taylor, Los Alamos National Laboratory

JOLT: A Tool for University of California Authors to Find Journals with Open Access Fee Support
Jade Yonehiro, California Digital Library

Persistent Identifiers for Facilities and Instruments: Supporting FAIR Data Collections
Matthew Mayernik, National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research

Operationalizing Quantum Computing Through the Academic Library
Seth Porter, University of Colorado Colorado Springs

The current data renaissance, accelerated by advances in artificial intelligence, is reshaping the landscape of research, scholarship, and innovation. Yet unlocking this potential requires more than scale alone. It calls for a transdisciplinary approach that brings together diverse data and computational infrastructure along with multidisciplinary expertise across institutions.

Despite the rapid expansion of digital data and widespread access to powerful computing, building effective, responsible, and reusable data-driven research workflows remains a persistent challenge. Issues of discovery, access, interoperability, governance, and sustainability continue to limit the full realization of data-driven science.
In this talk, Parashar will explore the critical role of democratizing access to open data and shared cyberinfrastructure in enabling equitable and responsible data use. He will also introduce the vision, architecture, and deployment of the National Data Platform as part of a broader national cyberinfrastructure effort. This initiative aims to catalyze a more open, extensible, and interoperable data ecosystem that supports discovery, collaboration, and long-term stewardship across the research enterprise.