Artificial intelligence is reshaping higher education, and academic libraries are uniquely positioned to guide faculty, staff, and students through its opportunities and challenges. Librarians occupy a rare role in this landscape: we are educators and information professionals who can approach AI without a financial stake in whether it succeeds or fails. This independence allows us to foster open, critical conversations about AI’s benefits and limitations, including its role in disinformation, its labor implications, and the environmental costs of training and operating large-scale systems.

This session will introduce the fundamentals of AI and share strategies for using it as a springboard to move beyond the traditional “one shot” instruction model. Drawing from real-world experience, Atticus Garrison will show how AI became an entry point for new collaborations with instructors and departments across campus.

Participants will consider how AI can expand instructional reach, highlight the librarian’s role in teaching digital literacies, and spark critical conversations about disinformation, academic integrity, labor, and environmental impacts. Attendees will leave with both a broader perspective on AI in higher education and practical approaches for positioning the library as a key partner in this evolving landscape.

Presenter:

Atticus Garrison is a Reference and Instruction Librarian at Black Hawk College, where he teaches research skills, and information, media, and digital literacies. Since 2022, he has integrated AI into his instruction and professional outreach, creating opportunities to expand faculty engagement and student learning. He has presented on AI literacy, disinformation, and academic integrity at regional and national conferences, and his forthcoming chapter on AI instruction will appear in The AI and Library Instruction Cookbook (ACRL, 2026).

**REGISTER HERE**