How are public libraries being remade in the digital era? Cultural institutions are increasingly expected to encompass ‘digital’ and prior research on digitalization in other sectors suggests that this will structure ways of organizing. Using longitudinal qualitative data, we explore how digital practices are creating significant changes in public libraries — not just shifting processes and services, but also critically, the very notion of what a public library is. We theorize our findings using agential realism which focuses us on performative outcomes. We consider how digitalization led to multiple shifts in the library’s processes and services, generating direct changes in library work practices manifesting as intended and unintended consequences. We then extend our analysis to include the indirect corollary effects of library digitalization, examining how these dynamics are challenging core norms and values of the library. We find that digital transformation is displacing the central purpose of public libraries, with far reaching implications for the vital role that this cultural institution serves in sustaining communities. These findings shed a sobering light on the likely performative outcomes of digitalization for other cultural institutions.