On libraries, AI, and modern dependence on technology
I just started my last year of my MLIS (master of library and information science), and one thing that stuck out to me was the AI of it all. This website has had conversations about AI before, specifically in academia, most of which I agree with, but I also wanted to toss in this becauseā¦yikes.
So, in first semester, we covered a lot of basics. The history of librarianship and reference, helping and serving our community, etc. etc. however, I also took a class surrounding information technology for educators (see: using technology like Google classroom and captioning and green screens for educational purposes), and holy SHIT was the AI rampant. Even beyond this, which was using mostly educational AI to see HOW to use it to help our students, my other classes were just as AI filled. We talked at length about the possibility of AI taking our jobs, how we can combat it, and any tricks to use AI to our advantage.
Second semester and onward (this present day), I got a job working in the library of a nearby medical school. I love my job, but the one thing that stuck with me the most thus far is how lenient they are with AI usage. Our library system (Alma, it's often used in academic libraries) has an AI research assistant, which--shocker--doesn't fucking work. I took an entire class in my second semester about information management, and we spent a three hour class time talking about how AI doesn't work. This semester, I'm taking a reading comprehension for youths course, and the professor regularly says we can look in Chat GPT for answers. In a reading comprehension course. With a program that does not provide basic accurate comprehension.
Libraries are not going to be overtaken by AI, but we will be hindered by it. Every time a AI search companion accidentally imagines a document, or an article, or a resource, libraries will be the ones to take the fall. AI is killing how we do research, and how we provide reference work, and even how we comprehend things. Yes, libraries are more than just books and reference, but that is still a large part of what we do. A lot of the people I interact with don't want to do the searching for texts or materials, they just want to let AI search for them. The longer we continue feeding AI and giving it every query we can think of, the more we're bound to be a population without basic research or comprehension skills.
