Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist, and journalist. His latest novels are THE BEZZLE (a followup to RED TEAM BLUES) and THE LOST CAUSE, a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. His most recent nonfiction book is THE INTERNET CON: HOW TO SEIZE THE MEANS OF COMPUTATION, a Big Tech disassembly manual. He is the author of the international young adult LITTLE BROTHER series. He is also the author of CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM (with Rebecca Giblin), about creative labor markets and monopoly; HOW TO DESTROY SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM, nonfiction about conspiracies and monopolies; and of RADICALIZED and WALKAWAY, science fiction for adults, a YA graphic novel called IN REAL LIFE; and other young adult novels like PIRATE CINEMA. His first picture book was POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER (Aug 2020). His next novel is THE BEZZLE (February 2024). He maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net. He works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate, is a Visiting Professor of Computer Science at Open University, a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in Los Angeles. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. In 2022, he earned the Sir Arthur Clarke Imagination in Service to Society Awardee for lifetime achievement. York University (Canada) made him an Honourary Doctor of Laws; and the Open University (UK) made him an Honourary Doctor of Computer Science.
Overcoming the Enshittocene: Why Everything is Terrible and What to Do About It
The rapid, precipitous decline of every digital service we depend on isn't a coincidence. It's the result of specific known, policy choices made by specific, named individuals. We can reverse those decisions (and we can determine what sized pitchfork those individuals wear). Enshittification wasn't inevitable: it was the foreseeable outcome of a plan to encourage digital monopoly platforms and turn them loose to extract unimaginable value from both their users and business customers, leaving behind a homeopathic residue of utility to keep us locked in. This talk will explain what enshittification is, how it works, why it's happening now - and, most importantly, how we can reverse it, by seizing the means of computation and building a new, good internet suitable to serve as the digital nervous system of a connected world confronting environmental collapse, genocide and rising fascism.
Learning Objectives
To understand how to seize the means of computation in order to dismantle Big Tech and rescue the internet, transforming it into a planetary digital nervous system capable of sustaining human survival and thriving.
Aaron LaFromboise is the Director of Library Services at Medicine Spring Library. Aaron has worked for the library for 14 years and has been the director for seven. Aaron is a member of the Blackfeet Tribe and is grateful every day that she has been able to serve her community these past 14 years. Aaron loves to craft and loves animals (both a little too much at times).
Bringing in the public to your community college library can have many benefits for the students and the institution. Bringing your community into the library can provide enrichment for both the community and students, foster life-long learning, be a useful recruitment tool, and is beneficial in many other ways. Learn how Medicine Spring Library fulfills its charge as an academic library, reservation library, and tribal archives.
Aaron Terr is the Director of Public Advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). He previously was a member of FIRE's Campus Rights Advocacy team. A native of Long Island, New York, Aaron graduated from Vassar College in 2007. After earning his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2012, Aaron worked as a judicial clerk and then as a staff attorney at the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. A former volunteer for the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Aaron has a longstanding interest in free speech and civil liberties.
During the last few years, libraries and college classrooms have been active theaters in the culture war. State and local governments around the country are seeking to shrink the universe of ideas available for exploration and discussion in these intellectual spaces. But those on the side of freedom have been fighting back in the court of law and the court of public opinion. Aaron Terr will discuss recent censorship trends, relevant court decisions, and the importance of preserving libraries and universities as strongholds of free thought.
Learning Objectives
Educating attendees about their First Amendment rights and recent threats to intellectual and academic freedom.
Alex Sakariassen covers education and election administration issues for the online news nonprofit Montana Free Press. He's a 2008 graduate of the University of Montana's School of Journalism and a former reporter for the now-shuttered Missoula Independent. His work has also appeared in the LA Times, Huffington Post, Mountain Outlaw Magazine, High Country News and the Pacific Northwest Inlander.
State Policy and Public Education
A nonpartisan look, from the journalist's seat, at recent policy debates in the Montana Legislature and elsewhere that impact public libraries and K-12 schools.
Learning Objectives
To better inform attendees about the ongoing state and national policy debates impacting public education in Montana.
Amanda Wheatley received her Master of Library and Information Science from Western University in 2015. She has worked in both the private sector and academia before joining McGill University as a librarian in 2018. She serves as the Liaison Librarian for Management, Business, and Entrepreneurship, as well as the Outreach and Engagement Coordinator. Recently, she has taken on the role of Project Manager for the McGill Library’s website design. Amanda is the outgoing chair of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians and an active member for the National Entrepreneurship Librarians Group. Her primary research focus is directed on the intersection of artificial intelligence with user services in libraries. She seeks to learn more about the relationship between AI tools and the information-seeking behavior of users.
Beneath the Hype: A Look at Artificial Intelligence in Academic Libraries
The past year has seen a rapid increase in interest to artificial intelligence across many industries. Particularly the popularity of generative AI tools has brought forward many questions on how libraries will need to interact with this technology moving forward. This presentation will look at the landscape of AI within academic libraries and peer into the future to see where we might go next.
Learning Objectives
Participants will learn about the current landscape of AI applications in academic libraries.
Anne Kish is the Electronic Resources Librarian at Montana Tech. She is not a history buff, but she enjoyed this book very much and she thinks that you will too!
Join the annual symposium book club! This year we are reading and discussing When Books Went to War, by Molly Guptill Manning. "VERDICT: Highly readable and extremely appealing, this book is perfect for any bibliophile or historian interested in the stories from the home front." -- Library Journal
Availability in TRAILS Network
Christina is the Assistant Dean of the Montana State University Library. She has served the academic community as a writing faculty member, leading academic libraries, and running a statewide OER program. Christina’s passion and expertise is in supporting DEI work throughout academia, from instructional design and programming to system and policy level changes.
TRAILS Next Steps: Updates from Consultant Recommendation Task Forces
In 2023 TRAILS hired a library consultant, Dr. Rick Holmgren, who had extensive experience with the PALCI consortium, to review the challenges and opportunities for TRAILS. His recommendations focused on governance structure; fiscal sustainability; membership structure, expectations, and fees; and the transparency and organization of shared e-resource subscriptions. Task forces were created to carry out this work. The chairs of these task forces will discuss the progress that has been made and provide members with an overall update.
Christina is the chair of the M5 Dues Structure Task Force.
I'm Chris Vance. I manage Circulation and ILL at the Mansfield Library. I've been at the library since the 90's working in various units. I witnessed the demise of the "card catalog" and was on site for the migration to the first ILS and the automation of Interlibrary Loan processes. I have an MFA from UM.
Overview of history and general agreements for Resource Sharing in TRAILS, including a demo of step-by-step processes, common issues, troubleshooting, and support strategies.
Learning Objectives
Help new users navigate the Resource Sharing aspects of Alma.
Dan is the founder of PIE (Publication Integrity & Ethics) Consulting, LLC. He has been in scholarly publishing for over 27 years. Dan started in 1996 as a professional full-time editor for Physical Review B, published by the American Physical Society, and eventually advanced to the position of Editorial Director for the entire Physical Review portfolio. In 2020, he joined the Publications Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) as Editorial Director and his most recent role with ACS was Senior Director, Research Integrity & Global Developments. Dan has been involved in all aspects of publishing including peer review, publication ethics, production, distribution, and personnel and financial management of journals.
Ethical Concerns in Scholarly Publishing
Interest in the integrity and conduct of scholarly research continues to be of broad concern. Challenges to ethical research behavior have been magnified through social media, and public confidence in the integrity of academic research has diminished. I will review the nature and drivers for ethical behaviors including systematic manipulation of the peer-review process (paper mills, citation rings, etc.).
Learning Objectives
A better understanding of the ethical challenges in scholarly publishing.
Dawn LaValle is the Director of the Division of Library Development for the Connecticut State Library. She is a Certified Strategic Foresight Practitioner, a member of the Association of Professional Futurists and a Disruption Navigator for Libraries, she is focused on fostering a more collaborative innovative culture, transformative library services and solutions for libraries and to instill 21st skill sets in the next generation of library leaders. The Division has launched several initiatives for CT libraries including the EDGE Initiative; Growing Equitable Library Services (GELS); Transforming Museums and Library: Collaboration for Accessible Exhibitions, Collections, and Programs, health, and legal literacy initiatives; veteran’s and military families program initiatives. Regional and national projects include EXCITE: Transformation for Libraries and Transformation for Libraries: The Futures School which were awarded IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grants. She works with libraries around the country in Foresight Fueled Strategies and was proud to have served as a consultant to the Dubai Public Library System, in the framing of a strategy to re-envision the future state of libraries as 21st Century anchors of the community and innovation destinations.
Which World? Using Far-Fetched Scenarios to Map the Future of Academic Libraries in Montana
What if academic libraries across the country planned for a 2020 global pandemic – back in 1996? What if NASA had alien contact? What if a search engine for the physical world was created? What if academic libraries and books were deemed illegal and banished from society? If you are saying to yourself, “this is crazy” this session is for you. Come find out why crazy may be actual probable, possible, or preferred futures based on current trend patterns. Join this interactive session to play with the future and create functional views of alternative futures through far-fetched scenarios. The best way we can adapt in whatever the future may hold is to spend the time considering what is possible and building strategies to thrive in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world.
Learning Objectives
Doralyn Rossmann is a Professor and Dean of the Montana State University Library. She is currently serving as the chair of the TRAILS General Council and also serves on the State Library’s Network Advisory Committee. Her research includes the role of social media in our information society, public budgeting and transparency, open educational resources, and, most recently, ethical considerations for AI.
Implementing AI Responsibly in Libraries and Archives
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in libraries and archives as a powerful tool for enhancing metadata, improving search and discovery, recommending resources, powering library chatbots, and more. However, AI systems also have the potential to cause social and ethical problems. AI may incorporate surveillance technologies that threaten user privacy, AI can provide misinformation that looks real, and AI reflects and amplifies the biases of our society due to biased training data. This talk outlines the activities of an IMLS-funded project that examines this tension between AI-based tools and services and protecting user communities. Our talk will: (1) describe the results of a literature review investigating how librarians and archivists consider ethics when implementing AI, (2) review preliminary results from participatory workshops with library and archives practitioners, administrators, and users, and (3) discuss forthcoming activities that will result in a decision-making toolkit for responsible AI software development and technology implementation.
Learning Objectives
Apply values and practices for responsibly implementing AI in libraries.
My name is Erik Larson, and I've been part of the Mansfield Library since January 2019, serving as an Interlibrary Loan Technician. Over the past five years, I've immersed myself in the intricacies of the field. I have a deep belief in the power of libraries to connect individuals with information, and I find Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing to be indispensable tools in achieving this mission. Originally from Utah, I made Montana my home in 2010. In 2016, I graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in English.
Overview of history and general agreements for Resource Sharing in TRAILS, including a demo of step-by-step processes, common issues, troubleshooting, and support strategies.
Learning Objectives
Help new users navigate the Resource Sharing aspects of Alma.
Gena Parsons-Diamond is the program manager, data and research at the Association of College and Research Libraries, and supports ACRL’s data products: Project Outcome for Academic Libraries, Benchmark: Library Metrics and Trends, and the Threshold Achievement Test for Information Literacy.
Project Outcome for Academic Libraries is a free toolkit from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) that helps libraries measure the impact of their programs and services. The toolkit is based on a model from the Public Library Association (PLA) and was launched in April 2019.
Here are some steps to get started with Project Outcome:
Project Outcome can help libraries with: Programming decisions, Advocacy making, Funding requests, Evaluating work on grants, and Building partnerships. Different types of impact measurement can help answer different questions. For example, patron satisfaction surveys can help answer what should be done better, and outputs can help answer how much was done.
Hannah McKelvey is an Associate Professor and Electronic Resources & Discovery Services Librarian at Montana State University Library. Her role includes managing electronic information licensed by the library through third-parties and to facilitate discovery and access to library resources.
Exploring Current Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities in Electronic Resources Management
In the dynamic realm of electronic resources management (ERM), flexibility is a must, as change is inevitable. This session will delve into the evolving landscape, examining trends like AI technologies, open access initiatives, and transformative agreements that are reshaping ERM. It will explore challenges, such as licensing complexities, technical issues, and censorship while spotlighting opportunities for innovation.
TRAILS Next Steps: Updates from Consultant Recommendation Task Forces
In 2023 TRAILS hired a library consultant, Dr. Rick Holmgren, who had extensive experience with the PALCI consortium, to review the challenges and opportunities for TRAILS. His recommendations focused on governance structure; fiscal sustainability; membership structure, expectations, and fees; and the transparency and organization of shared e-resource subscriptions. Task forces were created to carry out this work. The chairs of these task forces will discuss the progress that has been made and provide members with an overall update.
Hannah is the chair of the TRAILS E-Resources Committee.
Jeff Pooley is a professor of media & communication at Muhlenberg College, in Allentown, PA and director of mediastudies.press, an open access scholarly publisher. He writes on the history of media research, the history of social science, scholarly communications, consumer culture and social media. Jeff received his Ph.D. in Communications (with distinction) from Columbia University Ph.D. in 2006 and his A.B. in Social Studies (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa), from Harvard University in 1998.
Surveillance Publishing in the LLM Era
In recent years, for-profit scholarly publishers have built a lucrative venture on top of their legacy subscription business. Elsevier, Springer Nature, and the other firms are selling prediction products, fueled by data extracted from researcher behavior—mining, for example, their full-text platforms to sell “research intelligence” software back to universities. In this session, Jeff Pooley surveys the rise of surveillance publishing. Since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, the giant publishers have accelerated their push to build new data products from scholarly citations, downloads, and abstracts.
Learning Objectives
To expose participants to the costs, for researchers, librarians, universities, and the public, of profit-driven surveillance publishing.
I am the Library Director & Institutional Effectiveness Coordinator at Miles Community College. I teach ballet to intermediate and adult dancers, and I am a director of the Prairie County Museum & Evelyn Cameron Gallery in Terry, where I live. I have four pets and an antiquing problem.
Sunrise Yoga
We'll gently stretch our shortened and knotted muscles to prepare for the day. Special clothing not required.
TRAILS Next Steps: Updates from Consultant Recommendation Task Forces
In 2023 TRAILS hired a library consultant, Dr. Rick Holmgren, who had extensive experience with the PALCI consortium, to review the challenges and opportunities for TRAILS. His recommendations focused on governance structure; fiscal sustainability; membership structure, expectations, and fees; and the transparency and organization of shared e-resource subscriptions. Task forces were created to carry out this work. The chairs of these task forces will discuss the progress that has been made and provide members with an overall update.
Jerusha is the chair of the M2 Membership Contribution Task Force.
John has a 20-year career as a web and application developer for companies large and small in the western US. More recently, John has spent 10+ years preparing the next generation for the future as an enthusiastic educator in elementary, secondary, and college classrooms. Come for the clever jokes and easy discussion, stay for the engaging content and in-depth learning!
Who's Afraid of Artificial Intelligence?
It's not an exaggeration to say that AI is changing the world we live in at this very moment. Yet few of us have any knowledge of how it works, or how to make use of this revolutionary new tool. Join me to learn the concepts behind the inner workings of generative Artificial Intelligence (i.e. ChatGPT) and explore the implications it has for this brave new world!
Learning Objectives
Participants will gain a conceptual understanding of the workings of generative AI. Participants will explore areas of impact in our society.
Kathleen Langan (she/her) is the engagement librarian and professor at Western Michigan University. Her research focuses on social and emotional engagement in higher education outside and bias in the information literacy landscape. She has served as chair and vice-chair of the ACRL Project Outcome Editorial Board and as president of the Michigan chapter of ACRL (Mi-ALA). Kate holds a Master of Science in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master of Arts in French Literature from the University of Oklahoma. She earned her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Western Michigan University. Her dissertation is titled “Flourishing in the Infosphere: Confidence, Community, and Belonging in Academic Libraries.”
Project Outcome for Academic Libraries is a free toolkit from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) that helps libraries measure the impact of their programs and services. The toolkit is based on a model from the Public Library Association (PLA) and was launched in April 2019.
Here are some steps to get started with Project Outcome:
Project Outcome can help libraries with: Programming decisions, Advocacy making, Funding requests, Evaluating work on grants, and Building partnerships. Different types of impact measurement can help answer different questions. For example, patron satisfaction surveys can help answer what should be done better, and outputs can help answer how much was done.
Morgan Ray is the Director of Library Services at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell, MT. She earned her BS in Behavior Analysis from the University of North Texas, and her MLS from the University of Kentucky. She moved to Montana in 2014 with the Montana Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA program and has called the Flathead Valley home for the last nine years. She’s worked at FVCC since 2016, and in the library since 2021. She enjoys hiking, traveling, gardening, cooking, and sitting down with a good book or puzzle to unwind.
TRAILS Next Steps: Updates from Consultant Recommendation Task Forces
In 2023 TRAILS hired a library consultant, Dr. Rick Holmgren, who had extensive experience with the PALCI consortium, to review the challenges and opportunities for TRAILS. His recommendations focused on governance structure; fiscal sustainability; membership structure, expectations, and fees; and the transparency and organization of shared e-resource subscriptions. Task forces were created to carry out this work. The chairs of these task forces will discuss the progress that has been made and provide members with an overall update.
Morgan is the chair of the M7 TRAILS Onboarding Task Force.
Molly is the Program Manager for Print & E-books at Montana State University Library in Bozeman. She uses Alma Analytics for annual reporting, collection insights, and troubleshooting. She lives in Livingston with her wife, Sean, and cat, Appa.
Natalie Bond is the Government Information Librarian and Head of Information and User Services at the University of Montana’s Maureen & Mike Mansfield Library, where she oversees circulation, interlibrary loan, reference, and instruction services and manages the federal depository library collection. She holds an M.S.I in Archives and Records Management from the University of Michigan and B.A.’s in History and American Studies from Northwestern University. Natalie’s work broadly considers the imbrication of identity, memory, and the documentary record, with recent emphases on American collective memory in congressional archives and AI in libraries and archives.
Implementing AI Responsibly in Libraries and Archives
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in libraries and archives as a powerful tool for enhancing metadata, improving search and discovery, recommending resources, powering library chatbots, and more. However, AI systems also have the potential to cause social and ethical problems. AI may incorporate surveillance technologies that threaten user privacy, AI can provide misinformation that looks real, and AI reflects and amplifies the biases of our society due to biased training data. This talk outlines the activities of an IMLS-funded project that examines this tension between AI-based tools and services and protecting user communities. Our talk will: (1) describe the results of a literature review investigating how librarians and archivists consider ethics when implementing AI, (2) review preliminary results from participatory workshops with library and archives practitioners, administrators, and users, and (3) discuss forthcoming activities that will result in a decision-making toolkit for responsible AI software development and technology implementation.
Learning Objectives
Apply values and practices for responsibly implementing AI in libraries
Nathan Sonnenschein (he/him) is the User Services & Experience Librarian at the Montana State University Billings Library. He applies UX research and design to the experiences of library users, leads the website team, and administers the library's Alma instance. Nathan earned an MSLIS from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and undergraduate degrees from the University of Wyoming and Central Wyoming College.
Alma Training: Letters
Want to better understand all those automated emails that Alma sends to your patrons? In this training, we will delve into the Letters interface, discuss some of the most common letter types, and learn how to make changes to labels and templates. Please come with questions, and feel free to share your own experiences and insights!
Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to configure and customize automated letters in Alma.
Pamela has been the Statewide Academic Libraries Coordinator for TRAILS, Montana's consortium of academic libraries, since its inception in 2016. She works out of the MSU - Bozeman campus, but lives in Livingston. She is the MLA Director at Large, East, co-chair of the MLA Membership Committee, and serves on the MLA Gov't. Affairs committee. Previously Pamela worked for the Cleveland Public Library (Cleveland, OH), the Kent State University Library, the Mansfield/Richland Co. Public Library, the Ohio State University - Mansfield Branch Library, the OH Library Council, and the Plain Dealer newspaper library. She loves otters.
Perspectives on Montana's Libraries Panel
Cancelled
Join us for an overview of the status of Montana libraries in the K12, public, and academic sectors. A good understanding of our respective environments strengthens our ability to work collaboratively. What are our unique and shared challenges? A recognition of trends and commonalities can improve our support for each other individually and collectively.
Panel
Quincie Jones is the Executive Director of Career & Technical Education at Great Falls College MSU. She has been in education & wellness for over twenty years and has taught at both the secondary and post-secondary levels of education. She has also worked as a health promotion specialist in the public and private sector. She believes in human potentials and providing access and opportunity to those seeking to better themselves. She is a certified Health Coach, Yoga Instructor and Personal Trainer. She has been trained by the Heart Math Institute in coherency and resiliency and has also completed trainings in Functional Medicine and Coaching.
Resilience Session
Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. Learn tools to help recognize lack of coherence and build resilience.
MicroStress Session
Microstresses are small, frequent stressors that accumulate over time and harm our well-being. Learn how to identify and manage them.
Sam LaFrance is the Manager of Editorial Projects for the Free Expression and Education team at PEN America. She is the lead author of "Educational Intimidation: How 'Parents’ Rights' Legislation Undermines the Freedom to Learn.
Educational Gag Orders
An overview of the legislative landscape as it relates to educational censorship in higher education and K-12. The presentation will include information about book bans, academic freedom, and educational gag orders.
Learning Objectives
Understand how legislation impacts curricula and free expression.
Sandy Hervieux received her Master of Library and Information Science from McGill University in 2014. She was previously the Head of User Services at Saint Paul University before joining McGill University in 2017. She is now the Head of the Nahum Gelber Law Library and the Virtual Reference Coordinator. Sandy was previously the President of the Quebec Library Association (ABQLA) and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Quebec National Library and Archive (BANQ). Sandy’s research interests are centered around the reference experience both from a traditional virtual reference standpoint and the use of artificial intelligence to augment the process. Her research seeks to understand the ways in which libraries can improve the reference process through technology.
Beneath the Hype: A Look at Artificial Intelligence in Academic Libraries
The past year has seen a rapid increase in interest to artificial intelligence across many industries. Particularly the popularity of generative AI tools has brought forward many questions on how libraries will need to interact with this technology moving forward. This presentation will look at the landscape of AI within academic libraries and peer into the future to see where we might go next.
Learning Objectives
Participants will learn about the current landscape of AI applications in academic libraries.
Sara Mannheimer is an Associate Professor and Data Librarian at Montana State University, where she helps shape practices and theories for data curation, data sharing, and data discovery. Her research examines the social, ethical, and technical issues of a data-driven world. She is the Project Director of the IMLS-funded Responsible AI in Libraries & Archives project.
Implementing AI Responsibly in Libraries and Archives
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in libraries and archives as a powerful tool for enhancing metadata, improving search and discovery, recommending resources, powering library chatbots, and more. However, AI systems also have the potential to cause social and ethical problems. AI may incorporate surveillance technologies that threaten user privacy, AI can provide misinformation that looks real, and AI reflects and amplifies the biases of our society due to biased training data. This talk outlines the activities of an IMLS-funded project that examines this tension between AI-based tools and services and protecting user communities. Our talk will: (1) describe the results of a literature review investigating how librarians and archivists consider ethics when implementing AI, (2) review preliminary results from participatory workshops with library and archives practitioners, administrators, and users, and (3) discuss forthcoming activities that will result in a decision-making toolkit for responsible AI software development and technology implementation.
Learning Objectives
Apply values and practices for responsibly implementing AI in libraries.
Scott W. H. Young is an Associate Professor and User Experience & Assessment Librarian at Montana State University. As a researcher-practitioner, he develops theory and practice in the field of library assessment, weaving together user experience, participatory design, research methods, and professional ethics. He publishes and presents widely on user experience and assessment, and has been invited to present on participatory design to the University of Washington, the Orbis Cascade Alliance, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the Kentucky Library Association. He currently serves as editor-in-chief of Weave: Journal of Library User Experience.
Implementing AI Responsibly in Libraries and Archives
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in libraries and archives as a powerful tool for enhancing metadata, improving search and discovery, recommending resources, powering library chatbots, and more. However, AI systems also have the potential to cause social and ethical problems. AI may incorporate surveillance technologies that threaten user privacy, AI can provide misinformation that looks real, and AI reflects and amplifies the biases of our society due to biased training data. This talk outlines the activities of an IMLS-funded project that examines this tension between AI-based tools and services and protecting user communities. Our talk will: (1) describe the results of a literature review investigating how librarians and archivists consider ethics when implementing AI, (2) review preliminary results from participatory workshops with library and archives practitioners, administrators, and users, and (3) discuss forthcoming activities that will result in a decision-making toolkit for responsible AI software development and technology implementation.
Learning Objectives
Apply values and practices for responsibly implementing AI in libraries.
Selena Coburn BC-DMT, LMHC, LCPC is a mental health and dance/movement therapist in Great Falls, Montana, an adjunct professor at Lesley University, and a Professor at Great Falls College Montana State University. She is a descendant of Blackfeet, Klamath, Cree, and Pitt River tribes.
Selena will share a series of light hearted movement activities that could be used for personal practice or regulation in the professional setting.
Shelley Ramberg is the System Administrator for Alma and Primo VE at the University of Montana Missoula.
Share & Share Alike
Overview of history and general agreements for Resource Sharing in TRAILS, including a demo of step-by-step processes, common issues, troubleshooting, and support strategies.
Learning Objectives
Help new users navigate the Resource Sharing aspects of Alma.
Shelley will be available along with Molly Arrandale to answer your analytics questions.
Stephan Licitra is the interim director and technical services librarian at the Jameson Law Library at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana. He received his Master’s in Libraries and Information Science degree from Dominican University in 2015 and his Juris Doctorate from Alexander Blewett School of Law in 2023. Stephan started his career working for the Missoula Public Library and has since worked in libraries of all kinds, big and small. Before joining the Jameson Law Library he was the Technical Services Librarian for the State Law Library of Montana and focused on collection development and access.
TRAILS Next Steps: Updates from Consultant Recommendation Task Forces
In 2023 TRAILS hired a library consultant, Dr. Rick Holmgren, who had extensive experience with the PALCI consortium, to review the challenges and opportunities for TRAILS. His recommendations focused on governance structure; fiscal sustainability; membership structure, expectations, and fees; and the transparency and organization of shared e-resource subscriptions. Task forces were created to carry out this work. The chairs of these task forces will discuss the progress that has been made and provide members with an overall update.
Stephan is the chair of the M1 Operating Procedures & M6 TRAILS’ Membership Requirements Task Force.