West Harrison, New York

West Harrison Branch Library

Two free 90-minute AI classes for your patrons — no presenter fee for the library.

Taking the minutes, keeping the peace

Nobody wants the secretary job, because the secretary job is listening and writing at the same time, which was always two jobs wearing one hat, and the minutes were always late because of it. I took the job for the garden club anyway this year, on a condition I did not announce, which is that I have a machine doing the second half. The method, refined over eight meetings. I record the audio on my phone, with the announcement at the start that the recording exists only to help the minutes and is deleted after, which our bylaws permit and courtesy requires. I take almost no notes live, which means I actually participate for once, the secretary who is present is a novelty in this club. Within a day, the audio goes to the transcription, the phone does it free, and the transcript goes to the chat program with the standing instructions. Produce draft minutes in our usual format, motions stated exactly with mover and seconder, action items listed with owners and dates, discussions summarized without attribution unless a motion is involved, and flag anything ambiguous rather than inventing it. The flagging rule is the entire game, because a machine that guesses quiet in the recording is worse than a blank. The draft takes the machine ninety seconds and takes me forty five minutes of checking against my memory of the room, which is the part that keeps the minutes honest and mine. Eight meetings, eight sets of minutes within three days, a club record, and the motions quoted exactly for the first time in anyone's memory. The job nobody wanted became almost small. Almost.

AI, in plain English three small answers, no jargon

Why AI makes things up

A hallucination is the AI filling a gap with fluent invention. It is not lying; it is predicting plausible words. The defense is asking for sources, then actually checking them.

The one skill that unlocks AI

Briefing. Tell the AI who you are, what you want, and what shape of answer helps, the way you would brief a capable new hire. Vague in, vague out.

AI for accessibility

Live captions, spoken image descriptions, instant translation, voice control: AI's most moving wins are the ones that open doors that were closed.

The West Harrison Branch occupies the former Silver Lake Free Library, which opened its building at 2 Madison Street in 1927 and had served West Harrison readers since 1929. It became a branch of the Harrison Public Library in a 1967 merger, was expanded in 1964 and 1977, and was refreshed again in a 2016 renovation. At about 9,000 square feet, it is a full-service neighborhood library.

From the library's own site, source.

Visit or contact

  • Address: 2 East Madison Street West Harrison, NY 10604
  • Phone: 914-948-2092
  • Website and hours: harrisonpl.org
  • System: Westchester Library System

Hours change with the season, so we link the library's own site instead of copying a schedule that could go stale.

Get an AI class here

Path one: ask the library directly. Patron requests carry real weight with program coordinators, and their website and phone number are linked above.

Path two: tell us you want a class at West Harrison Branch Library and we will count you in when we schedule one there.

Tell us you want a class here →

What you’ll find there

  • Museum passes
  • Meeting and study rooms
  • E-books, audiobooks (Libby/OverDrive)
  • Streaming movies (Kanopy)

Collected from the library’s own website. Availability changes — confirm details on their site.

Two free AI classes for West Harrison Branch Library

Live, beginner-friendly, 90 minutes each. Your first two classes cost $0, including the presenter fee — bring us in, see how your community responds, then decide.

For library staff

Reply “send dates” to our email and we’ll send available times within a day. Or start here:

Email us for available dates →

No presenter fee. No contract. You provide the room, chairs and wifi — we bring everything else.

How booking works · browse all six class topics (no email needed)

I’m a patron of this library

Want a class here? Leave your email and we’ll tell you if one gets scheduled at West Harrison Branch Library — and pass the count to their program coordinator.

One email only when scheduling news exists. Or call the library and say you’d attend — patron requests carry real weight.

Heard about us from a neighbor? Forward this page to whoever books programs at your library.

Is this a sales pitch to our patrons?

No. Nothing is sold or pitched in the room, and patrons never pay to attend. Take-home materials are free.

What’s the catch on “two free classes”?

None, and here is the model: your first two classes cost you nothing, we collect attendance and feedback, and the next library books us because yours proved it works. Repeat classes after that are a modest honorarium sized to your budget.

What do we need to provide?

A room, chairs, and wifi. We bring the projector, adapters, a backup hotspot, printed handouts — every attendee leaves with a printed AI cheat sheet.

Library AI Courses teaches free, live, 90 minute AI classes at public libraries across the region. A listing here is a directory entry, not an endorsement by the library. Classes get scheduled when a library books one or enough patrons ask. Library staff: how booking works →