10 Answers to the Most Pressing Concerns About AI
A Library 2.0 AI Workshop with Crystal Trice
OVERVIEW:
When 456 library staff were surveyed about AI in 2026, the message was clear: the concerns are not fringe worries. Nearly 90 percent flagged accuracy. More than 80 percent flagged misinformation, privacy, and copyright. These are thoughtful professionals raising serious questions, and they deserve thoughtful consideration.
This workshop takes the ten most pressing concerns from that survey, in the order staff ranked them, and gives each one an honest answer. Honest means honest: some concerns have practical responses a library can act on tomorrow, some are genuinely unresolved, and some are more complicated than either the tech enthusiasts or the doomsayers admit. Participants will leave knowing which is which, and what a library can actually do about each.
Community trust is built by taking concerns seriously, even when answers are uncertain. A library that can speak plainly about AI's real problems earns credibility to talk about its potential uses, with staff, with boards, and with communities watching how libraries respond.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
- Analyze the ten AI concerns library staff ranked highest in 2026 survey data, and what each one means in a library context
- Distinguish concerns with practical library-level responses from those that remain genuinely unresolved
- Implement concrete practices that address accuracy, privacy, and over-reliance in daily library AI use
- Communicate honestly about AI's problems with staff, boards, and patrons without dismissing or catastrophizing
ACTIONABLE WORKSHOP ELEMENTS:
Over 60 minutes, participants will move through ten focused applications, each illustrated with a real example or a quick demonstration:
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- Accuracy and reliability (90%). The top concern, and rightly so. What verification actually looks like in library work, and why "trust but verify" isn't enough.
- Misinformation and deepfakes (85%). What libraries can realistically do as synthetic content floods the information landscape they were built to navigate.
- Privacy and surveillance (84%). What happens to the data patrons and staff type into AI tools, and the practices that keep confidential information confidential.
- Copyright and creator compensation (84%). Where the lawsuits stand, what remains unsettled, and how libraries can use AI while honoring their commitments to creators.
- Environmental impacts (80%). What the energy and water numbers actually show, what's exaggerated, what's real, and what responsible use looks like.
- Commercial control of power (72%). A handful of companies control these tools. What that concentration means for institutions built on public access.
- Bias and discrimination (71%). How bias enters AI systems, how it shows up in library-relevant tasks, and what review practices catch it.
- Manipulation and over-reliance (71%). The subtler risk: tools designed for engagement, and habits of dependence that erode the skills libraries exist to build.
- Lack of accountability (70%). When AI gets it wrong, who answers for it? What accountability libraries can create locally when the industry provides little.
- Long-term and existential risks (69%). An even-handed look at the far-horizon debate, what serious people disagree about, and why libraries still have to decide things today.
The recording and presentation slides will be available to all who register.
DATE: Friday, August 28th, 2026, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm US - Eastern Time
COST:
- $99/person - includes live attendance, anytime access to the recording and presentation slides, and a participation certificate. To arrange group discounts (see below), to submit a purchase order, or for any registration difficulties or questions, email admin@library20.com.
TO REGISTER:
Click HERE to register and pay. You can pay by credit card. You will receive an email within a day with information on how to attend the webinar live and how you can access the permanent webinar recording. If you are paying for someone else to attend, you'll be prompted to send an email to admin@library20.com with the name and email address of the actual attendee.
If you need to be invoiced or pay by check, if you have any trouble registering for a webinar, or if you have any questions, please email admin@library20.com.
NOTE: Please check your spam folder if you don't receive your confirmation email within a day.
SPECIAL GROUP RATES (email admin@library20.com to arrange):
- Multiple individual log-ins and access from the same organization paid together: $99 each for 3+ registrations, $75 each for 5+ registrations. Unlimited and non-expiring access for those log-ins.
- The ability to show the webinar (live or recorded) to a group located in the same physical location or in the same virtual meeting from one log-in: $399.
- Large-scale institutional access for viewing with individual login capability: $599 (hosted either at Learning Revolution or in Niche Academy). Unlimited and non-expiring access for those log-ins.
ALL-ACCESS PASSES: This webinar is not a part of the Safe Library All-Access program.
With over two decades of experience in libraries and education, Crystal Trice is passionate about helping people work together more effectively in transformative, but practical ways. As founder of Scissors & Glue, LLC, Crystal partners with libraries and schools to bring positive changes through interactive training and hands-on workshops. She is a Certified Scrum Master and has completed a Masters Degree in Library & Information Science, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and Psychology. She is a frequent national presenter on topics ranging from project management to conflict resolution to artificial intelligence. She currently resides near Portland, Oregon, with her extraordinary husband, fuzzy cows, goofy geese, and noisy chickens. Crystal enjoys fine-tip Sharpies, multi-colored Flair pens, blue painters tape, and as many sticky notes as she can get her hands on.
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