We live in the age of robots. Thanks to advances in AI, it is now theoretically possible to, say, make an entire feature-length film without hiring any humans to write a screenplay, act or compose the score.
Naturally, AI has found its way into just about every area of modern life, including academia. Their use at colleges and universities has not been entirely free of controversy, but AI and automation have a number of practical applications in the academic library. Indeed, these tools have the potential to transform academic librarianship for the better.
For example, by responding to questions from users and directing them to specific resources, chatbots can enable library staff to focus on more difficult questions and perform tasks that require actual intelligence, not just the artificial kind.
See also:
-
Practical, responsible and human-centered: the future of AI in libraries
-
Building AI literacy: equipping libraries for the technological shift
-
How AI in public libraries can benefit librarians and patrons alike
Use cases for chatbot technology
Implementing chatbots in your academic library can significantly enhance the user experience, improve accessibility to library services, and allow you to allocate more time to in-depth support and other critical tasks.
As Mary Ellen Bates pointed out in a recent Springer Nature blog post, students and academic researchers can also make very effective use of chatbots:
Generative AI is particularly useful during the initial phase of a project, when the searcher may not yet know the scope and depth of the existing research in that area.
Virtual research assistants like Elicit.com, Scite and Consensus are trained on peer-reviewed articles and can help searchers navigate scientific literature, identify, and evaluate relevant papers, and generate insights and summaries.
Other uses for chatbots in academic libraries include:
-
24/7 help: Chatbots can provide round-the-clock support to students and faculty, answering frequently asked questions about library hours, locations of materials and basic inquiries. This use of digital assistants ensures that patrons can get help even outside of regular library hours.
-
Resource navigation: Chatbots can assist library patrons in locating specific books, journals, databases and other library resources within the institution's catalog. They can provide step-by-step guidance on how to use the library's search systems and find digital resources.
-
Research support: By offering initial assistance, chatbots can help library patrons identify relevant databases, suggest search strategies and provide links to research guides or tutorials. This can be particularly useful for novice researchers or those unfamiliar with the library's catalog.
-
Event and workshop information: Chatbots can keep patrons informed about upcoming library events, workshops and seminars. They can handle registrations, send reminders and provide details about the sessions.
-
Library account management: Users can interact with chatbots to check their account status, renew borrowed items, place holds on materials, and receive notifications about due dates or fines. This streamlines account management and reduces the need for in-person visits.
-
Technical support: Chatbots can offer troubleshooting assistance for common technical issues such as accessing electronic resources, navigating the library website or using library equipment.
-
Feedback and surveys: Collecting feedback and conducting surveys through chatbots can help you gather valuable insights into user satisfaction and identify areas for improvement. Chatbots can prompt users to share their experiences and provide suggestions.
-
Personalized recommendations: By analyzing user preferences and past interactions, chatbots can recommend books, articles and other materials that align with the user's interests and academic needs.
-
Accessibility: Chatbots can provide support for users with disabilities by offering alternative formats for information and assisting with navigation and resource access in a user-friendly manner.
-
Engagement and outreach: Chatbots can engage with users through social media platforms and library websites, promoting services and events. They can also facilitate interactive activities such as quizzes or contests to boost patron engagement.
How do chatbots work?
To communicate with users, chatbots use something called natural language processing (NLP).
According to Patrick Rafail and Isaac Freitas of Tulane University, NLP is the “use of computer technology to assist in or complete tasks involving the processing, categorizing, analyzing, or interpreting the meaning of human language.”
NLP has two primary functions when it comes to chatbots: natural language understanding (NLU) interprets inputs, and natural language generation (NLG) produces a language response.
Given their conversational nature, which reflects how humans are accustomed to communicating, many people find NLP technologies intuitively usable.
"The increasing popularity of NLP technology also means that when users encounter a chatbot in a digital environment, they are likely familiar with how to interact with it," according to researchers at the University of Calgary.
Chatbot adoption rates are fairly low
In spite of the numerous potential of applications of chatbots by college and university libraries, however, many are not taking full advantage of them.
The University of Calgary researchers we cited above, for example, conducted a web-based survey of 106 academic library websites in Canada to analyze the prevalence and characteristics of chatbot and live chat services they offered .
They found that, of all the institutions they looked at, only two were using chatbots for reference service while 78 provided a live chat service.
Expect an "explosion" of AI chatbot use
In an article they wrote for the journal Information Technology and Libraries, the researchers discussed a number of possible reasons for this low rate of adoption of chatbots, such as accessibility, privacy, cost and professional identity issues.
They noted, however, that as the technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see chatbots employed by more and more institutions:
At this time, most of the chatbots used in the library market are essentially interactive FAQs, where keywords entered by the user return suggestions to pages that may answer the query. However, with the recent emergence of advanced tools, domain-specific enhancements to chatbots leveraging artificial intelligence could cause an explosion of AI chatbot use in the library world.
Other roles for chatbots
In the Springer Nature blog post we quoted above, Bates outlined a few ways that librarians and other information professionals can make use of generative AI and chatbots as administrative assistants:
-
A chatbot can create first drafts of various types of content, including routine business correspondence, marketing materials and job descriptions.
-
Chatbots can proofread a report to identify grammatical errors or unclear syntax.
-
A chatbot is capable of prioritizing emails based on their importance; it can also provide templates for common email responses as well as automating the scheduling and sending of emails.
-
Video-conferencing platforms can use AI-based plugins for real-time transcription and summarizing.
Bates wrote:
Chatbots can even act as a technology “translator", rewriting system documentation to address the specific needs of different user groups. Of course, while generative AI tools can efficiently produce drafts, human review is crucial to ensure accuracy, quality control and alignment with organizational policies.
AI is just one of many essential tech tools
In addition to chatbots, it’s worth acknowledging that 21st-century institutions are also exploring other innovative ways to integrate technology into their services.
To meet the evolving needs of their communities, many libraries have expanded their collections to include digital books, audiobooks and other digital resources.
A growing number of libraries also offer digital news platforms such as PressReader, which empowers curious minds by giving them access to thousands of newspapers and magazines from around the world.
