PLA Town Hall: Exploring an AI-assisted Future in Public Libraries
eLearning
Webinar
Join PLA President Dr. Brandy McNeil and members of the new PLA Transformative Technology Task Force for a broad-ranging conversation about the current state and future of public libraries and community engagement with artificial intelligence (AI). What are you hearing from members of your community related to AI? What types of AI literacy or skills-building would you most like to see available for public library workers and your patrons? How are you using or planning to use AI to streamline your work or improve library services? Share your questions, creative ideas, and actionable examples of AI work underway. This input will be vital in shaping the PLA task force's future planning and developing resources that align with library values, address ethical considerations, and position libraries as leaders in responsible, people-centered innovation. Let's collaborate to create a powerful vision for serving our communities! All registrants will receive an online form to submit questions and comments in advance of the town hall.
Who Should Attend
This free town hall is intended for all public library workers.
Panelists
Featuring members of the new PLA Transformative Technology Task Force.
Moderated by Dr. Brandy A. McNeil, PLA President and Deputy Director of Branch Programs & Services, New York Public Library
Dr. Brandy McNeil focuses on community needs through game-changing innovations to build successful adult education programs in the 89 branches under her stewardship across NYC. Building the highly successful TechConnect program, Dr. McNeil has established partnerships with Apple, Spotify, Google, and Microsoft to name a few. Through her inspirational leadership, she has made it her mission to help underserved communities to ensure equitable access to technology, knowledge, and opportunity. Dr. McNeil is also a contributing writer of the book titled Libraryland; It's All About The Story published in 2020 and has appeared in various publications. Dr. McNeil holds a Doctorate in Business and an M.B.A. in Entrepreneurship. Previously, she worked for several Fortune 500 companies and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Public Library Association and was on the Black Caucus of ALA Executive Board. In her spare time, she is an entrepreneur, consultant, and motivational speaker.
Accommodations
This live town hall 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 town hall, 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
As with other town halls, PLA does not plan to publish the archive, so we hope everyone can participate live. We understand, though, that this is not always possible, and we will share some roundup or summary of this event. This town hall also is the first public activity of many that we anticipate in the coming year with members of the Transformative Technology Task Force.
Tech Requirements
This town hall will be presented using the Zoom platform. Please review Zoom technical requirements and support information, and test your connection.
Once you've joined the town hall, there are two ways to connect your audio: via computer 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.
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