See our Call for Proposals page for more information.

New technologies affect how people find, evaluate, and use information, presenting both challenges and opportunities for virtual reference services. It's important that libraries remain responsive to changing needs. Advocating for the diverse needs of our communities, expanding outreach, improving accessibility, and assessing how we connect with patrons and deliver reliable and accessible information helps us to strengthen connections, demonstrate the value of reference services, and ensure libraries continue to play a meaningful role in facilitating access to information, resources, and spaces for learning, discovery, and creativity.

The keynote address for this year’s conference will feature Hannah Cyrus on AI Refusal in Reference Services.

Hannah Cyrus (she/her) works as the Digital Media Librarian at Bangor Public Library in Bangor, Maine, with a focus on technology instruction and digital privacy. Her work often centers around patrons concerned about their accounts being compromised, overwhelmed with junk email and spam phone calls, or worried by the ubiquitous creepiness of online surveillance capitalism. Hannah received her Master of Science in Library & Information Science from Simmons University in 2016. She is a member of the Library Freedom Project and a recipient of the 2026 Jim Campbell Intellectual Freedom Award from the Maine Library Association. Her article, “Refusal as Instruction: Equipping Patrons to Resist AI, Data Brokers, Big Tech, & More,” was published in Information Technology & Libraries in March of 2026.

The free, online conference will be held Tuesday through Thursday February 23-25, 2027.