This session will look at practical uses of generative AI tools for rural libraries. How can tools like ChatGPT be used in library marketing? What kind of public sessions can a library offer to the community? How is all this talk about artificial intelligence directly relevant to rural communities?
This will be a free, virtual training and will take place February 28th from 10am-11am. While this training is meant for rural libraries, anyone is able to attend. Register now to join!
This training is presented by R. David Lankes, who is the Virginia and Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship at University of Texas at Austin. Lankes has always been interested in combining theory and practice to create active research projects that make a difference. His work has been funded by organizations such as The MacArthur Foundation, The Institute for Library and Museum Services, NASA, The U.S. Department of Education, The U.S. Department of Defense, The National Science Foundation, The U.S. State Department, and The American Library Association.
Lankes is a passionate advocate for libraries and their essential role in today's society earning him the American Library Association's Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award for distinguished contribution to reference librarianship in 2021 and the Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship in 2016. He also seeks to understand how information approaches and technologies can be used to transform industries. In this capacity he has served on advisory boards and study teams in the fields of libraries, telecommunications, education, and transportation including at the National Academies. He has been a visiting fellow at the National Library of Canada, The Harvard School of Education, the French national library school Enssib, and was the first fellow of ALA's Office for Information Technology Policy. His book,The Atlas of New Librarianship won the 2012 ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature.
