Proposal ID: 2231428
Jury: CORE
Content Area: Technology Innovation
Description: According to recent research, education and librarianship are two of the most "exposed" professions to disruption from Generative AI with up to 40% of our work being transformed by this technology. One of the fundamental disruptions coming to the worlds of learning and work relates to how we think about and leverage expertise. For the last three years our best research and speculation have painted a picture of uncertain impacts and questions about what the future held for the acquisition and utilization of expertise. In 2026 we now have a much clearer picture of what Generative AI and its impact on expertise. For librarians and librarianship in particular three themes emerge: First, some forms of expertise are actively and effectively being automated, shifting the skills landscape. Second, some applications of expertise (many of which are at the very heartbeat of librarianship) will be more valuable and more capable than ever before. Third, librarians and libraries have real agency in shaping how their roles evolve in the future of learning and work. This session draws on cutting-edge research across disciplines to explore how expertise is being revalued and how librarianship can position itself as essential infrastructure and trusted leaders for our communities, scholarship, and society.
ALA 150: Generative AI is one of the most transformative technological innovations for learning and work in human history, reshaping industries and society at unprecedented speed. For librarianship, one of the central questions is how expertise evolves, both the expertise of librarians and the expertise of those they serve. Helping to clarify where librarians face challenges, opportunities, and the need for a strategic and organized response, this session carves an intentional way forward that heightens the impact and value of libraries and librarianship in the Age of Intelligence.
Learning Objectives:
Describe how this program responds to a timely/new topic and/or one for which there is demonstrated high demand:
This program helps librarians and libraries to better understand the emerging implications and disruptions of Generative AI in our work and in society more broadly. This demand has been demonstrated by the ways in which the library ecosystem itself has responded whether this is through the creation of AI competencies from ACRL, or that the book I co-authored (Generative AI and Libraries, published by ALA Editions and CORE) is one of the top-selling books in the catalog. There is no other technological or social change that will transform libraries and librarianship more in the next five years than Generative AI.
Explain how this program presents fresh, innovative ideas, methods, or resources.
The underlying interdisciplinary research that informs this program is emerging in real time. At the time of this submission our best literature about the impact of Generative AI on expertise and more broadly on the Knowledge Economy is all less than 90 days old, much of it being published in August and September. By June of 2026 the body of literature will be much more comprehensive and (hopefully) have achieved a greater level of consensus than we saw in the research and speculation of 2022-2024.
Detail the proposed program’s approach to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (EDIA):
This session advances EDIA on two levels.
For librarians and libraries, it ensures equitable access to emerging knowledge about generative AI’s impact on expertise, regardless of institutional size, type, or resources. By highlighting the effects of Generative AI on expertise, this program empowers librarians in all contexts to act strategically. It foregrounds diverse perspectives beyond dominant Silicon Valley narratives and emphasizes inclusion and accessibility by framing expertise in terms of power, agency, and professional viability.
For society more broadly, the program positions libraries as defenders and creators of EDIA. By better understanding how Generative AI will shape expertise, librarians can advance equity, inclusion, and accessibility in knowledge production and consumption, ensuring that these fundamental values of the profession are embodied not only in institutions but across our civic and communal life.
Bio:
Michael Hanegan is the Founder of the Center for the Future of Learning and Work. He is the co-author (with Chris Rosser) of Generative AI and Libraries: Claiming Our Place in the Center of a Shared Future, published by ALA Editions and Core. He is an adjunct professor of AI, Learning, and Work at the University of Central Oklahoma and Rose State College. His work focuses on the theory, ethics, and social impact of Generative AI and the future of learning and work, and how we build a world that is good for the whole human family. He lives with his family, dog, and far too many unread books and unanswered questions in Edmond, Oklahoma.