Bourg graduated with a
B.A. from Duke University and a
M.A. from the University of Maryland. She went on to study sociology at
Stanford University where she completed an M.A. and PhD. She worked at Stanford for 12 years where she held several roles including associate university librarian for public services. She started as the director of
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries, overseeing the library and
The MIT Press in 2015. As of 2025, the Director of Libraries no longer oversees The MIT Press. She took over the role from previous director
Ann Wolpert, who had been in the position for 17 years. In a 2018 keynote at a Code4LIb conference, she discussed diversity in software development. The talk, which referenced research by the Kapor Center for Social Impact indicating record numbers of people are leaving tech environments due to
discrimination, resulted in
online harassment and personal attacks. Bourg is known for talking openly about and challenging
systemic racism within the
library profession. Bourg has been equally vocal about open access publishing. ==Select publications==