Disrupting Tradition: Libraries as Agents of Innovation and Advocacy

In her talk, Jessamyn West discusses technology disruption as it relates to library work with patrons and with managing access to knowledge. West focuses on the role of technological innovation in services offered—but also on the complexities and risks of balancing disruption narratives with the libraries’ established roles in higher education and society at large. Finding a balance in this arena hinges on a better understanding of the difference between the larger relevance of library work as it is commonly perceived, and the ways in which this work has recently changed by and through technological disruption.