FRIENDS OF THE DARTMOUTH LIBRARIES
Reality Check: A Guide to Navigating the AI Information Flood
Thursday, August 27, 6:30 p.m.
Join the Friends of the Dartmouth Libraries on Thursday, August 27, at 6:30 p.m. to
hear Laura Gardner, Teacher Librarian at Dartmouth Middle School, and Mariah Tarentino,
Development and Communications Coordinator at YWCA Southeastern Massachusetts, discuss
how artificial intelligence works, why it creates convincing misinformation, and how baked-in bias
shapes its answers. Audience members will learn practical tools to help confidently verify images
and text. The presentation will be held at Dartmouth North Branch Library.
Laura Gardner, a National Board Certified Teacher in Library Media, is the Teacher Librarian at
Dartmouth Middle School in Dartmouth, where she has worked for over 15 years. She was named a
School Library Journal (SLJ) School Librarian of the Year Co-finalist in 2016 and has served on
national book award committees, including the Newbery. Laura has attended multiple workshops
on the ethical, limited use of AI in education and regularly presents at the local and state levels on
teens, screens, and misinformation.
Mariah Tarentino serves as the Development and Communications Coordinator at YWCA
Southeastern Massachusetts and has over ten years of experience in the visual and communications
fields. Her academic foundation includes a B.A. in Art History with a focus in media theory and
contemporary sociopolitical art, complemented by additional continuing education classes at the
Rhode Island School of Design. Deeply engaged with contemporary visual culture, she maintains a
keen awareness of how AI is reshaping media representation, communication standards, and
creative industries.
The presentation will be held at Dartmouth North Branch Library, an accessible facility, which is
located at 211 Cross Road, Dartmouth. For more information, please e-mail
fodl.libraries@gmail.com.
