Atla Annual 2025

Is your library prepared to lead in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI? In this cutting-edge session, we will explore our forthcoming ALA monograph, Claim the Center: Libraries, AI, and the Future of Learning and Work, to equip hearers with essential strategies that position libraries as central players in this technological transition. Drawing from our book, we'll explore how libraries can leverage AI to amplify their core values and mission, engaging at the edge of innovation while sustaining and enriching the work we have always done. Discover how the human-centered approach that has always characterized librarianship becomes even more critical in shaping an equitable and accessible future. We will examine practices that embody our five policy values of transparency, rigor, curiosity, inclusion, and play, activating the synergy of information literacy and AI implementation. This session empowers participants across library types and experience levels—from day-to-day practitioners to forward-thinking innovators and decision-makers—with the knowledge and framework needed to navigate the current AI landscape. Now is our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for libraries and librarians to claim the center in our shared future.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will be able to:
1. Apply a framework for navigating the AI landscape that aligns libraries' core values with emerging technologies across diverse library settings.
2. Analyze the role of a human-centered approach in promoting equity and accessibility in AI integration within libraries.
3. Evaluate strategies for positioning libraries as central players in the AI-driven technological transition.

Audience Engagement

We plan to center AI-empowered research instruction, providing space for robust engagement (e.g., sharing participant experiences, tool exploration, etc.) Our program introduces an innovative approach by emphasizing the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy as foundational to AI literacy. This perspective bridges traditional library instructional values with cutting-edge technology and innovation. We present a fresh framework for navigating the AI landscape that aligns libraries' core values with emerging technologies across diverse settings. By reimagining information literacy for the AI age, we offer new methods for cultivating empathy in AI implementation and applying core policy values for ethical AI integration. Our human-centered approach to AI in libraries represents an innovative method for balancing technological advancement with human needs and values, ensuring that libraries remain central in shaping an AI-literate society. So, lots of room for discussion, debate, and sharing.