The Libraries receives an LSTA grant to prepare educators for transformative tech

For educators and librarians, new technologies are both transformative and disruptive. The integration of new technologies into classrooms and libraries takes time and training. And not all new tech is the same—the success of Wikipedia and the promise of AI outshine once-lauded tech like Second Life and NFTs. How can we know what tech will work, and how can we have a plan in place to integrate next-generation tech even before it arrives?

The NC State University Libraries is part of a team that has received a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant to answer these questions. The EdTech Open Values project, organized and facilitated by librarians across the UNC System (representing NC State University, East Carolina University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte and UNC-Wilmington and in partnership with NC LIVE), will develop a values-driven framework to understand and adapt to new and emerging educational technologies. 

Using AI as a case study, EdTech Open Values will introduce a framework that equips librarians and educators to: a) evaluate the ethical and legal aspects of new technologies, b) identify pedagogical opportunities or challenges they present and c) develop plans to engage with—or set aside—technologies in alignment with open values of inclusion and student-centered learning.

EdTech Open Values will serve as a resource for all educators across North Carolina, including those in UNC System schools, private universities, community colleges, K-12 schools and public libraries—a potential reach of nearly two million students and faculty statewide.

The project had already been underway before the grant award. In 2020, the Libraries started the Open Pedagogy Incubator at NC State. Organizers began forming partnerships with other librarians at other UNC System schools who also did work related to open education. Then, in 2023, the Libraries opened up the Open Pedagogy Incubator to the larger UNC System, which broadened faculty participation. This led to the launch of an online pilot in spring 2025 in which a cohort of about a dozen educators from UNC System schools was introduced to emerging technologies through a critical and ethical lens.

Libraries Fellow Katya Mueller is a co-PI on the grant with Principal Librarian for Student Affordability David Tully. Mueller has been working with the Libraries’ Open Knowledge Center on the initiatives that have been its foundation. She sees the project as a way for educators to ask the right questions about AI in order to feel more certain about how they use it in the classroom.

“I think it's safe to say, since the launching of AI tools generally, that there's a lot of really good programming that exists that teaches you the how-to part—like how to write effective prompts or how to create assignments incorporating AI,” Mueller says. “Our field, and higher education in general, has done well at thinking of ways to actively incorporate these technologies, but I think what we need to do now is think about if or how we should be doing that kind of incorporation. Thinking ethically about how we're using these tools, thinking about the legal implications.”

“We're not always given a lot of transparency when it comes to these tools and how they're being used, and we're hoping to give our participants a little bit of confidence in evaluating these tools to know if and when they should be using them in the classroom.”

The program will expand statewide in fall 2025, maintaining a focus on higher education institutions while prioritizing under-resourced universities and those primarily serving underserved students. In spring 2026, the program will broaden beyond higher education to include K-12 schools and public libraries. A collaboration with NC LIVE will enhance visibility and participation by targeting key conferences, encouraging diverse attendance and representation.

LSTA grant awards are made possible by funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. LSTA grants are awarded in response to the specific needs of North Carolina's public and academic libraries. These federal funds are investments that help libraries deliver relevant and up-to-date services to their communities.