2024 BRASS Program - Demystifying AI for Business and Libraries: Event Information

Welcome to the RUSA BRASS 2024 Annual Program
Demystifying AI for Business and Libraries

PROGRAM INFORMATION:

The program, "Demystifying AI for Business and Libraries," will be offered during the American Library Association's (ALA) Annual Conference 2024 in San Diego. Monday, July 1, 2024  from 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM. San Diego Convention Center Room 23 A B C

PRESENTERS:
Peter Z. McKay, University of Florida
Andy Spackman, Brigham Young University
Min Tong, University of Central Florida (UCF)
Eduardo Velasquez,  San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC)

PROGRAM SUMMARY:

With the significant and growing impact of AI technology on the business, academic, and creative landscapes, it is crucial for librarians to stay up to date with the latest advancements and applications in AI technology. The ability to apply these technologies effectively and ethically is fast becoming an essential digital literacy skill for librarians, professionals, and students. In this program, participants will learn about popular AI applications and their current and evolving use in both academic and business settings, including use cases in industry and the business education environment.

This panel will bring together three speakers with unique and wide-ranging expertise on this subject, including a librarian who uses these tools in business reference, a university educator with experience integrating generative AI into coursework, and an economic development expert with insight into how this technology is impacting the industries and workforce of San Diego. Together, these presentations will address these questions:

1. How are these technologies manifesting in business practice?
2. What are ethical considerations for librarians and the business communities we work with?
3. How can we, as librarians, teach people to use AI effectively and fairly in both personal and business uses?

These questions are relevant to anyone looking to keep their library work relevant in an evolving information landscape. Relevant audiences include librarians engaged in education at any level, acquisitions and e-resources librarians, liaison librarians, and public librarians, particularly those who might work with small business owners or entrepreneurs or those who provide reference assistance or programming to the public.

Learning Objectives:

• Attendees will be able to identify current AI tools (on academic campuses and in use by business entities) and describe their common uses and potential misuses.
• Attendees will be able to analyze the benefits, drawbacks, and unknowns of incorporating AI technologies into library and patron work.
• Attendees will identify strategies they can implement within their own library contexts to address information literacy and ethics questions related to the use of AI technologies