Continuing Education Archives

As AI and emerging technologies continue to reshape the information landscape, libraries should embrace experimentation to navigate uncertainty and drive innovation. Using techniques from startups and rapidly evolving tech companies, this program explores how experimentation can lead to evidence-based decisions and transformative initiatives. Through interactive activities, you’ll learn how to cultivate curiosity and innovation within traditional library constraints.

This session explores the opportunities and challenges generative AI brings to libraries, balancing its potential benefits—accessibility, efficiency, staff support, and innovation—with concerns about copyright, privacy, environmental impact, job displacement, and its effect on human creativity.

This session explores practical, learner-centered approaches to teaching digital skills in spaces without dedicated computers. Learn how to use discussion-based classes, smartphone-friendly topics, and adaptable class formats to offer impactful instruction and build your community’s digital confidence—no lab required.

It’s often said “you don’t know what you don’t know” and when it comes to managing the technology in your library, that can be a daily frustration! But the truth is that anyone, regardless of their technology knowledge and comfort, can understand the essentials enough to have a handle on library technology resources such as your broadband connection, WiFi, computers and digital services.

Join Illinois Heartland Library System’s school membership coordinator Leah Gregory and Reaching Across Illinois Library System’s member engagement specialist Jessica Silva as they take you on a deep dive into using the new state databases in school libraries.

Mark McCarthy, Lead Accessibility Engineer and IT Accessibility Liaison at the University of Illinois, gave expert advice on the specific challenges and concerns brought by attendees.

This webinar provides a beginner-friendly overview of how artificial intelligent tools interpret pictures and sound to generate new images, video, and voices.

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Copyright, Text Mining, and AI

This webinar provides an overview of the legal considerations for researchers, creatives, and professionals navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of AI. Participants will learn about ownership, fair use, and legal obligations when using copyrighted material to build AI tools and when incorporating AI into their work. Also discussed is how AI is shaping the academic publishing landscape, particularly its impact on text mining for research purposes. 

In this tour of multimedia generative AI tools, viewers are introduced to the underlying technology – how can images be created from just a text input? You’ll see demonstrations of tools for creating images, video, speech, and music, and see examples of what these tools can generate. Also discussed are the ethical issues around training data, and the problem of “deepfakes.” Finally, ideas for how to use these tools for educational purposes are offered. 

Even if a library has been focusing on making its website more accessible, PDF files that patrons download are often overlooked. PDF documents are not inherently accessible and require specific effort to make them accessible. In this session, learn concrete actions you can take to make your library’s PDF content accessible.

In this two-part series, Heartland Forward uses their experience collaborating with The Public Library Association to create Getting Started with Telehealth, a new training module available on DigitalLearn.org, to give an overview of telehealth services and teach you how to use the training module to help your patrons.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing, with the general public now able to access text-to-image generators, chatbots, and other AI-powered tools. In a time of deepfakes and AI hallucinations, how can we discern what is real? This talk by Nick Tanzi includes strategies for identifying AI-generated content and reducing AI hallucinations.

Includes information on processes and outcomes of the work of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Learn methods you can implement now to make your library a harder target for eAccessibility complaints.  Learn about the supports a library needs to create and maintain an accessible digital footprint. 

In this interactive session, learn how we partnered across departments to create a service that connects our community to printable assistive technology with the development of the Assistive Tools Kit, a collection of seven small devices that can be used by people of all ages to help with daily tasks such as writing, carrying bags, and opening small lids or bottle caps. Customers can borrow an assembled kit to learn which tools are most useful and create their own custom kit using the library’s 3D printers for a nominal cost of materials.

With the mega-funding coming for broadband improvements across the US, digital equity is suddenly a hot topic everywhere. We know that equity is at the very core of library services, but how can we apply the equity lens to digital services to include as many library patrons as possible? Please join technology consultant Carson Block and librarian and educational consultant Sarah Morris for a fun and engaging look at digital equity and an onramp to improve technology-driven library services for patrons and staff alike.

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