The 2026 AI Leadership Cohort
"Building a Strategic Roadmap for Your Library or Libraries"
A 10-Week Library 2.0 Cohort and Intensive Consulting Project
OVERVIEW:
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the information landscape, and libraries are at the forefront—balancing opportunity and responsibility in equal measure. Staff, patrons, and vendors are already using AI tools, often informally and without clear guidance, while policy, training, and ethical frameworks struggle to keep pace. Leaders are being asked to respond quickly to a technology that is advancing faster than most organizations can absorb.
The AI Leadership Cohort helps library leadership teams move from uncertainty to clarity. Over ten weeks, participants develop a practical, values-driven roadmap for AI adoption—one that aligns with their library’s mission, ethics, and community. This is not generic technical training; it’s a strategic process designed to help leaders make informed, confident decisions about AI’s role in their organizations.
Each week blends focused learning with collaborative work time, guided by a clear five-stage roadmap. Teams will explore foundational literacy, define ethical boundaries, develop policy and governance structures, build staff capacity, and establish systems to sustain and evolve their work as AI continues to change. The approach emphasizes real-world application, peer exchange, and the leadership skills required to guide change. The cohort also explores how libraries can extend AI literacy and digital citizenship to their communities and students.
FORMAT AND SCHEDULE:
WEDNESDAYS FROM 2:00 - 4:00 PM US-Eastern Time
Foundation Week: begins January 21, 2026
Live sessions from January 28 – April 1, 2026
(no session the week of February 25; time foir catch up or deepen your team’s work)
The cohort is available in synchronous (Tier 1) or asynchronous (Tier 2) modes, and requesting participation will give you pricing and details for both tiers.
For Tier 1 participants, each week features a two-hour live session designed to balance learning and application. The first 75 minutes of each session focus on guided instruction, providing leaders with practical frameworks, examples, and tools for that week’s topic. The remaining 45 minutes are dedicated to structured work time for team collaboration, discussion, and facilitator support. This portion also provides space for deeper Q&A and applied problem-solving.
For Tier 2 participants, recordings of the instructional portion are posted the following day for completing the program asynchronously and team collaboration and discussion are handled on your own.
All cohort participants are recommended to schedule approximately two additional teamwork hours each week to complete assignments that build directly toward their library’s AI Roadmap. Each activity contributes to a concrete, usable outcome for their organization.
OUTCOMES:
By the End of This Cohort, Your Team Will:
- Develop a complete, actionable AI Roadmap tailored to your library’s mission, values, and community.
- Create ethical frameworks and governance policies ready for board or administrative review.
- Build staff confidence and capacity to integrate AI thoughtfully and responsibly.
- Strengthen transparency, communication, and community trust through clear messaging and equitable implementation strategies.
- Establish systems for sustained evaluation and adaptation as AI tools and technologies evolve.
REQUEST FOR PARTICIPATION:
Please fill out the request form HERE.
We will reply with more information and a preliminary quotation for participation. You are under no obligation by requesting this information. We will schedule 30-minute pre-commitment calls with organizational leaders or teams who decide they want to move forward.
If you have any questions, you can email admin@library20.com.
YOUR HOSTS:
With over two decades of experience in libraries and education, Crystal Trice is passionate about helping people work together more effectively in transformative, yet practical ways. As founder of Scissors & Glue, LLC, Crystal provides hands-on consulting to libraries and local governments, specializing in strategic planning, organizational design, and process improvement. Her approach blends deep experience in public service with practical strategies and a people-centered mindset.
Crystal is a Certified Scrum Master who brings Agile thinking into the heart of public-sector work. She has guided libraries through strategic planning, structural change, and complex improvement initiatives—helping teams align priorities, streamline operations, and adapt with flexibility. Her participatory processes emphasize transparency and momentum, resulting in meaningful, sustainable change grounded in real input and built for daily use.
She also led a six-month artificial intelligence consultancy for the Southeast Florida Library Information Network (SEFLIN), supporting four distinct library systems through surveys, training, coaching, and policy development. The initiative helped staff move from uncertainty to confident, mission-aligned experimentation.
"This was an awesome experience and has given us momentum to move forward—AI is not something to be ignored!" —Charles Lockwood, St. Lucie County Library
"The consultancy helped motivate staff to continue their investigation of AI... Truly a positive all the way 'round." —Dr. Rachel Schipper, Society of the Four Arts
Crystal regularly presents on artificial intelligence in libraries, helping teams navigate new tools with confidence and care. Other areas of expertise include project management, workflow redesign, and change management. She is currently writing The Skeptical Guide to AI.
Crystal holds a Master’s Degree in Library & Information Science, a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and Psychology, and is a Certified Scrum Master. She 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 painter’s tape, and as many sticky notes as she can get her hands on.
Steve is the founder and director of the Learning Revolution Project, the director of Library 2.0, the host of the Future of Education and Reinventing School interview series, and has been the founder and chair (or co-chair) of a number of annual worldwide virtual events, including the Global Education Conference and the Library 2.0 series of mini-conferences and webinars. He has run over 100 large-scale events, online and in person.
Steve's work has been around the democratization of learning and professional development. He supported and encouraged the development of thousands of other education-related networks, particularly for professional development, and he pioneered the use of live, virtual, and peer-to-peer education conferences. He popularized the idea of "unconferences" for educators, and for over a decade, he ran a large annual ed-tech unconference, now called Hack Education (previously EduBloggerCon).
Steve himself built one of the first modern social networks for teachers in 2007 (Classroom 2.0), developed the "conditions of learning" exercise for local educational conversation and change, and inherited and grew the Library 2.0 online community. He may or may not have invented an early version of the Chromebook which he demo'd to Google. He blogs, speaks, and consults on education, educational technology, and education reform, and his virtual and physical events and online communities have over 150,000 members.
His professional website is SteveHargadon.com.
