Ten Tips to Upgrade Your Thinking About AI Technologies

***BEFORE YOU REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR PLEASE REVIEW IMPORTANT REGISTRATION INFORMATION BELOW***

Are you caught in the whirlwind of AI hype? Are you and your library patrons feeling overwhelmed? Is your library looking for new ways to approach AI and make the most of your staff’s skills and talents to serve internal and external customers? In this webinar, experts in community engagement, advocacy, and professional development will share practical tips and techniques to help you understand and embrace this rapidly evolving technology with a common-sense approach.

Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Identify at least two ways for enhancing their common-sense approach in using technologies;
• Name at least two resources to recommend to patrons for further learning about AI and evolving technologies; and
• Cite at least three resources that can help further hone their skills in developing common-sense tech strategies.

Who Should Attend

This webinar is intended for all public library staff.

Panelists

Dorothy Stoltz is a professional librarian, author, and trainer. The majority of her forty-year library career was at Carroll County Public Library in Maryland, where she retired as director for community engagement. Dorothy started in libraries in Pennsylvania, where she grew up, and also worked at the Queens Library in New York City for five years. She’s written numerous articles as well as seven books, six of them for ALA Editions, including Inspired Thinking: Big Ideas to Enrich Yourself and Your Community. Dorothy offers workshops through Stoltz Creative Consulting, and is owner of Waldo Publishers, a small publishing house inspired by the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Kymberly Konty (she/her) is the early literacy outreach associate for Brooklyn Public Library's youth and family services. She offers workshops, educational activities, and programs to parents and families with an emphasis on digital media, technology learning, and balancing screen time.

Krista Respass works as a managing director of early childhood education services at Maryland Public Television (MPT). MPT is leading the way with the 2024 opening of its Maryland Center for Media Literacy and Education and enjoys a rich history of collaborating and partnering with Maryland public libraries. MPT is a public television network that broadcasts throughout the entire state of Maryland and the District of Columbia and into parts of Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Carrie Sanders (she/her) is the youth services coordinator for the Maryland State Library Agency, providing consultation and training to library staff regarding early literacy, STEM programming, teen services, media mentorship, and family engagement. Previous experience includes a decade of service as a school librarian and fifteen years as a public children’s librarian. She is passionate about helping library staff develop skills and strategies to create engaging, relevant programs and services for all ages and populations of youth. Carrie received the 2025 Library Journal Mover and Shaker Educator Award.

Paul Signorelli, a trainer and facilitator, is the author of Change the World Using Social Media (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021) and the library advocacy training project manager for the California Library Association

 

Important Registration Information

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Accommodations

This live webinar will be captioned in English (United States). Zoom desktop client or mobile app is required to access captions.

Attendees using screen readers are advised to turn off speech prior to joining the Zoom event because PLA webinars make extensive use of chat functionality. Attendees who find chat distracting may wish to disable it in the Zoom event, as PLA moderators will verbally highlight important topics raised in chat and chat transcripts will be provided post-webinar.

If you have a physical or communication need that may affect your participation in this webinar, please contact us at plawebinars@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752) at least two weeks prior to the webinar. Without prior notification of need, we may not be able to provide appropriate accommodations for the live event.

Archived Recording

If you're unable to attend this live webinar, an archived recording will be available to all registrants typically within 1–3 business of the live event. Access to closed captions will be provided in the webinar recording.

Tech Requirements

This webinar will be presented using the Zoom platform. Please review Zoom technical requirements and support information, and test your connection.

Once you've joined the webinar, there are two ways to connect your audio: via computer (VoIP) or via telephone. No microphone is required. PLA works with its webinar platform provider to assure the highest quality audio is being delivered to attendees. However, variables over which PLA has no control—such as the speed of your Internet connection or traffic on your local network—can affect the end quality of the webinar audio delivered by your computer. Each webinar’s audio is also available by telephone via a toll number, so we recommend you have access to a long-distance enabled phone as a backup in case you experience audio issues with VoIP. If you do encounter any problems during the webinar, you will receive a link to its archived recording within a week of the live event and can review anything you missed.

Contact

This webinar is presented by the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

Questions about this webinar? Please contact us at plawebinars@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752).