AI Policies in Libraries

As generative AI continues to develop, libraries of all types will need to decide how they want to use it.

I encourage librarians to start having conversations about generative AI in the workplace. Questions you might want to ask are:

• How is generative AI being used in libraries across the world?
• How is generative AI being used in the fields we support?
• How will generative AI be used in libraries and in the fields we support?
• Where is AI already integrated into our workflow?
• How do we want generative AI integrated into our workflow? Why?
• How can generative AI support the values of librarianship?
• Where does generative AI undermine core principles of librarianship?

From these questions, and likely others that will come up, you may want to develop a policy on generative AI for your library.

When developing policies, my recommendation is to stay as broad and high-level as possible. For example, your workplace policy may be something like, “Employees will use AI in ethical manners as defined by the library/department.”

Then, library administration and departments can work together to define ethical uses. The ethical uses determined today, may need modification in a year, or six months, as the technology further develops and is integrated into more products we use. There may also be new discoveries about how the technology can be used that becomes integral to future goals.

It will be important to stay flexible with any current AI policy. Yet, I personally, believe it is important to have conversations about generative AI in libraries now because it is crucial that we establish guidelines to ensure consistent and ethical utilization of generative AI tools across the information professions, aligning their use with core values and principles.