This interactive session equips library professionals with practical strategies for implementing AI chatbots to extend reference services beyond traditional hours. Participants will explore the current landscape of chatbot solutions, from vendor-integrated platforms to custom implementations, and develop evaluation criteria based on institutional needs, technical capacity, and budget. The presentation addresses critical implementation elements including knowledge base development, system integration, privacy safeguards, and accuracy management. Through case studies from various library types, attendees will examine successful deployments and common pitfalls, learning strategies to mitigate AI hallucinations and establish appropriate escalation protocols. Emphasis is placed on change management, including techniques for building staff confidence and setting realistic user expectations. The session explores assessment frameworks using metrics such as query resolution rates, user satisfaction, and impact on traditional reference transactions. Attendees receive practical tools including a platform selection framework, implementation timeline, and staff training templates. Interactive discussion encourages participants to share experiences and collaboratively address common obstacles. This session benefits anyone involved in reference services, technology implementation, or service innovation, regardless of prior AI experience. Participants leave prepared to make informed decisions about chatbot adoption in their own contexts, balancing innovation with the quality and accessibility users expect from library services.
Library workers need professional learning that is flexible, relevant, and available across roles, library types, and locations. In practice, access is often uneven; shaped by staffing, schedules, geography, and local capacity. A statewide membership organization developed a Learning Management System (LMS) to address this, expanding access to high-quality learning and creating a more equitable model for supporting library workers across the state.
This session will share how the LMS was designed, built, and continues to evolve as both a platform and a strategy for broadening access. Attendees will see key features including the course catalog, self-paced and instructor-led offerings, structured learning pathways, digital badges, and transcripts. The session will also examine the practical decisions behind those features: how content is curated, how learning is organized for different needs, how accessibility shaped design, and how the platform supports library workers' professional goals.
Attendees will leave with concrete ideas they can apply in their own settings; whether that is building a learning platform, strengthening an existing program, or creating more structure around professional development. The session will include lessons learned and the features and design decisions that proved essential to making the platform work.
Academic libraries increasingly provide access to immersive technologies, yet most initiatives emphasize consumption rather than creation. This session presents a library-led pilot integrating novice virtual-reality scene authoring into a Public Health course through faculty partnership using a scaffolded Unity workflow requiring only three core elements: interactive hotspot, narration, and linked scene.
The pilot informs development of a forthcoming Virtual Learning Center creation badge designed to credential immersive-authoring skills across disciplines. Attendees will learn how libraries can implement low-barrier XR creation frameworks, partner with faculty, and expand equitable access to immersive content development.
