Terra Dankowski

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw appeared as a Featured Speaker at the American Library Association’s 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 29. Civil rights scholar and professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw started writing her memoir “while literally Rome was burning,” she said. It was 2020, and the country was experiencing what she refers to as a twin pandemic—the fallout from COVID-19 and the mass demonstrations over policing.

Marshall Breeding (left), editor of Library Technology Guides, and Brandy McNeil, deputy director of branch programming and services for New York Public Library, discuss artificial intelligence at a June 28 panel at the American Library Association’s 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. Michael Hanegan, founder of the Center for the Future of Learning and Work, described a scenario that might be frustratingly familiar to information professionals: His mom often falls for deep fakes.

Min Jin Lee appeared as a Featured Speaker at the American Library Association’s 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition on June 27. Min Jin Lee, author of the National Book Award finalist Pachinko and New York State’s first Korean American author laureate, said she would not be where she is today without public libraries. Specifically, the Elmhurst branch of Queens (N.Y.) Public Library, which was her refuge after she immigrated to the US at age 7.