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North Liberty Library presents youth-led talks on AI after receiving multiple grants
Summary
The library's adult services librarian told the board that grants totaling roughly $161,700 plus smaller awards funded community-dialogue projects and youth conversations about AI; the program produced recorded highlights from 10 sessions involving 38 participants and will post selected material online.
The North Liberty Library Board of Trustees heard a presentation from Adult Services Librarian Nick Schumann on a series of community-dialogue projects the library hosted this year, including youth-led conversations about artificial intelligence.
Schumann told the board the library participated in two rounds of a program run with IREX and the Urban Library Council to test "bridge building" methods across differences; he said that grant was "about I believe it was around $161,700 dollars total" and concluded in spring 2026. He also described a Team Dialogue Accelerator award "close to 16,000," which funded podcasting equipment and recording capacity for youth conversations.
"We did a lot of testing around how we can best bring people together," Schumann said, summarizing workshops that tested topics, dinner formats and discussion methods. He said the youth project ran 10 conversations with roughly 38 individual participants and that a University of Iowa student, Ali Hans, served as the facilitator.
Excerpts from the youth conversations highlighted recurring themes. One participant said the incentive structure for schoolwork encourages students to use AI to "get it done" rather than to learn: "it's more about just doing it and getting it done," a speaker said during the recorded session. Other youth discussed how AI affects creative appreciation, with one participant arguing AI-generated images can diminish "appreciation of the hard work going into making something beautiful." Several teens also described COVID-era effects on social connection and mental health, and a repeated request across groups was simply to be heard.
Schumann said the library also signed up for the American Conversation Project, receiving two small awards totaling $500 (a $250 sign-up payment and $250 for being the first participant in Iowa). He said the project produced a compilation of teen thoughts about AI and that many highlights will be available on the library's site at northlibertylibrary.org/teamdialogue.
The presentation included brief technical interruptions; Schumann told board members he would send video files privately to avoid playback problems and would post selected highlights publicly.
The board thanked Schumann and discussed sending a thank-you note to the youth participants and to facilitator Ali Hans; a board member volunteered to draft that message.
What happens next: Schumann said he will share compiled videos and highlights with the board and post selected materials online.
