Conference Agenda

Online learning is a cornerstone of modern education, with many on-campus students enrolling in online courses. Online learning is no longer exclusive to distance students; it now applies to everyone. Libraries are crucial in empowering students to navigate and succeed in online learning environments. To address this need and support students, the Library 101 etext was developed as an innovative asynchronous resource to introduce students to essential library tools, resources, and research skills. The etext was designed to ensure that all students, regardless of their location, academic discipline, or familiarity with the library, have equitable access to the library’s resources.

Objectives

This presentation explores the development, implementation, and assessment of a Library etext designed to introduce students to library resources and foundational research skills. The etext supports learners across disciplines regardless of prior library knowledge. The library etext was developed as an asynchronous, standalone resource, allowing students to learn about the library at their own pace. By offering the etext in a non-course-specific environment, the etext strives to reduce library anxiety and address feelings of imposter syndrome around the knowledge of library resources. The etext promotes information literacy by integrating interactive content, inclusive design principles, and instructional strategies tailored to diverse student needs.

Methodology

Grounded in two approaches to teaching—Universal Design for Learning, which emphasizes creating flexible learning environments that accommodate diverse needs, and Backward Design, which focuses on identifying learning outcomes and then designing assessments and instruction to achieve those outcomes—the etext employs online learning best practices and techniques to engage learners through self-paced modules and multimedia content. The etext serves as a standalone resource for students and a supplementary tool for instructors integrating library instruction into their curricula across the University. Collaboration across library departments, as well as feedback from faculty and students, informs its development, ensuring it aligns with academic needs while promoting accessibility and inclusivity.

Assessment data collected from a short survey at the end of the e-text, which included over 500 student responses, highlight the e-text’s impact on improving research confidence, resource navigation, and critical evaluation skills.

Outcomes

Findings will be shared to illustrate how the Library 101 etext advances information literacy goals, enhances support for online learning, and promotes equitable access to library resources. This project highlights libraries' essential role in bridging information literacy, addressing challenges like library anxiety, and offering replicable strategies for institutions aiming to enhance digital learning initiatives and strengthen interdisciplinary partnerships. Attendees will leave with actionable insights into developing scalable, inclusive, and impactful online learning tools for library instruction, as well as practical assessments to measure their effectiveness

AI applications are widely anticipated to enhance metadata creation, extraction, and management (Cox, 2023; Mannheimer et al., 2024). However, as with any advanced technology, users’ skills and attitudes play a pivotal role in determining the final quality of the output. Librarians often emphasize the need for training (Hervieu & Wheatley, 2021), including those dedicated explicitly to AI tools (Cox, Pinfield & Rutter, 2019; Cox, 2023; Kautonen & Gasparini, 2024; Grote, Faber & Gasparini, 2024; Oluwayemi & Adeyinka, 2024). They perceive understanding AI’s potential and limitations, evaluation of its quality, bias, and ethics, and its critical application (Lo, 2024) as crucial elements of AI training.

This study aims to examine Polish librarians’ attitudes toward AI applications, focusing on the selected information literacy skills deemed necessary to produce high-quality metadata. Do library and information professionals consider themselves prepared to critically assess information sources, i.e., AI-generated metadata for accuracy, relevance, and bias, or do they believe additional training is essential to grasp and utilize AI systems fully? How do they envision the future role of librarians? Will critical thinking and expert judgment remain indispensable metadata creation and management skills, or will advanced AI mechanisms render such oversight unnecessary?

The answers to these questions will be based on data gathered through a survey conducted by the DCMI Education Committee. The survey explored the potential impact of AI on metadata creation and management within library and information services. The survey collected the opinions of library and information professionals worldwide in 14 languages, including 90 responses from information professionals in Poland (December 2024 and January 2025).

By presenting findings from a survey of Polish librarians and comparing them with results obtained from librarians in other countries, this study aims to shed light on these questions as a critical step prior to developing competencies and implementing AI tools on a broader scale. Our study provides professionals with a voice in expressing their concerns and anticipation about the potential of AI-supported metadata creation, management, and processing. The use of this tool also requires new types of skills, information literacy, and proficiency (Widén & Teixeira, 2023). The responses indicated a high level of respondents’ awareness of this topic, with the highest evaluation for Understanding how AI tools function and their limitations (4,67) and Evaluating AI-generated metadata for accuracy, relevance, and bias critically (4,63).

References

Cox, A. (2023). How artificial intelligence might change academic library work: Applying the competencies literature and the theory of the professions. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 74(3), 367-380.

Cox, A. M., Pinfield, S., & Rutter, S. (2019). The intelligent library: Thought leaders’ views on the likely impact of artificial intelligence on academic libraries. Library Hi Tech, 37(3), 418-435.

Grote, M., Faber, H. C. L., & Gasparini, A. (2024). Artificial intelligence in PhD education: New perspectives for research libraries. LIBER Quarterly: The Journal of the Association of European Research Libraries, 34(1), 1-29.

Hervieux, S., & Wheatley, A. (2021). Perceptions of artificial intelligence: A survey of academic librarians in Canada and the United States. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 47(1), 102270.

Kautonen, H., & Gasparini, A. A. (2024). B-Wheel – Building AI competences in academic libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 50(4), 102886.

Lo, L. S. (2024). Evaluating AI literacy in academic libraries: A survey study with a focus on US employees.

Mannheimer, S., Bond, N., Young, S. W., Kettler, H. S., Marcus, A., Slipher, S. K., ... & Sheehey, B. (2024). Responsible AI practice in libraries and archives: A review of the literature. Information Technology and Libraries, 43(3).

Oluwayemi, J. E., & Adeyinka, T. (2024). Librarians’ readiness for artificial intelligence integration in Nigerian academic libraries: A review of literature. Bibliotechnyi Visnyk(3), 92-99.

Widén, G., & Teixeira, J. (Eds.). (2023). Information Literacy and the Digitalization of the Workplace. Facet Publishing.

Libraries are increasingly looking to integrate innovative technologies to improve the efficiency of library services, access to information and user interaction in a time of accelerated digital transformation. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a variety of opportunities to optimize library operations, including, intelligent searching of digital archives, personalized reader recommendations, text analytics, virtual library assistants, and more. AI has a considerable potential for libraries as it can support in enhancing research and providing personalized recommendations, thus transforming the way people access and interact with information. Implementing AI in libraries allows them to adapt to technological progress, thus staying devoted to their mission of sharing knowledge and information and making them accessible to everyone. This research examines the application of Artificial Intelligence in libraries in Bulgaria. Its main objective is to identify the attitudes of Bulgarian library professionals towards the application of AI in their daily professional activities. The aim of the study is delivered based on a survey among library workers, experts and specialists, resulting in finding application of AI in various library activities – specific suggestions and recommendations for the use of AI by librarians in library work will be made to optimize various activities. Within this context, issues related to the types of tools, librarians' self-assessed level of familiarity with these technologies, and related challenges and perspectives are examined.

The study is based on 1. A systematic review of library websites to identify AI technologies already implemented and their functionality; 2. Analysis of data derived from a nationwide survey involving 150 librarians, experts, and practitioners, aimed at exploring their perceptions, attitudes, and degree of preparedness regarding the integration of AI into the Bulgarian library sector. The survey sample is drawn from a broad spectrum of library institutions, including community (chitalishte), municipal, regional, and academic libraries.

The methodology for achieving the objective of the study and addressing the research tasks includes the following specific methods: study and content analysis, comparative analysis, and synthesis of the obtained information. The paper provides the point of view that AI is crucial for libraries as it ensures that libraries remain innovative and efficient in meeting the evolving needs of their users.

References

Ajakaye, J. E. (2022). Applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in libraries. In Handbook of research on emerging trends and technologies in librarianship (pp. 73-90). IGI Global.

Borgohain, D. J., Bhardwaj, R. K., & Verma, M. K. (2024). Mapping the literature on the application of artificial intelligence in libraries (AAIL): a scientometric analysis. Library Hi Tech, 42(1), 149-179.

Hazarika, H., Achumi, A. S., & Konch, P. K. (2024, September 19). Exploring the Future Possibility of Generative AI in Libraries: A Comprehensive study. INFLIBNET’s Institutional Repository. Retrieved September 25, 2024, from https://ir.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/1944/2468

Hoving, S. (2024, August 1). AI in libraries: Improving tradition through innovation | For Librarians | Springer Nature. Retrieved September 21, 2024, from https://www.springernature.com/gp/librarians/the-link/technology-blogpost/ai-libraries-tradition-innovation/27407176

Kalcheva, R., Dimcheva, K., & Mihaylova, K. (2022). От Гутенберг до изкуствения интелект – истории от бъдещето. Развитие и тенденции в издателската дейност на Регионална библиотека „Пенчо Славейков“ – Варна. Izdatel, 24(2), 5–13.

Omame, I. M., & Alex-Nmecha, J. C. (2020). Artificial intelligence in libraries. In Managing and adapting library information services for future users (pp. 120-144). IGI Global.

Yancheva, G. (2024). A Research Project for Mapping the Digital Initiatives of Bulgarian Libraries. In Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage, 14, 273–280. https://doi.org/10.55630/dipp.2024.14.26

This paper explores the ways in which librarians working in higher education institutions in France prepare for their role as mediators of emerging generative AI technologies. Our processual perspective on technology appropriation has led us to adopt a longitudinal approach to the study of how librarians develop a position over time on AI training as part of their information literacy work. Having identified four « AI librarian-explorer » profiles (Favel-Kapoian, Kovacs, 2025) in the first phase of our research, we provide results in this paper of the second phase of analysis. We focus on the knowledge construction, network building and pedagogical practices of a group of French university librarians involved in developing AI training sessions in the Lyon area for undergraduate and graduate students. We show how individual and collective engagement with AI has been maintained, enhanced or hindered since 2023 due to a variety of institutional factors such as the presence (or absence) of a campus-wide AI framework, the creation of partnerships and spaces of exchange with university professors and other collaborators, and librarians’ participation in professional networking and co-training activities (Cox, 2023).

Objectives

We aim to analyse librarians’ emerging positions with regard to their role as GenAI mediators and trainers. Our goal is to understand how university librarians develop individual and collective frameworks for approaching AI in the process of their everyday information practices and professional interactions (Licoppe, 2008 ; Garfinkel, 2020). Through analysis over time we chart the creation and stabilisation of local and national ecosystems through which librarians develop their knowledge and competencies while making choices about which IL competencies to prioritize when addressing generative AI issues in student training.

Methodology

We follow an anthropological paradigm developed within information-communication research (Winkin, 1998), which we apply to the study of libraries as organisations (Delcambre, 2016). We use a qualitative methodological protocol (Kaufman, 2016) featuring semi-structured ethnographic interviews with librarians whom we have previously interviewed (N=4) thus allowing for a longitudinal study of a small population of professionals working in three universities, while expanding our corpus of interviewees (N=5) to members of the developing “AI ecosystem”; we also conducted content analysis of AI sessions offered by librarians in the context of IL training.

Outcomes

Our results show that after a burst of interest in generative AI in 2022 among the librarians interviewed, the dynamics have shifted to a more reasoned approach through collaborative knowledge sharing and pedagogical experimentation. Librarians remain prudent about their role as AI mediators, tending to address AI by means of the IL issues with which they feel the most legitimate: dangers of plagiarism, use of AI for searching. AI has become part of a regular agenda of internal discussion in order to promote a sense of “readiness” for future phases of IL course development. Certain “AI explorer” initiatives have however entered into a phase of relative stasis, a phenomenon which we attribute to the nature of the professional environement and the role of the library within the institution.

References

Cox, A., (2023). How artificial intelligence might change academic library work: applying the competencies literature and the theory of the professions. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 74, 3, 2023, 367-380.

Delcambre, P. (2016), Formes communicationnelles et opérations sociales : une approche par les échanges au travail (des échanges en travail), Revue française des sciences de l’information et de la communication, n° 9. DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/rfsic.2092

Favel-Kapoian, V. & Kovacs, S. (2025). Accompagner les usagers vers l’IA : défis et motivations des bibliothécaires-“explorateurs” de l’enseignement supérieur. In : E. Broudoux, G. Chartron, B. Epron (ed.), Information et intelligence artificielle, opportunités et risques. Louvain La Neuve, De Boeck supérieur, 2025, p. 225-238.

Garfinkel, Harold (2020), Recherches en ethnométhodologie, Paris : Presses universitaires de France.

Kaufmann, Jean-Claude (2016), L'entretien compréhensif, Paris : Armand Colin.

Licoppe, Christian (2008). « Dans le « carré de l’activité » : perspectives internationales sur le travail et l’activité », Sociologie du travail, Vol. 50, n° 3. DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/sdt.19353

Winkin, Yves (1996), Anthropologie de la communication, de la théorie au terrain, Bruxelles : De Boeck Université.

The emergence of AI and its integration into public services presents both challenges and opportunities for libraries. To effectively navigate this evolving landscape, libraries need to adopt a proactive approach, repositioning themselves as dynamic hubs of community engagement and knowledge sharing. This requires a shift from traditional roles to a more collaborative model, in which libraries act as “partnership brokers”, facilitating connections and promoting synergistic relationships between diverse stakeholders. This paper examines the concept of partnership brokering in the context of public libraries in Romania, drawing on the experience of the National Association of Librarians and Public Libraries of Romania (ANBPR) in the context of the implementation of the SHIFT: MetamorphoSis of cultural Heritage Into augmented hypermedia assets For enhanced accessibiliTy and inclusion project, funded under the Horizon 2021-2027 programme, in which ANBPR is a use case provider. This paper substantiates the importance of public libraries in leveraging resources, capitalizing on expertise, and activating community networks to improve their services, expand their reach, and ensure their continued relevance in the digital age. ANBPR’s experience offers valuable insights and best practices for other libraries seeking to adapt and thrive in the face of technological advances and societal changes. This approach emphasizes the importance of collaboration and knowledge sharing to meet the evolving needs of communities in the AI era.

The main focus of the implementation methodology is on partnership brokering, which involves actively facilitating connections and collaborations between diverse stakeholders, including government agencies, educational institutions, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and community groups. By acting as intermediaries and catalysts at the community level, libraries can foster synergistic relationships that leverage the resources, know-how, and networks of each partner. This collaborative approach allows libraries to improve their services, expand their reach, and more effectively address complex community challenges.

This research paper explores, through surveys and direct observation, the transformative potential of emerging AI-based technologies to enhance the accessibility of cultural heritage assets, focusing on the involvement of ANBPR as a use case provider at the national level. Beyond exploring accessibility, this paper also examines possible ways to monetize SHIFT’s innovative technological solutions. ANBPR plays a crucial role in the SHIFT project, acting as a key partner in piloting and implementing the project’s results within the Romanian library system. Their involvement is particularly significant, given their network of over 2800 libraries and their experience in promoting digital inclusion and accessibility. ANBPR’s contributions include: organizing workshops and training sessions, assessing user feedback and disseminating best practices, raising awareness of the importance of AI, and identifying strategies to monetize SHIFT’s technological solutions. ANBPR actively engages with vulnerable user groups to collect feedback on the effectiveness and usefulness of SHIFT technologies. This user-centered approach is essential to ensure that the solutions developed respond to the specific needs and preferences of diverse users. ANBPR and SHIFT partners thus contribute to building a more inclusive and accessible cultural landscape.

Aligning with the main objective of the SHIFT project focused on improving accessibility, ANBPR is particularly concerned with exploring potential strategies for monetizing the technological solutions developed within the SHIFT project, such as: offering premium features, such as advanced personalization options or personalized content recommendations, through a subscription-based model; Granting special licenses for cultural and creative institutions; Long-term partnerships with technology providers active in promoting AI; Developing personalized solutions for specific user groups, including vulnerable people; Providing government grants and subsidies, ensuring their sustainability and accessibility in the long term, etc. The SHIFT project, with the active involvement of ANBPR, demonstrates a huge potential for transforming the accessibility of cultural heritage in libraries through cutting-edge technological solutions based on AI and the constant cultivation of partnerships. By focusing on user needs and demands and exploring sustainable monetization strategies, the project can ensure that these innovative solutions reach a wide audience and contribute to a more inclusive and accessible cultural landscape for all.