While only a small number of academic libraries across the globe have joined the growing wave of artificial intelligence adoption, that will likely change over the next year.
According to a report released Monday by the data company Clarivate, 7 percent of academic libraries are currently implementing AI tools, while nearly half expect to implement them over the next year. That outpaces plans for enhancing other library technology tools, including those used for digital preservation, management systems, collection development and collection services.
The survey, conducted from April to June, received roughly 1,500 responses from people in library-adjacent roles, including library deans and IT directors, roughly half from the United States. Around 80 percent of the respondents represented university libraries.
The majority of libraries that plan to implement AI tools said they’ll do it to help support student learning (52 percent) and research excellence (47 percent), or to make content more “discoverable” (45 percent).
Despite the interest in adoption, there are concerns. More than half those surveyed said the biggest challenge libraries will have is their lack of AI expertise, with 32 percent stating that no AI training is available at their universities. That number grows when looking at the U.S. respondents alone, with 43 percent lamenting the lack of training.
Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, librarians have heard a lot about their best steps to ethically implement generative AI. Some libraries have been ahead of their institutions when it comes to creating AI guidelines, while others have expressed an urgent need to address artificial intelligence’s ethical and privacy concerns. In April, the Association of Research Libraries released a list of guidelines to help academic libraries ethically develop and deploy the technology.
Respondents said budget constraints were just as worrisome as a lack of AI expertise—outweighing privacy concerns, research and academic integrity concerns, and copyright and IP infringement concerns.
Only about 10 percent of the total surveyed group said they do not believe AI will significantly impact staff roles or employment. More than half of respondents said AI will likely necessitate a “significant” effort to reskill and upskill their existing staff. More than one-third of respondents were concerned about staffers losing their jobs, with U.S. respondents showing the highest amount of concern.
The report touched on non-AI topics as well. More than half of libraries (55 percent) said they have diversity strategies, with slightly fewer (45 percent) having sustainability strategies. Shrinking budgets in general were the top concern of librarians, at 47 percent, followed by the impact of technology on library services and the changing needs of library patrons.
