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Contents
MARCH 2024 • Volume 44 • Number 2
USER ENGAGEMENT

features
4 Adopting Efficiency in Learning Objects
to Improve Outreach and Engagement
BY JEAN COOK

8 Interacting With the Past:

Using Technology to Innovate
4 8
the Rare Book Experience
BY ANNA KAETZ

13 Weighing the Merits of

AI for Information Access
BY TODD MILLER

23 Introducing the Texas

Oral History Database
BY STEVEN SIELAFF
13 23
31 EDTECH
Building an Affordable Statewide
Audio and Ebook Collection
BY SARA GOLD

columns
17 The Systems Librarian
Libraries Under Cyberattack 31 36
BY MARSHALL BREEDING

20 BiblioTech
Will AI Take Our Library Jobs?
BY SUZANNE S. LAPIERRE

feature
departments 36 Visual Literacy in an AI-Driven World
BY LESLEY S. J. FARMER
2 Editor’s Notes
Outreach With Innovative
Library Services columns
BY DICK KASER 35 Voices of the 41 Metrics Mashup 43 InfoLit Land
Searchers Measuring Is Information a
27 News Desk
Librarians as Research Impact Human Right?
BY ALISON A. TROTTA
Prompt Engineers on Public Policy BY WILLIAM BADKE

29 Noted & Quoted BY MARY ELLEN BATES BY ELAINE M. LASDA

BY ALISON A. TROTTA

Cover image created using Shutterstock AI infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 1

 Editor’s
by
dick
kaser
Notes  letter from the editor
Outreach With Innovative Library Services
All of the articles in this issue stress creative thinking in bringing new
services to library users, extending the exposure and reach of library col-
lections, and engaging users in new ways. Anna Kaetz, a librarian at the
Reynolds-Finley Historical Library at the University of Alabama–Birming-
ham, describes her work dusting off rare medical books and bringing them
forward into interactive library displays. When I heard Kaetz speak at In-
ternet Librarian Connect 2023, I told her she had uniquely blended the roles
of libraries and museums in her creative approach, which she shares in this
edition.
Likewise, Jean Cook, the science librarian and reference coordinator for
Ingram Library at the University of West Georgia, shares how she trans-
formed the library’s instructional materials by altering the way they were
produced. Subject experts who once created individual materials for their
disciplines now cooperate to leverage shared digital objects across fields,
providing greater efficiency and effectiveness.
Sara Gold, who serves both the Wisconsin Schools Digital Library Con-
sortium and the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium, describes how,
working with OverDrive, she made a comprehensive audio and ebook collec-
tion available to school students throughout the state.
Steven Sielaff, collections manager at Baylor University’s Institute for
Oral History, shares what he is doing to catalog and promote the oral his-
tories archived throughout the state of Texas, representing some 30,000
narratives.
Todd Miller, digital services librarian at the Niles-Maine District Li-
brary, shares his thoughts on the potential and perils of using AI tools to
increase access to library materials for those with special needs.
Suzanne LaPierre of Fairfax County Public Library debuts her new col-
umn, BiblioTech, which will appear every other issue.
I look forward to seeing you at Computers in Libraries 2024 this month
in Arlington, Va., where these and many other innovative approaches to li-
brary services will be presented and discussed further.
Dick Kaser, Executive Editor ❘ kaser@infotoday.com
CIL’s Mission Statement
CIL’s mission is to provide librarians and other information professionals with useful and insightful
articles about the technology that affects them, their institutions, and their patrons.
We aim to publish interesting stories, case studies, and opinions that are of professional value to
people working with technology in public, academic, special, and corporate libraries, as well as
archives and museums.
CIL is written by librarians for librarians, and it’s about technology all the time.
2 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
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 This system improves
library resources for
all by giving patrons
more learning modalities
and opportunities for
discovery, reducing
overall librarian
workload, and optimizing
maintenance for future
system updates.

4 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com

 Adopting Efficiency
in Learning Objects
to Improve Outreach
and Engagement

By Jean Cook

The University of West Georgia’s In-

gram Library has a robust subject librarian
program that focuses on tailored services and tools for
each department. While this creates strong personal relationships
and cooperation with faculty members, it can also result in duplicated librar-
ian effort, copious library resources to maintain and update, and unresolved poten-
tial in library services. By stepping back and reviewing our library liaison efforts as a
whole, Ingram Library has been able to reduce website maintenance, fully utilize librar-
ian skill sets, and identify opportunities for greater effectiveness of library resources

Independent Subject Experts

The Ingram Library subject librarian program is built around individual relation-
ships. Campus departments are assigned specific librarians as liaisons to foster out-
reach and collaboration for the benefit of students and faculty members. Department
assignments are determined by the librarian’s experience, education, and familiarity
with the needs of the programs. When possible, subject expertise is an important con-
sideration in recruitment across all departments of the library. As a result, departments
can develop personal relationships with their individual librarian and create the suite
of services and tools that would best support their needs. This might include regular
instruction toward certain classes, assignment development, mandated research con-
sultations, embedded or co-teaching librarians, and the creation of learning objects
targeted for specific classes and assignments.
As new tools such as Springshare’s LibGuides or LibWizard
services or video tutorial software such as Camtasia
were adopted by the library, it fell to the li-
brarians to learn the specifics and
best practices of that

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 5

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Adopting Efficiency in Learning Objects to Improve Outreach and Engagement
information technology and determine how they should
adapt it to their programs. In many ways, this was a boon.
No one librarian was solely responsible for the creation of
every research guide or tutorial. All departments on cam-
pus were evaluated simultaneously by librarians who were
familiar with their programs. Research guides were cus-
tom-made for the programs, classes, and scholars who would
use them. Video and web tutorials were developed at point
of need and distributed to the specific groups of patrons
who would best utilize them.
Fragmented Resources
Librarians and individual program support began to
segment the library tools in many ways. Some subject li-
brarians would have many individual research guides for
specific subtopics and individual courses. Other librarians
might choose to have one central research guide with tabs
or boxes concentrating on specific demands. Some librar-
ians were very comfortable with web technology such as
screen recording and video production, while others pre-
ferred to stick to text-based modalities. If a librarian made
a video tutorial for a specific class, it was left to them to
determine whether to include that in the research guides or
to simply send it to the professor. If a librarian created an
excellent write-up on a specific information literacy skill,
it was their choice whether to copy or link it in their other
guides. The subject librarians worked in silos of their own
expertise. While each program was supported, effort was
rarely shared across disciplines. This resulted in the dupli-
cation of effort as each subject librarian covered common
information literacy skills for their field.
A single video can serve many purposes.
For instance, the library had a single federated search on
its homepage. One librarian created a Jing (now TechSmith
Capture) video on its use. Another recorded and edited a
Camtasia video with animations, callouts, and subtitles.
Yet another recorded a library workshop through the course
delivery software with student questions. These were pub-
lished and distributed in a variety of ways. They might be
on YouTube or another campus-bought video-hosting sys-
tem. They might be pushed through social media or shared
only on a liaison’s research guide for a course. Meanwhile,
a team of librarians adopted the Library DIY project from
Portland State University Library to create a thorough text-
6 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
based guide to cover all common library research skills.
This included a search tutorial with screenshots. If a stu-
dent wanted help with federated search, which instructional
material they were likely to hit depended on which programs
they were enrolled in. Such common information literacy
skills were replicated many times in several modalities, but
most patrons would only hit one depending on their portal
to the library.
Toward Video Standardization
Instructional services and systems librarians recognized
this issue and the potential of the wide variety of skills
held by the local team. After the initial rush of the creation
and launch of these tools, Ingram Library’s digital toolkit
went through a series of improvements largely focused on
branding and the standardization of library resources. As
a result, the library adopted a single video archive to share
with all librarians. For the first time, librarians had a sin-
gle place to find and curate instructional videos. Rather
than create a new video every time a class needed a common
skill, librarians could search from one central database. If
that skill was not reflected, they could create the missing
video and share it with all for future use. Because of this,
the scripts and scope of video tutorials began to naturally
evolve from being tailored for a single use to being help-
ful in a variety of contexts. A video on retrieving full-text
journals can be used for many disciplines. It does not need
to refer to a specific course or discipline to be effective.
The journal locator and ILLiad are the same tools re-
gardless of program. When different librarians were cover-
ing the speech pathology, psychology, and nursing depart-
ments, the library ended up with several bespoke
videos on shared topics such as search strategies
in prestigious medical databases. As videos and
guides were updated to reflect changes in data-
bases and the library website, they were gener-
alized to be applicable to any student who need-
ed to use those resources. Department outreach
and instruction were still specific and tailored to
each class, but librarians now had a greater suite
of tools to couch within their own framework of
examples and context.
For example, a video covering services for dis-
tance education students might be created by one
librarian for use in an online graduate orientation course.
That same video can be embedded in the research guide for
that program as well as any other program with a large dis-
tance education component. A subject librarian can combine
it with another video covering the major discipline-specific
databases to create their own orientation tutorial for pro-
grams in their area. It can be combined with videos on the
library building and catalog to produce a library tutorial
for undergraduate students. The Library DIY project can
use it to supplement the text coverage of the same informa-
tion. That way, students who prefer video or audio can get
the material in the method that best engages them. Where
 Adopting Efficiency in Learning Objects to Improve Outreach and Engagement
once a video might reach the 30 students in a single gradu-
ate cohort, it now reaches more patrons while minimizing
the duplication of effort among librarians.
Research Guide Standardization
Librarians at the University of West Georgia also con-
ducted usability studies on the research guides to identi-
fy stumbling blocks and opportunities for greater student
engagement. These studies found that students were con-
fused by the inconsistent labeling and formatting for the
research guides. Students completing core classes might hit
several research guides designed for departments with dif-
fering needs. A series of structural changes were
implemented that respected librarian autonomy
while taming the chaos. Much of this work could
be started and often completed by librarian ad-
ministrators while soliciting all librarian input
on their specific areas. As such, the guides could
be standardized while respecting each subject
librarian’s expertise. The research guides were
inventoried, and older, unused guides were re-
viewed and removed. Smaller guides were com-
bined or merged with larger discipline guides to
increase their visibility. Database pages were
specifically highlighted on the library website.
The overall design was standardized to a consis-
tent format, especially regarding header, font,
and heading tag choices. This effort improved the
readability and accessibility of these pages for
Research guide standardization
tools such as screen readers. They made a single
shared Get Help page for all guides that linked to
the library chat and reference consultation services.
Learning Object Inventory
The latest phase of improvement for Ingram Library has
been a general inventory of all learning objects created by
the library and an examination of the efficiency of the re-
search guides and library website. Librarians now have a
full understanding of all of the materials currently being
utilized on the website across all disciplines. As library
staff and campus organization has changed, many of the
subject librarians have evolved their practice and adopted
different departments throughout their tenure. This inven-
tory helped them discover the plethora of resources that
have been created and identify the most commonly repli-
cated tools. They are now developing a centralized database
of guide pages and boxes that can be linked and mapped
into appropriate guides across campus. This standard Lib-
Guide will augment but not replace the existing research
guides used by departments and librarians. Librarian ad-
ministrators can do most of this work by collecting from
existing materials identified in the inventory and supple-
menting guides and tutorials that remain after review by
subject librarians. For instance, each guide’s page on find-
ing books might include individual mapped boxes contain-
ing the HTML code for a built-in catalog search, a video on
| COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES
using the catalog, and the library’s DIY text guide on the
service. The top text box for each page would be reserved
for the subject librarian’s tailored guidance for that disci-
pline. All mapped tools could be easily distributed, tracked,
and updated from one site shared among all of the librar-
ians. If the catalog search breaks, it can be fixed in one lo-
cation and pushed automatically to every guide. If the in-
terlibrary loan system changes, that video can be updated
once and reflected on each distance education page where
it is mapped. As it currently stands, such updates must be
identified and individually fixed by each subject librarian
as they can.
Data Efficiency
In computer science, website and database design begins
with normalization, i.e., the identification of all of the data
and relationships that need to exist so designers avoid the
replication of data. If you need a piece of data, you continu-
ally retrieve it from the original location rather than dupli-
cating it over and over again. That way, if you need to use
the item or update it, you can do so once, and it is updated
for every other item that uses that piece of data. Ingram
Library is adopting this approach in its library resources.
The objective is not to circumvent subject librarian exper-
tise and academic freedom, but to supplement existing ser-
vices by embracing efficiency in library tools. This system
improves library resources for all by giving patrons more
learning modalities and opportunities for discovery, reduc-
ing overall librarian workload, and optimizing maintenance
for future system updates. n
Jean Cook
(jcook@westga.edu) is the science librarian
and reference coordinator at the University of
West Georgia. She has degrees in physics, math,
computer science, and library science, with
interests in news literacy and student achievement.
infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 7
 With such important materials in the collection, the [library’s] staff
juggles the difficult task of ensuring the physical preservation and
security of the collections, while also providing access.

8 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com

 Interacting
With the Past:
Using Technology to
Innovate the Rare
Book Experience
By Anna Kaetz

O
ver the centuries, rare books and manuscripts
have established an important symbolism.
Through them, we can connect to the great
minds and events of the past. Thus, the role
of libraries as stewards of information, access, and, spe-
cifically within this article, the history contained in
special collections grows more and more essential with
each passing year. American author Sidney Sheldon
best explained their importance when he said, “Librar-
ies store the energy that fuels the imagination. They
open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore
and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality
of life.”1 As we progress further into the 21st century,
the nexus between libraries and technology continues
to solidify and spark endless possibilities.
A well-established partnership between technology
and user engagement in libraries provides an increas-
ing opportunity to highlight rare and historical materi-
als beyond the pages through innovation and emerging
technologies. The use of various technologies to supple-
ment physical material promotes both access and the

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 9

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Interacting With the Past: Using Technology to Innovate the Rare Book Experience

long-term preservation of material. The University of Ala- tion. Additionally, RFHL fosters community and research
bama–Birmingham’s Reynolds-Finley Historical Library— engagement through guided tours, a funded research fel-
a collection of more than 21,000 rare books and manuscripts lowship for both internal and external audiences, and ro-
pertaining to the history of the health sciences—contin- tating exhibits, both physical and virtual. With such im-
ues to explore and adopt new technologies to feature collec- portant materials in the collection, the RFHL staff juggles
tions and enhance the overall user experience. This article the difficult task of ensuring the physical preservation and
will discuss various technologies and platforms that have security of the collections, while also providing access. The
been implemented into exhibits and collection promotion, use of digitization and emerging technologies to exhibit
along with statistical evidence, when possible, to gauge user rare materials has become an important aspect of achiev-
participation. ing these priorities in many ways.
Along with our general mission, the staff of RFHL has
The Reynolds-Finley Historical Library worked to create digital strategies to enhance access to
The Reynolds-Finley Historical Library (RFHL) was es- collections and provide greater interaction with materi-
tablished in 1958 when esteemed radiologist and Alabama als. Whether choosing digitization candidates or selecting
native Dr. Lawrence Reynolds gifted a large donation of new technologies, the physical preservation of the RFHL
more than 5,000 rare books and manuscripts on the history collection is key and impacts every decision that’s made.
of the health sciences, dating back to the mid-14th century, Second to this is access to the collections. Users often gain
to the University of Alabama School of Medicine, which physical access to the library via appointment or class vis-
eventually became the University of Alabama–Birmingham its, but we also support collection access by establishing and
(UAB). In 2014, the family of Dr. Wayne Finley gifted the li- maintaining robust digital collections and virtual exhibits
brary a sizeable endowment, for remote users. Another way we offer remote access is by
and the library was official- implementing emerging technologies whenever possible to
ly renamed the Reynolds- enhance the user experience. Finally, we work to identify
Finley Historical Library. and offer technologies with an interactive element to better
Since then, the collection engage users and increase the overall exhibit experience.
has expanded to more than
21,000 items and continues Interactive Technology in Collections and Exhibits
to grow in both size and rar- The use of interactive technology is becoming more
ity. The vibrant and diverse prominent in education, exhibitions, and everyday life.
This mid-14th-century manuscript,
Regimen Sanitatis ad Regem collection contains a vari- Who can forget the craze of 2016 with the launch of Poké-
Aragonum by Arnoldus de ety of important works, in- mon GO, the AR mobile game that revolutionized the popu-
Villanova, is among the earliest
cluding seven medieval and lar gaming franchise? In 2019, the Louvre offered its first
known works held in the Reynolds-
Finley Historical Library. Renaissance manuscripts, VR experience with Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass, which
31 incunabula, an impres- showcased the iconic masterpiece in a new way.2 In 2021, a
sive Middle Eastern medi- survey was sent out to museum professionals that “focused
cal collection, and a recent- on new technologies, tools, and digital formats for exhibi-
ly formed African American tions planned to be implemented by museums worldwide.
medical collection. With According to the study, 78 percent of surveyed institutions
such important knowledge intended to use audio and video elements as of May 2021.
in our care, the RFHL staff Online exhibitions and visual information displays (such
strives to use these resourc- as touchscreens) … planned to be introduced by 67 percent
es to enhance pedagogy, and 59 percent of respondents, respectively.”3
UAB’s educational and com- While these are just a few examples, there are countless
munity impact, and general others that promote the effectiveness of interactive technol-
research support. ogies to enhance an audience’s interest and engagement. As
Because RFHL has a ro- this article will show, UAB’s libraries have also striven to
bust collection that encom- garner interest by integrating interactive technology into
This beautiful image is an passes many disciplines, exhibits whenever possible.
illuminated title page from a it largely supports the ad- One important software program that was implemented
Quran held in the Reynolds-Finley
Historical Library’s Middle East
vancement of pedagogy and at UAB’s libraries in January 2022 and has been very ef-
medical collection. the university curriculum fective in showing digitized rare books and manuscripts is
through a strong concen- Turning the Pages (TTP), shown on page 11. This software
tration on the history of the health sciences, the medical allows users to interactively flip through rare books via a
humanities, and the book culture. Each semester, RFHL touchscreen as if they were viewing the item at the library.
hosts UAB classes and student research visits, and it sup- Although it in no way replaces the experience of physically
ports related class assignments that highlight the collec- engaging with rare materials, it has several uses, includ-

10 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com

 Interacting With the Past: Using Technology to Innovate the Rare Book Experience | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

This software allows users to interactively flip

through rare books via a touchscreen as if they
were viewing the item at the library.

ing providing an interactive experience to remote users who
are unable to visit the library in person and, again, provid-
ing additional preservation of the materials by offering an
alternative viewing option. There are many great features
that are available with this software, such as 1) it can sup-
plement digitized materials by embedding different media
formats, including video/audio clips, transcriptions, pho-
tographs, etc., 2) it can run on a web browser or in offline
kiosk mode depending on internet accessibility, and 3) there
is a separate platform designed for the visually impaired
to promote uninhibited accessibility.
Additionally, this software is useful in gathering sta-
tistics to track exhibit visibility. When set in offline mode,
TTP provides statistics to track user engagement with the
displayed materials. This is extremely helpful when assess-
ing public interest in exhibits and whether the interactive
elements are effective in garnering additional interest. In
an exhibit that was up for just more than 5 months, TTP
tracked more than 700 interactions with the displayed digi-
tized letters and accompanying videos. While this number
might be inflated due to the actual breakdown in data col-
lection (tracks item/video selection, item load, page turn-
ing, etc.), this still revealed substantial public interest in
having the interactive technology in exhibits and thus jus-
tified its inclusion.
In addition to featuring TTP in exhibits, RFHL has im-
plemented other technologies. In Mental Health: A Com-
plicated History, an exhibit that was featured
in fall 2022, key themes in psychology were dis-
cussed, including the development of early di-
agnostic methods such as the Rorschach inkblot
test; the misdiagnosis of mental diseases for so-
cial or political reasons, such as in the case of
female hysteria; an overview of PTSD and war-
time trauma; and the history of asylums, inva-
sive treatments, and psychoanalysis therapy. In
addition to rare materials from the library’s his-
torical collections, a mockup virtual Rorschach
test was featured on a touchscreen located at the
center of the exhibit. This was created based on a
game held in the Alabama Museum of the Health
Sciences (PERSON-ALYSIS) and was built with
Qualtrics to track its usage. Although loosely
based on the actual board game, it was adjusted This is a screenshot of the Turning the Pages library, guides.library.uab.edu/TTP
to include key gaming differences to avoid copyright in-
fringement. Also, a disclaimer was provided that notified
users that this game was not intended as a clinical psycho-
logical assessment, but merely as a fun and interactive ex-
perience. This simulation promoted the game, while also
keeping it secure in museum storage. On display for the
fall semester, the game tracked more than 80 interactions,
which reflected a good deal of use.
To celebrate Halloween in 2021 and to experiment with
VR in RFHL, we created the Halloween: A Spooky Tour ex-
hibit. This was done using a 360-degree camera that cap-
tured various angles of the library space and some Hal-
loween-related rare books that were exhibited on the front
and back reading room tables. Using a virtual environment
conversion software, Kuula, the 360-degree images were
turned into a completely virtual library tour that could be
viewed in a web browser or with a VR headset. In the web-
browser version, hotspots were included, with each item dis-
played to provide visual or textual information and to allow
users to visit different areas of RFHL. The software also
allows for embedded animations and graphics to be added,
so additional imagery such as skeletons, tombstones, and
witches from other rare books in the library were featured
throughout the space. Although this software was origi-
nally created for VR real estate views, and certainly other
software has emerged since, Kuula has features that were
useful for a pilot experiment and was successful for that

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 11

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Interacting With the Past: Using Technology to Innovate the Rare Book Experience

[W]e work to identify and offer technologies with

an interactive element to better engage users
and increase the overall exhibit experience.

purpose. Since it was published in lections of RFHL, the Alabama

October 2021, the tour/exhibit has Museum of the Health Sciences,
been viewed 550 times. and UAB’s archives. Additionally,
Another technology being ex- it will provide the opportunity to
plored in RFHL is AR. There are continue testing various technolo-
currently two AR prototypes that gies in exhibits and better assess
are a result of a collaboration be- user engagement. This continual
tween the staff of RFHL and Dr. assessment will inform the UAB’s
Matthew Lewis, an assistant pro- historical collections team, as well
fessor at Ohio State University. The as UAB’s libraries, on evolving in-
imagery for these prototypes was novative ways to highlight and cel-
taken from an incunabulum from ebrate important rare materials,
1497, Hortus Sanitatis, which is a which represent the intellectual
natural history encyclopedia that and historical growth of humanity
contains more than 1,000 hand- through the centuries. n
painted woodcuts depicting vari-
ous plants, stones, and beings from
realistic to fantastical. A popular Anna Kaetz
image from this work—and one (akaetz95@uab.edu) is
of those selected for an AR proto- an assistant professor
type—is the merknight. One of the This is a picture taken of an alumnus with the AR merknight and digital strategy and
most recent ways to explore the use during a high school class visit to the Reynolds-Finley metadata librarian for the
Historical Library. Reynolds-Finley Historical Library at
of this technology is offering stu-
dents the option to take a selfie with the University of Alabama–Birmingham.
In her current position, Kaetz has assisted with the expansion
the merknight. This was tested with a high school medieval
of the virtual presence of the library and collections for more
studies class, in which they were given the option to pose
than 2 years. Her areas of interest include exploring emerging
with the AR merknight and take a selfie. They were able to technologies and specifically their use in library exhibitions and
sign a media release form or simply to have the picture for pedagogy, using linked data and descriptive metadata to diversify
their own interest. This was quite popular, as it added a fun special collections, and coordinating the long-term digitization
element to the class and gave the students an additional way efforts of rare materials. Kaetz has two golden retrievers, Teddy
to interact with the material. Also, the picture taken with and Ro, who keep life fun and energetic.
the teacher (see above), a UAB alumnus, was posted to so-
cial media as an additional promotion for the RFHL collec-
tions. While we will continue to explore ways that AR can Endnotes
be used—including featuring prototypes on the library web- 1. “Libraries Store the Energy That Fuels the Imagination … ,” Librarianship
Studies & Information Technology, July 27, 2019, librarianshipstudies
site and incorporating the QR codes either in the library or
.com/2019/01/libraries-store-energy-that-fuels.html.
specific exhibits—this was a fun way to showcase the col-
2. Dominique de Font-Réaulx, “‘Mona Lisa Beyond the Glass’: the Louvre’s
lections that students really seemed to enjoy. First Virtual Reality Experience,” Louvre, Oct. 23, 2019, louvre.fr/en/
As we continue to explore new ways in which we can uti- what-s-on/life-at-the-museum/mona-lisa-beyond-the-glass-the-louvre-s-
lize emerging technologies in our libraries, there are new first-virtual-reality-experience.
opportunities arising. In spring 2024, a new gallery space 3. Museum Booster, “New Technologies, Tools, and Digital Formats for
Exhibitions Planned to be Implemented by Museums Worldwide as of
will open in Lister Hill Library—one of UAB’s libraries—to
May 2021,” Chart, Aug. 10, 2021, Statista, Accessed Dec. 14, 2023,
exhibit historical collections materials and feature emerg- statista.com/statistics/1287736/new-technologies-for-exhibitions-to-be-
ing technologies. This gallery space will showcase the col- implemented-by-museums-wordlwide.

12 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com

Weighing the Merits of
AI for Information Access

AI tools are being used

to develop technology
for expanding access
to people with
disabilities.

By Todd Miller

T
he advent of AI technology has led to breakthroughs
that are changing the way people interact with tech-
nology, data, and information via the internet. This
is evident in libraries as well as in many other information
fields. There are 24/7 customer service chatbots and algo-
rithms that have been trained to scan a handwritten docu-
ment and transform its text into audible speech in hundreds
of languages. This technology promises to make more in-
formation available to more people.
AI technologies have been used in services to expand
accessibility, widening the options for personalization of
web experiences and making labor-intensive tasks faster


infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 13

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Weighing the Merits of AI for Information Access

and more efficient. While these new tools have the poten- guages, it [does much better] translating to Spanish than
tial to unlock access and make possible what once was not, it does translating to Arabic. I think one view of the world
it’s also important to think about their unintended, poten- is to go, ‘Wow, that’s not really great.’ My view of the world
tially negative, impacts as we consider their deployment. in this case is, ‘We now have a book in Arabic that wasn’t
in Arabic before. It’s not perfect, and we’ll work towards
Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection making it better.’ ”
The Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection is the
result of a collaboration among Project Gutenberg, Micro- Microsoft’s Seeing AI
soft, and MIT. It used neural text-to-speech technology to Accessibility is a main component of digital equity. The
create e-audiobooks of thousands of works that are in the digital divide is often presented as a gap that separates
public domain. This initia- those who have access to broadband internet and connect-
tive, which has trained its ed devices and those who don’t. However, according to the
machine learning on speech Internet Society Foundation, digital equity also “encom-
from audiobooks in Project passes not only access to devices and the Internet, but the
Gutenberg’s collection, has ability to use and benefit from them effectively.”
the ability to provide people AI tools are being used to develop technology for expand-
with access to thousands of ing access to people with disabilities. One such tool is Micro-
books that may have been soft’s Seeing AI application, introduced in 2017. The app can
previously unavailable to analyze an image and describe what is in that image. Seeing
them. By using this text-to- AI also can audibly read short pieces of text and pages in
speech technology, books a book, scan and describe barcodes of products, recognize
can be digitized and made established human faces, and count currency in images.
into audiobooks in a matter When investigating novel AI technologies and assessing
of moments. whether to adopt them into library operations, there are sev-
In the initiative’s accom- eral factors to consider, such as the provenance of the infor-
panying paper (“Large-Scale mation, the conditions in which it was created or verified,
Automatic Audiobook Cre- and whether it was developed by those who are the intend-
ation” by Brendan Walsh, ed users. In Ashley Shew’s
et al.), the creators illustrate book, Against Technoable-
the high cost and time-con- ism: Rethinking Who Needs
suming nature of tradition- Improvement, she makes
Screenshot of The Call of the Wild ally recorded audiobooks the argument that able-bod-
by Jack London in the Project
Gutenberg Open Audiobook and the low quality of pre- ied people should not be the
Collection via Project Gutenberg’s viously computer-gener- ones developing tools and
Apple Podcasts feed ated audiobooks. They say technologies for disabled
that “our system combines people. “No non disabled
recent advances in neural text-to-speech, emotive reading, person without experiential
scalable computing, and automatic detection of relevant text knowledge of disability and
to create thousands of reasonable-sounding audiobooks.” In engagement with the dis-
this aspect, the benefits are clear. abled community should be
When listening to finished audiobooks that have been re- making claims or decisions
corded by voice actors and by AI, though, a comparison is about the future of disabil-
hardly apt. While AI recordings are leaps and bounds bet- ity and disabled people,”
ter than previous iterations of computer-generated text-to- Shew writes.
voice recordings, there is still a nonhuman element to the This isn’t meant to im-
audio voice, one that lacks the inflection that an experi- ply that all AI technolo-
enced, human voice actor may bring to the work. gies are being developed
I interviewed Will Gaviria Rojas, co-founder of Coactive by nondisabled people. But
AI, a B2B solution that focuses on the creation and struc- it is imperative that when A screenshot of Microsoft’s Seeing
turing of metadata in images and video. He said that this these technologies are be- AI application describing a user
line of criticism may be missing the point. “The key piece ing used to expand access image

is understanding that just like anything else, [AI] is just
a tool. And like any tool, the first version maybe isn’t per-
fect, but we’ll get better at it over time. And understand-
ing that there are some limitations. Maybe in the first set
of an AI translator that translates a text to multiple lan-
for any number of differ-
ent communities or users, including people with disabili-
ties, we need to look closely at the technology, its creators,
and the potential blind spots of those developers and of the
product itself.

14 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com

 Weighing the Merits of AI for Information Access
While these new tools have the potential to unlock
access and make possible what once was not, it’s
also important to think about their unintended,
potentially negative, impacts. …
Microsoft has been working collaboratively with the dis-
abled community since the Seeing AI app launched. “De-
veloped with inclusive design in mind, the app is tested by
and with the disability community via nonprofit organiza-
tions around the world,” Suzanne Choney writes for Micro-
soft.com. It’s easy to imagine how such powerful technol-
ogy could be used to assist people in their everyday lives,
as well as how it could be used in a library setting. Imagine
a library where patrons can read any book on the shelf with
the assistance of similar technologies. Much like with the
Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection, the poten-
tial for expansion of access to information is indisputable.
I interviewed Jessica BrodeFrank, the portal manager at
Chicago Collections Consortium. She said that a major con-
cern for libraries adopting such technologies is that many
of the AI products and algorithms currently available to li-
braries are off-the-shelf, meaning that they were developed
by third parties. But how? “AI comes with concerns about
fairness and transparency within
the training models, but also con-
cerns about labor practices,” said
BrodeFrank. “Though most re-
searchers who focus on ethical AI
have focused on the debiasing of
data and models, and fostering
transparency and model fairness, it
is also critical to discuss the exploi-
tation of labor in the AI industry.
For institutions who wish to use AI The National Archives and Records Administration,
Washington D.C., archives.gov/dc
technology, it is difficult to be able
to feel like one can do so ethically
when we are unaware of the labor conditions of those build-
ing the models; as well as the bias of what is included in the
training model, what is excluded from the training model,
and even where the data for training models come from.”
According to Fairwork, a research organization at Ox-
ford University, “The risks associated with AI in the work-
place range from reductions in job quality and spikes in
work intensity to workplace discrimination and ubiqui-
tous surveillance. For many workers, the introduction of
AI systems to their workplaces leads to extremely unfair
outcomes.” Many AI workers are part of the gig economy,
which means they often don’t receive the same benefits as
| COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES
employees of the company contracting them. They are work-
ing, in varying conditions, on the training of the AI mod-
els. This work is largely unseen by the end user of a prod-
uct, and the working conditions are unknown to that user.
BrodeFrank says that until institutions such as libraries
and museums have a more transparent understanding of the
work and working conditions that go into the training of
AI tools, they should be careful when employing these tech-
nologies. “Clearly there are a lot of ethical considerations
around artificial intelligence that we, as a mission based
non-profit, want to be extremely sensitive and thoughtful
about before jumping in.”
AI in NARA
According to an October 2023 article by Todd Bishop for
GeekWire, the National Archives and Records Administra-
tion (NARA) has entered into a collaboration with Microsoft
to develop an AI bot whose purpose will be to extract DD-214
forms that contain individual mili-
tary records. In accordance with a
2023 Executive Order from Presi-
dent Joe Biden, NARA affirms that
“the growing adoption of AI must
coincide with the launch of prac-
tices that ensure AI is deployed in
a manner that fosters public trust
and protects the rights and values
of the American people.” While
there aren’t many details available
for this future endeavor, NARA
has published a NARA AI Inven-
tory (available at archives.gov) that describes AI use cases
within the organization. Each record includes identifying
information, contact information, summaries, developmen-
tal stage, and AI techniques that will be employed.
With this level of transparency, we could be getting clos-
er to what BrodeFrank sees as a main component of the use
and application of AI integration in libraries and other in-
formation centers. In a broader view, the application of AI
technologies into archival work seems like it would be a
natural fit. To have the ability to quickly generate metada-
ta for large volumes of materials would increase the num-
ber of materials that an archivist could process, reducing

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 15
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Weighing the Merits of AI for Information Access
[M]any of the AI products and algorithms
currently available to libraries are off-the-shelf,
meaning that they were developed by third
parties. But how?
big backlogs. Products and tools that can analyze an image
and generate a description, such as Gaviria Rojas’ Coact-
ive AI, could provide an invaluable assist to that process.
Imagine the human hours needed to analyze and tag 1,000
images compared to the time that instead would be need-
ed to check that work for accuracy. This could change the
workflow for archivists and allow them to process more ma-
terial than ever before.
I interviewed Cecilia Salvatore, the coordinator of the
archives/cultural heritage certificate program at Domini-
can University. She said that what is at risk of being lost in
such a process is the context of a collection, which a trained
archivist would be able to provide. “The problem with ar-
chival records is that you still need to understand the con-
text in which they work. These are original records. So, for
example, someone from the International Council on Ar-
chives says, ‘You know, we can use the machine to help us.’
But you really need someone to authenticate the records.
And so archivists are very much needed. AI is going to help
them in their work, and it’s going to help them with their
materials, but contextualizing the data is a lot more diffi-
cult than in any other field. You really need to talk about:
Where did it come from? Whose collection did it come from?
Why was it taken?”
“Archives and AI: An Overview of Current Debates and
Future Perspectives,” a survey and its corresponding paper,
reiterates the concern for needed contextualization, listing,
“data provenance, appraisal, contextualisation, transpar-
ency, and accountability” as “topics where archivists have
a rich tradition to offer.” In an ideal environment, infor-
mation professionals in the archival field would have AI
tools that serve all of these needs, letting archivists be more
productive and create more efficient workflows, as well as
provide transparency on the development and ethics of AI
products. This would allow for more focus on context and
provenance.
Concluding Thoughts
When examining an AI tool and determining its useful-
ness in either our personal or professional lives, there are
several helpful questions we can ask ourselves. Who devel-
oped this tool? For what purpose? What may be the hidden
costs? The terms and conditions that users agree to are long,
16 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
complex, and often being updated, but they also are a win-
dow into what is happening to user data.
Transparency can be hard to find, and many recent news
stories talk about developing AI technologies at full speed.
Within that framework, time for nuanced assessment may
be difficult to come by. A carefully cautious approach to us-
ing these tools may be the way forward for libraries, even
if that means driving with a foot on the brake. We should
not ignore them, but we also can’t afford to throw caution
and library ethics to the wind with the accelerator pressed
to the floor. n
Resources
Walsh, Brendan M., et al. “Large-Scale Automatic Audiobook Creation.” arXiv
(Cornell University), Sept. 2023, doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2309.03926.
“What Is Digital Equity?” Internet Society Foundation, 26 June 2023,
isocfoundation.org/2023/06/what-is-digital-equity.
Choney, Suzanne. “Bonjour! ¡Bienvenidos! Seeing AI Expands to 5 New
Languages—Source.” Source, 3 Dec. 2023, news.microsoft.com/source/
features/work-life/bonjour-bienvenidos-seeing-ai-expands-to-5-new-
languages.
Shew, Ashley. Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement.
W.W. Norton and Co., 2023.
Oxford Internet Institute. Fairwork for AI. www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/projects/
fairwork-for-ai.
Bishop, Todd. “How the National Archives Is Using AI to Make Records More
Accessible in the Digital Age.” GeekWire, 27 Oct. 2023, geekwire
.com/2023/how-the-national-archives-is-using-ai-to-make-records-more-
accessible-in-the-digital-age.
Inventory of NARA Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Cases. The National Archives
and Records Administration, Sept. 2023, archives.gov/data/ai-inventory.
Colavizza, Giovanni, et al. “Archives and AI: An Overview of Current Debates
and Future Perspectives.” Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage,
vol. 15, no. 1, Dec. 2021, pp. 1–15. doi.org/10.1145/3479010.
Todd Miller
(tmiller@nileslibrary.org) is the digital services
librarian at the Niles-Maine District Library. He
holds an M.L.I.S. from Dominican University in
River Forest, Ill. In Miller’s current role, he is an
advocate for digital equity and media literacy in
the library community.
 The Systems
by
marshall
breeding
Librarian
 Independent Consultant and Founder of Library Technology Guides
Libraries Under Cyberattack
THE ATTACKS AGAINST
T
he last year or so has brought in-
credible challenges to the digital
THE [BRITISH LIBRARY] infrastructure of some high-profile
libraries. The recent wave of cyberattacks
AND THE [TORONTO
targeting one of the world’s most presti-
PUBLIC LIBRARY] MUST gious and well-resourced libraries brings a
sobering reminder of the dangers lurking
BE TAKEN AS A WAKE-UP for libraries in this digital age. Libraries
of all types and sizes must be vigilant and
CALL FOR ALL LIBRARIES
prepared for any possible security breach.
TO REDOUBLE THEIR
The Worst-Case Scenario
EFFORTS TO PROTECT The recent attack experienced by the
British Library (BL) approaches what
THEIR TECHNICAL
might be considered a worst-case scenar-
SYSTEMS. io. The incident was discovered on Oct.
28, 2023, as technical systems support-
ing the library services began collapsing.
Practically all parts of the BL’s technology
infrastructure were impacted, including
the ILS, the catalog, the many systems sup-
porting the library’s massive digital collec-
tions, request and retrieval services, and
even the Wi-Fi network. Library users were
unable to access its physical collections, in-
cluding both those in its main building in
St. Pancras in London and those housed in
its remote Boston Spa facilities. The larg-
est library in the world was essentially
unable to function or fulfill any of its core
services.
Many of these services remained down
months later. It was not until Jan. 15,
2024, that the BL’s online catalog was
relaunched, although without the for-
mer ability to request materials. The full
restoration of all systems will likely take
additional months of intense behind-the-
scenes work. Compounding the operational
impact, internal data has been released, in-
cluding personal and financial details of
library workers and users. The library has
contacted those affected to offer advice on
how to mitigate problems related to the ex-
posure of their personal information.
This full-scale ransomware attack
caused incredible disruption for the BL.
Such attacks exploit vulnerabilities in
technology components to unleash process-
es that encrypt data, rendering it inacces-
sible to its owners. Once the attack has been
executed and the files encrypted, only the
intruders have access to the digital keys
created to unencrypt the files. It’s impos-
sible to access data without the digital key
used to encrypt the files. The digital keys
are held as ransom, with the perpetrators
demanding substantial payments, usu-
ally in bitcoin via anonymous wallets that
protect their identity. Attackers may also
threaten to auction an organization’s sen-
sitive data to the highest bidder or release
sensitive data publicly to inflict further
damage.
There have been other high-profile
victims of ransomware attacks in recent
months. The Toronto Public Library (TPL)
experienced a similar attack in October
2023. As of mid-January 2024, its web-
site, catalog, and other services remain
unavailable. Users can access content
services provided by external vendors
(for further details, see torontopublic
library.typepad.com/tpl-updates/library-
services-update.html). Baker & Taylor, a
major supplier of books and other mate-
rials to libraries, experienced a ransom-
ware attack in 2022. The company was

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 17
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | The Systems Librarian
able to recover its services in 17 days
(see librarytechnology.org/document/
27787/baker-and-taylor-services-dis
rupted-by-ransomware-attack).
LIBRARIES THAT DIRECTLY
OPERATE THEIR OWN SYSTEMS
HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO
MAINTAIN STRONG SECURITY
PRACTICES AND TO HAVE
COMPREHENSIVE DISASTER
PREVENTION AND RECOVERY
PLANS ESTABLISHED.
Recovery Strategies
Cybersecurity experts consistently
warn organizations against giving in
to their attackers by paying the ran-
som, even though recovery costs will
be even higher. Paying ransomware
demands will only encourage future
attacks. But real-world decisions are
more complex. A recent HigherEd Dive
article reported that 56% of 200 educa-
tional institutions experiencing a ran-
somware attack paid their attackers to
recover access to their data (highered
dive.com/news/higher-education-ran
somware-paid-ransom-college/689929).
Organizations that pay the ransom ex-
pect to receive the digital certificate or
key needed to unlock the file systems
involved. Most do receive the keys;
otherwise, future ransomware threats
would be seen as futile. But there are
other costs involved in this mode of re-
covery, including a comprehensive re-
view to ensure that all data and systems
are intact and that the security flaws
that enabled the intrusion are closed.
Backdoors or other malware may have
been planted while the intruders had
custody of the systems.
The preferred alternative strategy of
not paying the ransom unfortunately re-
quires considerable resources and time.
Recovering from a ransomware attack
18 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
can be incredibly complex, calling into
play all processes in place for disaster
recovery. OSs and software applications
will need to be restored anew, and data
will need to be reloaded from the latest
safe and reliable copy. In some cases,
the encryption processes unleashed in
an attack can cascade through multiple
layers of backup systems, further defy-
ing a smooth recovery.
Cybercriminals
Responsibility for the BL attack was
claimed by Rhysida, a group of cyber-
criminals of unknown origin or resi-
dence. They use a toolkit of software
components and social engineering
techniques that are designed to gain
access to their victims’ internal sys-
tems. Attack vectors include vulner-
abilities in infrastructure components
or the ability to trick users into clicking
on messages or links that contain mal-
ware. Intruders may lurk undetected
for days or weeks, gaining knowledge of
the systems and data structures before
unleashing their final attack.
Once an organization has assembled
the tools and resources to carry out
ransomware attacks, it may extend its
criminal reach through providing ac-
cess to its capabilities to others in ex-
change for a cut of any proceeds. This
kind of syndication—or ransomware-
as-a-service—enables other individuals
or organizations with less technical ca-
pacity the ability to carry out attacks.
Be Prepared
The attacks against the BL and the
TPL must be taken as a wake-up call for
all libraries to redouble their efforts to
protect their technical systems. The
specific vulnerabilities exploited in
these attacks are not yet known and
may never be known. Libraries and
their parent institutions must follow
the most careful security practices
possible to ensure that they are always
ahead of potential attackers who are
ready to exploit any lapse.
Organizations that serve the public
good, such as libraries and education-
al institutions, cannot expect to be left
alone by cybercriminals. Large public
institutions may be perceived as able
to pay substantial ransom payments.
Smaller organizations cannot be com-
placent, although their lower profile
may decrease their chances of being
targeted. Large or small, all libraries
need to be extraordinarily careful re-
garding all aspects of their technology
systems.
Libraries that directly operate their
own systems have a responsibility to
maintain strong security practices
and to have comprehensive disaster
prevention and recovery plans estab-
lished. Solid security practices help
ensure that attacks aren’t successful,
although effective disaster recovery
procedures must be in place regardless.
All OS components and application
software should be continually updat-
ed. This practice not only ensures that
security-related patches are installed,
but it also provides library workers and
users with the latest features and ca-
pabilities.
RECOVERING FROM A
RANSOMWARE ATTACK CAN
BE INCREDIBLY COMPLEX,
CALLING INTO PLAY ALL
PROCESSES IN PLACE FOR
DISASTER RECOVERY.
Libraries often defer installing new
releases of software to avoid disrup-
tion; however, in most cases, this prac-
tice runs counter to improving secu-
rity. Libraries operating local servers
must have dedicated security special-
ists available and perform regular au-
dits of security and backup practices.
Libraries should review their backup
and disaster recovery procedures to
ensure that backup copies of data are
made frequently and are entirely iso-
lated from operational systems. These
copies should reside on physically sep-
arate servers, with tightly controlled
access, well-protected from user and
administrative accounts that may be
compromised.
 The Systems Librarian | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

In most cases, using systems and
services managed and hosted by library
vendors can provide better security
compared to locally operated systems.
Technology companies offering hosted
systems to a large customer base will
have many dedicated engineers and
security specialists in addition to so-
phisticated network- and application-
monitoring components. Even in these
cases in which the security and back-
up procedures are outsourced, librar-
ies should require documentation and
demonstration that the best possible
practices have been implemented and
are rigorously followed.
Beyond the technical processes, pro-
cedures, and components implemented
to secure an organization’s networks
and systems, its personnel can be a
weak link. We’ve all experienced the
continual deluge of messages tempting
us to click on links designed to capture
sign-in credentials or to plant malware.
These social engineering attempts are
increasingly convincing and can fool
even the most cautious user. Most insti-
tutional email systems scan messages
to remove those with malicious or de-
ceptive content, but such protections
may not be present on personal email
accounts. In addition to email, mali-
cious messages may come through text
messages, WhatsApp, or other sources.
Library personnel at all levels should be
trained to recognize social engineering
attacks and to consult with appropriate
experts when unsure. Avoiding decep-
tive messages designed to capture pass-
words is essential for organizational
security, but it is increasingly a skill
needed for everyday life.
Libraries cannot function without
many layers of technology that support
their work. Sudden disruptions such as
the one seen at the BL only reinforce
that reality. The capabilities, efficien-
cies, and convenience provided by tech-
nology come at a cost. A portion of that
cost is in the form of the equipment, ex-
pertise, and vigilance required to ward
off the constant and relentless barrage
of intrusion attempts. We now know
what the consequences of a successful
attack can be and the importance of
closing off all points of weakness be-
fore that happens. n
Marshall Breeding is an
independent consultant, writer, and
frequent library conference speaker and
is the founder of Library Technology
Guides (librarytechnology.org). His
email address is marshall.breeding@
librarytechnology.org.

Propose your case TOPICS FOR 2024

studies, best practices, CMSs and Websites Web Resources
how-to articles, ILS/Discovery/ Edtech and
research results, and Search Instruction
opinion pieces on any Catalogs, Platforms and
tech-enabled effort that Collections, Library Systems
and Metadata Data Management
helped your library
E-Resources and Metrics
achieve its purpose,
Digitization, Access, Breakthroughs and
vision, mission, or and Preservation Cutting-Edge Tech
mandate.

Librarians: Submit your story proposals using our query form at infotoday.com/cilmag.

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 19

 BiblioTech
by
suzanne s.
lapierre
Will AI Take Our Library Jobs?
[T]HE MORE
S
imilar to many librarians, I often ex-
plore libraries I stumble upon while
COMPLEX THE traveling. A few weeks ago, I stopped
in Greene County Library in Stanardsville,
TECH LANDSCAPE Va., and admired the hand-painted wild-
life mural in the children’s area and pop-
BECOMES, THE up study room (a pod for one or two people
that can be moved on built-in wheels). On
MORE PEOPLE NEED
the way out, I noticed outdoor hold pick-up
LIBRARIANS TO HELP lockers. Customers can scan a barcode to
retrieve hold items 24/7. My first thought
LEARN NEW TOOLS was, “Neat! Why don’t more libraries have
this?” My second thought was, “Oh, it
AND NAVIGATE might be perceived as taking jobs.”
Often, when new technology comes
OPTIONS. along, the specter of job loss is unsettling.
But that isn’t enough reason to resist inno-
vations that could improve lives. Most pa-
trons will appreciate being able to pick up
holds anytime. Plus, tasks that can be effi-
ciently automated free up staff to engage
in more personal interactions and complex
projects. (Of course, there are valid reasons
for not adopting new equipment, such as af-
fordability, maintenance, and ease of use.)
When it comes to the AI boom, there
are many legitimate concerns, such as pro-
liferation of disinformation and plagia-
rism. However, keeping our jobs the same
needn’t be one of them. Jobs must change
with the times. But they can change for the
better if we are proactive about guiding de-
velopment in the right directions.
There are at least three main reasons
why AI isn’t going to replace libraries or
most library jobs:
•People need and want human
interaction.
•The library is a physical place to go
and be.
•Librarians have expertise that AI
can’t replicate.
20 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
 Everyday Library Technology
People Need People
Many people call or come into the library
for human connection. Trying to get a real
person on the phone for customer service
has become a running joke these days—but
libraries still provide that. Public libraries
are still places where someone with special-
ized knowledge who lives in or near your
neighborhood will answer the phone, even
on weekends and evenings. That need isn’t
going away; if anything, it has increased
since COVID-19 put more distance between
people. The pandemic highlighted the ex-
tent to which loneliness is an epidemic.
People, especially those living alone, need
somewhere to interact with others face to
face. Preschool children and their fami-
lies benefit from librarians with expertise
in early literacy in a manner no screen can
replicate. Warm human relationships are
something AI can’t replace.
The Library as a Physical Space
While libraries are certainly not limited
to their physical space, the fact that most
include physical space is vital. Where else
can people hold meetings for free, hang out
with no expectation of buying anything,
and commune with others? The pandemic
underlined the importance of these needs,
as many people began working from home
or retired. A lot of people who are work-
ing from home are actually working from
libraries. Retired people are using librar-
ies for technology they once accessed at
the office. For others, the library is a vital
third space.
AI can help bring some library servic-
es into people’s homes and, by taking over
some mundane tasks, help librarians get
out of the building for outreach and train-
ing. Freeing users from having to drive
to the library or librarians from feeling

stapled to the service desk can be a good RATHER THAN WAIT TO SEE WHICH FUNCTIONS BECOME
thing. This might mean proactively ad-
vocating for the type of higher-level AUTOMATED, LIBRARY LEADERS CAN GUIDE THE NARRATIVE BY
community-enhancing work library
staffers can do if they are freed from MAKING IT KNOWN TO STAKEHOLDERS WHICH INNOVATIONS CAN
behind-a-desk stereotypes.
BE ACHIEVED WITH HUMAN INGENUITY AND MANPOWER THAT
Librarian Expertise ARE FREED BY AUTOMATING OTHER TASKS.
AI will facilitate some aspects of
cataloging, such as categorizing and
tagging data. It can improve online
search and retrieval functions. It can Shaping the Narrative
even generate book recommendations on AI in Libraries
and marketing materials. But librari- Changes brought about by AI can
ans understand humans and the context prompt us to reframe what the library
behind their reference questions. They offers to patrons and staff. What if AI
are members of the community, experi- could eliminate our most tedious tasks
enced with local resources. Librarians while freeing us to be more innovative,
have expertise in big-picture conceptu- meet larger societal needs, and initi-
alization of library goals and in plan- ate deeper connections within commu-
ning for those while adhering to library nities? What if AI could make 4-day
ethics and the Library Bill of Rights as work weeks or hybrid work schedules
defined by ALA. the norm? By envisioning future goals,
Improved accessibility is a major
we can utilize AI to help get there.
benefit AI can confer on library ser-
Rather than wait to see which func-
vices. AI can help with text-to-speech,
tions become automated, library lead-
language translation, and converting
ers can guide the narrative by making
materials into accessible formats for
it known to stakeholders which innova-
people with disabilities. Library staff tions can be achieved with human in-
can help connect customers with these genuity and manpower that are freed
tools. Librarians, with or without dis- by automating other tasks. Examples
abilities, can use AI tools to perform include expanding literacy outreach to
their work better and faster. Utiliz- underserved communities and meeting
ing AI tools where they can offer the increasing demand for one-on-one tech
most benefit will be essential going help. The demise of libraries and library
forward. (The sidebar below lists some jobs was predicted around the growth
good starting points.) of personal computers, internet search
AI TIPS AND TOOLS
Try out various AI Find help for developing A.I. For Anyone offers
chatbots, research aids, policies and procedures free resources for
and instructional design around AI and learning AI
tools via Generative AI investigating copyright fundamentals, including
Tools: A Petting Zoo, issues, and link to free a podcast, a newsletter,
compiled by Joyce online classes in virtual workshops, and
Valenza (docs.google “A Resource List on a toolkit for teaching
.com/document/d/ AI in the Library,” others (aiforanyone.org).
1sSdF-gr55QXBsBbMw by Nick Tanzi
YzNNJrm jWXtp_ (the-digital-librarian
Q6rUUTk5fRhxw/edit). .com/2023/07/24/
a-resource-list-on-ai
-in-the-library).
BiblioTech | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES
engines, ebooks, and now AI. While all
of those developments changed the way
libraries operate (often by expanding
services), libraries and librarians are
still very much present and ingrained
in society. In fact, the more complex
the tech landscape becomes, the more
people need librarians to help learn new
tools and navigate options.
About This Column
I’ve long admired Jessamyn West,
who authored the column Practical
Technology for 15 years. It is an hon-
or to follow her column with this one,
BiblioTech, which will continue to fo-
cus on the user end of library technolo-
gy. One thing I’m keenly aware of after
working with the public for 2 decades
is the extent to which human behavior
is inextricable from the usefulness of
technology. Technology doesn’t stand
alone. It depends on humans to create,
maintain, interpret, and use it proper-
ly. As library frontliners know, most
customer frustrations stem from hu-
man error, misunderstandings, and
anxiety around the use of technolo-
gy rather than system malfunctions.
Technology interfaces that aren’t user-
friendly compound problems and con-
tribute to tech anxiety. It behooves us
to keep up with trends but also to un-
derstand our patrons at least as well as
we understand the technology available
to them.
As I was pondering a title for this
column, I asked my human friends as
well as ChatGPT for ideas. ChatGPT
suggestions were not bad. They in-
cluded Next Chapter Tech and Byte
by Byte: Tech Trends in Libraries. A
human friend suggested BiblioTech,
which I found much more appealing

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 21
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | BiblioTech

WARM HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
ARE SOMETHING AI CAN’T
REPLACE.
for succinctness and nuance. (Thanks,
Marc Feldman.) Although ChatGPT can
generate copious combinations of key-
words, humans understand each other
on another level.
My general philosophy around tech
is that we can’t go backward, so we may
as well embrace change with as much
wisdom as possible. This means har-
nessing the possibilities of new tech-
nology while also foreseeing challenges
and pre-empting problems where feasi-
ble. Students aren’t going to stay away
from ChatGPT because we bar it from
classrooms. They need to learn how to
evaluate its output and apply critical-
thinking skills to its use. And let’s be
honest: Teachers are already using it for
lesson plans and cover letters. Stick-
ing with old ways isn’t a long-term so-
lution. However, we can be cognizant
about which aspects of prior technol-
ogies were appealing—such as conve-
nience, versatility, or affordability—
and strive to carry those forward.
I will be the first to admit that I’m
no tech wizard extraordinaire. Rather,
I represent a lot of librarians who are
always in the process of learning and
growing, often excited about new tools
and possibilities, while sometimes ap-
prehensive about whether we’re doing
it right. I think that humility makes
us more understanding of what our
customers go through. I’ve been writ-
ing about library technology for many
years, including academic research for
Public Library Quarterly, features for
Computers in Libraries, and a column
in Public Libraries. The research I do
for articles always expands my hori-
zons and makes me want to share what
I learn with others. Feel free to reach
out with ideas for future columns. n
Suzanne S. LaPierre
(summerslapierre@gmail.com) is
a Virginiana Specialist Librarian
for Fairfax County Public Library in
Virginia and co-author of the book
Desegregation in Northern Virginia
Libraries (The History Press 2023).
LaPierre has worked in public library
information services for more than
17 years, with prior experience in
academic libraries, archives, museums,
galleries, and special collections. The
opinions expressed are her own.

New Fiction From

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22 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com

 INTRODUCING THE
Texas Oral History
DATABASE
With only a few colleagues’ participation and utilizing platforms and
systems already available at my institution, I was able to create a proof
of concept that now has national aspirations.

By Steven Sielaff

S
ince World War II, the oral history profes-
sion has captured historical knowledge in
the form of interview recordings preserved
first on analog then on digital media. Tens of thou-
sands of interviews on various historical topics
are scattered across the state of Texas, but where
they can be found and what content they possess
often remain a mystery to all but the most diligent
of researchers. The goal of the Texas Oral History
Locator Database (TOLD) is to identify as many of
these collections as possible and to provide a free,
searchable platform on which to discover them.
In 2015, a few years into my career as an oral
historian and archivist for the Baylor University
Institute for Oral History (BUIOH), I had the op-
portunity to conduct research and write an analy-
sis for the Oral History Review of Pass the Word,
an oral history discovery tool created by the Ken-
tucky Historical Society. This website represent-
ed the culmination of several decades of work in
conducting surveys, gathering metadata, and
building an online database to better connect re-
searchers with the oral history projects of Ken-
tucky. After writing my analysis, I began imagin-
ing what a similar effort would look like for Texas


infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 23

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Introducing the Texas Oral History Database
and what changes I would make to not only enhance use of
the end product but to make participatory entry points and
long-term maintenance of such a tool much more manage-
able for the long term.
At the 2019 Oral History Association (OHA) Annual
Meeting in Salt Lake City, I attended a panel in which the
members of the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program
presented their plans for Listen OK, a similar online tool
based on a 2008 survey of collections in Oklahoma. Now
with two case studies in what this kind of effort might look
like, I was prepared to begin work on my own tool. How-
ever, it was only after dealing with the onset of the COV-
ID-19 pandemic and its subsequent effects on our profes-
sion and my archive that I was finally able to dedicate time
toward the more technical elements of this endeavor in fall
2021. Ultimately, with the aid of extant enterprise software
platforms at Baylor University and willing partners in the
university libraries’ system, TOLD was launched in spring
2022 after less than a year of development.
Housed within the BUIOH suite in Waco, Texas, is the
Texas Oral History Association (TOHA), of which I am a
past-president and current editor for its annual journal,
Sound Historian. Therefore, it only made sense to me that
a statewide effort such as TOLD should be a joint BUIOH/
TOHA endeavor. I imagined that Baylor would be able to
provide the technical expertise needed to build the tool,
while TOHA would use its network to advertise and populate
it. TOHA’s web presence exists on the Baylor CMS, so plac-
ing the tool within TOHA’s virtual pages also made sense in
that researchers who are interested in oral history in Texas
would naturally stumble upon the data TOLD could provide.
The project is jointly sponsored.
s for the content, I knew going into the project that I
A wanted TOLD to primarily serve as a locator tool, con-
necting researchers with the various libraries, archives,
museums, and historical centers that house oral history ma-
terials. I also wanted the librarians, archivists, and collec-
tion managers at those institutions to participate in surveys
describing their materials without asking them to redupli-
cate too much past effort in terms of item-level description.
Because of this, I decided that we would not ask for item-
level content, and I drew the line at project-level metadata.
Therefore, whether you have 300-plus projects formed over
50 years like BUIOH, a handful over a few decades, or even
24 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
just a single project in a collection, they all would be given
the opportunity to be described and located. Also important
to this initiative was normalizing the experience within the
database—meaning that no matter how expansive and lim-
ited a collection’s online exposure is, they are all listed in
TOLD and given the opportunity to be discovered.
The survey I designed for this initial step of building
TOLD focused mainly on the basic elements of the collec-
tions: where they are located, how you can access them, and
what restrictions (if any) are in place. Statistics regarding
the number of interviews, their digital state, and the pos-
sible existence of transcripts filled out the remainder of
what became known as the Phase One survey, which would
be the basis of discovering collections and sharing them
with the greater world. However, there were any number
of survey tools available at the time, with various ways of
providing easy dissemination of and access to results. I not
only wanted this ease of use for potential participants, but
I also wanted the best system possible for harvesting the
data and integrating it into whatever database system I ul-
timately chose to use.
It was at this point that I contacted Josh Been, director
of data and digital scholarship for Baylor University Li-
braries. Been had previously helped BUIOH director Ste-
phen Sloan create BUTANE, a transcript analysis tool. I
hoped he would be able to provide suggestions as to the best
path forward for both the survey and eventual database. It
turned out Been’s solution would incorporate both into a
single ecosystem: Microsoft 365. Employing Baylor Univer-
sity’s enterprise Microsoft license, Been suggested utilizing
Microsoft Teams as a central hub to collect survey data via
Microsoft Forms, importing the data into Microsoft Excel
spreadsheets, then ingesting the data into Microsoft Power
BI, a data visualization platform. After some initial conver-
sations regarding the structure of the survey, I mocked up
its contents while Been began working on the visualization
design. After a few rounds of testing and feedback, we had
the initial design, which incorporated a general red, white,
and blue theme to mimic the Texas flag.
ith the platform seemingly primed for use, the next
W major question to be answered was how exactly to
get the word out about TOLD’s existence across the vast
state of Texas. This is where Eric Ames, associate director
for advancement of exhibits and community engagement
for Baylor University Libraries, was brought into the proj-
ect. When discussing the usual dissemination suspects of
libraries, archives, and museums, as well as TOHA’s own
membership, Ames suggested he attempt to create a direc-
tory of historical organizations/societies for every county
in Texas. After a good number of intern hours were dedi-
cated to this endeavor, Ames was able to produce some sort
of contact for all 254 counties.
In April 2022, Ames, TOHA secretary/treasurer Adri-
enne Cain Darough, and I began to send boilerplate notic-
es via email and social media about the creation of TOLD,

The goal of the Texas Oral History Locator
Database (TOLD) is to identify as many of these
collections as possible and to provide a free,
searchable platform on which to discover them.
asking recipients to participate in the survey and/or share
the information with anyone they knew of who oversaw oral
history materials. To my amazement, a number of small-
er institutions I personally had never heard of—let alone
considered an established repository of oral history mate-
rials—instantly participated in the survey. After a mere 6
months, we had more than 20 institutions in the database,
representing 30,000-plus oral history interviews.
While this was a great start, I still knew that I want-
ed to give all those who participated, and anyone else who
heard about TOLD thereafter, the ability to further describe
the content of their collections by drilling down into any
project-level metadata that was available to be shared. The
Phase Two survey was designed solely with this in mind.
It begins by asking any collection manager who has partic-
ipated previously in TOLD to first select their institution
The Texas Oral History Locator Database’s interface, launch mock-up
Introducing the Texas Oral History Database | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES
from a master list, then enter data on a particular project,
ranging from simple blurbs and interviewee lists to dedi-
cated controlled vocabularies of population foci, topical cat-
egories, and historical decades. Several of these items be-
came new filters within the updated database design, while
everything submitted remained text searchable. The Phase
Two survey is also repeatable for any institution that houses
more than one project, allowing participants to take their
time and investigate and enter data on separate projects
over time or even for a new project in the future.
This speaks to another major design focus for TOLD—
the effort to create an evergreen system that will allow both
new participants and new projects to be included in the data-
base long after the initial launch. In addition to the general
availability of the surveys, the amount of data management
on the back end was a major concern of mine, not only to be

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 25
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Introducing the Texas Oral History Database
After a mere 6 months, we had more than
20 institutions in the database, representing
30,000-plus oral history interviews.
able to handle the rush of new entries at launch, but also to
be able to maintain a base level of maintenance of the tool.
The system Been and I agreed upon was an initial spread-
sheet to collect raw survey data, then one additional step
for quality control before the data is ingested into the da-
tabase. This step currently involves my checking Microsoft
Teams each morning when I arrive at work to see if there
have been any new entries in the spreadsheet. If so, I simply
browse the data to make sure there were no errors in entry
(as well as the occasional text formatting on my part), then
copy the row of data into a second spreadsheet that Power
BI will automatically harvest from twice a day. Because of
this system, survey participants are likely to see their data
in the public database within a matter of days.
The author’s poster presentation at the Society of American Archivists’ annual
conference in 2023
n July 2023, I attended the Society of American Archi-
I vists’ annual conference in Washington, D.C., where I was
able to first present TOLD via a poster to a national audi-
ence. This conference also represented the soft launch of
the Phase Two survey, with a handful of the projects from
Baylor’s collection entered into TOLD as examples. Phase
Two officially launched in September 2023, and I again pre-
sented the poster at the OHA annual conference in Balti-
more in October 2023. A handful of institutions have now
begun entering in project data, with a dedicated market-
ing push for Phase Two adoption planned for early 2024.
26 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
One final result of these efforts has been interest from
oral historians and archivists in other states in implement-
ing a similar system. So far, I have shared with these par-
ties my long-term plan of taking TOLD national in 2025,
hopefully with the backing of a grant or two, and expand-
ing partnerships beyond TOHA to OHA, an organization
for which I now serve as associate director. From a design
stance, the shift will be fairly simple: Create an additional
layer of metadata at the beginning of the surveys to denote
the state of origin first, then proceed with the remainder of
the survey as usual. It is the matter of promotion and buy-
in for this possible expansive effort that I worry about the
most, tempered by my own experience in Texas. Therefore,
I plan to identify state ambassadors if TOLD goes nation-
al—volunteers from each state who have the interest and
knowledge to inform their regional contacts about the ex-
istence of this prospective national tool.
TOLD has been an interesting case study for me in how
to design a lightweight digital platform to solve an issue of
discoverability. With only a few colleagues’ participation
and utilizing platforms and systems already available at
my institution, I was able to create a proof of concept that
now has national aspirations. All that remains is to seek
funding to expand TOLD’s reach, and of course make im-
portant decisions, such as color scheme and other aesthet-
ics, if and when the regional-to-national transition of TOLD
to OLD occurs. n
Steven Sielaff
is senior editor and collections manager at the
Baylor University Institute for Oral History in
Waco, Texas. During the last 10 years, Sielaff
has held positions at Baylor such as graduate
assistant and senior lecturer, working on various
web-based and multimedia projects, including
For the Greater Good: Philanthropy in Waco,
the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission’s Texas Liberators
project, and War Comes to Waco, A WWI digital exhibit. He is
currently editor-in-chief of the Texas Oral History Association’s
annual journal, Sound Historian; the managing editor for the
H-Oralhist listserv; and, as of Jan. 1, 2023, associate director of the
Oral History Association, whose institutional headquarters is now
housed at Baylor University.

by
Words of Wisdom
alison a.
trotta ‘The three most
important documents a
free society gives are a
birth certificate, a passport,
and a library card.’
—E.L. Doctorow
Judge Rules That Book-Banning
Lawsuit Can Move Forward
In January, a U.S. district court
judge in Florida ruled that a first-of-
its-kind federal lawsuit against the
Escambia County School Board for
the improper removal of books from li-
brary shelves can proceed. The ruling
says that plaintiffs such as PEN Amer-
ica, Penguin Random House, banned
authors, and parents have standing
to pursue the case under the First
Amendment. Additionally, the judge
found that the state’s argument that
its book-banning decisions are immune
from the First Amendment has no mer-
it. “Judge Wetherell ruled that the gov-
ernment speech doctrine does not apply
in this case and made clear that First
Amendment protections are implicat-
ed when officials remove books based
on ideology or viewpoint. Although he
denied a claim under the 14th Amend-
ment’s Equal Protection Clause, the
First Amendment claims are sufficient
for the case to continue and to vindi-
cate the rights of plaintiffs and stu-
dents throughout Escambia County,”
according to a press release from PEN
America. “The books targeted in Es-
cambia County include classic literary
works such as The Bluest Eye, Slaugh-
terhouse-Five and The Kite Runner,
and run the gamut from picture books
to young adult titles. The authors in-
volved in the suit, all of whom have ei-
ther already had their books removed
by the district and/or restricted from
student access, include author and chil-
dren’s book illustrator Sarah Brannen,
young adult fiction authors David Lev-
ithan, George M. Johnson and Ashley
Hope Pérez, and children’s book author
News Desk
 news • announcements • updates
Kyle Lukoff.” After the lawsuit was
filed in spring 2023, the district has re-
moved more books because of the pas-
sage of new state laws, including HB
1069. “PEN America has been at the
forefront of documenting and defend-
ing against the unprecedented rise of
school book bans nationwide. Black and
LGBTQ authors and books about race,
racism, and LGBTQ identities are dis-
proportionately affected by the book
bans cataloged by PEN America. The
wave of book banning since the fall of
2021 is unprecedented and echoes the
McCarthyism and Red Scare of the
1950s. From July 2021 to June 2023,
PEN America’s Index of School Book
Bans recorded 5,894 instances of book
bans across 41 states and 247 public
school districts,” says the press release.
IOP Publishing Inks New Deal
IOP Publishing (IOPP) has signed
its first read-and-publish transforma-
tive agreement in Taiwan, which solid-
ifies its commitment to expanding OA
in the Asia-Pacific region and globally.
This 3-year deal with the Physics Re-
search Promotion Centre enables 20
Taiwanese universities to provide their
researchers with unlimited OA pub-
lishing at no cost to them. Additional-
ly, it will let authors retain copyright
of their work and provides reading ac-
cess to all IOPP research published
during the last 10 years. IOPP is striv-
ing to secure transformative agree-
ments globally to further open science
by providing funded routes for authors
to publish their work OA. “The num-
ber of academic institutions benefiting
from read and publish agreements with
IOPP has grown from 350 institutions
in 2022 to 943 institutions worldwide.
This is IOPP’s sixth transformative
agreement in the Asia Pacific region,”
according to a press release.
PubHive Launches New Portal
PubHive has introduced the Pub-
Hive Navigator Enterprise Portal, a
discovery and content management re-
source that is intended to revolution-
ize research processes for life science
companies. It consolidates workspaces,
virtual libraries, folders, and internal
content into a single intuitive research
portal, streamlining research work-
flow and collaboration. “This innova-
tive platform is poised to transform the
research landscape for medical affairs,
clinical affairs, pharmacovigilance,
drug safety, knowledge management,
medical devices, and other related de-
partments,” according to a press re-
lease. It “is designed to break down in-
formation silos, streamline literature
workflows, and provide fast, secure,
and easy access to all the biomedical re-
search needed in a single enterprise lit-
erature workflow platform.” Essential
features include a unified platform, cus-
tomizable workflows, seamless integra-
tion, and smart content curation. The
portal also provides competitive intel-
ligence, knowledge management, re-
search insights, and more. “PubHive
Navigator is not just about managing
research content. It’s about empowering
research teams to work smarter, fast-
er, and more collaboratively. By break-
ing down information silos and provid-
ing access to the most comprehensive
set of resources, we’re helping life sci-
ences companies make better decisions,
drive innovation, and ultimately bring

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 27
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | News Desk
life-saving therapies to the market fast-
er,” the press release states.
Sage Releases Tool to Show
the Effect of Researchers’
Work on Policy
Sage launched Sage Policy Profiles,
a tool to help researchers discover the
real-world effect of their work on policy.
It allows researchers to see specific cita-
tions of their work in policy documents
and illustrate and share that work’s im-
pact graphically. Sage Policy Profiles is
powered by Overton, which houses an
extensive repository of worldwide pol-
icy documents, guidelines, think-tank
publications, and working papers. This
browser-based tool is free, and it shows
researchers where their work appears
in evidence-based policies, providing
insights into how policymakers utilize
their research. Those results are shown
in a personalized dashboard from which
researchers can export citations and
display their policy impact visually.
Other functionalities include personal-
ized alerts when their work is cited or
mentioned in new policy documents and
the ability to create a shareable link to
personalized dashboards. “The current
system we have for assessing research
impact and researchers has real flaws,
but we don’t need to overhaul the whole
thing to make meaningful improve-
ments for researchers who want their
work to be useful,” Euan Adie, founder
and managing director of Overton, says
in a press release. “Sage Policy Profiles
is an important next step.”
2023 Saw Record-Breaking
Circ Numbers
In 2023, librarians and educators
hit a new milestone in regard to dig-
ital media. Worldwide, readers bor-
rowed 662 million ebooks, audiobooks,
and digital magazines—which is a 19%
increase over the previous year. Addi-
tionally, streaming videos via libraries
and colleges on Kanopy hit 23 million
plays, which was a record. The year also
saw Libby’s 1 billionth ebook checkout.
Because of the outreach efforts from
22,000 public libraries worldwide, up-
ward of 9 million people installed the
Libby app as new users, which signals
28 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
the continued widening of library ser-
vices inside and outside the physical
buildings. Bestselling new titles such
as Spare, Verity, Lessons in Chemis-
try, and Fourth Wing as well as Lib-
by’s new Notify Me tag feature and the
expanding popularity of digital mag-
azines helped power these record digi-
tal checkouts.
IMLS to Launch National Museum
Survey Following Successful Pilot
IMLS announced that its National
Museum Survey (NMS) pilot was suc-
cessful, and the actual survey is slated
to launch in 2025. IMLS shared a sum-
mary report that underscores the NMS
pilot findings and outlines the next
steps for implementing the first annu-
al federal survey to gather and share
data on the pivotal work that is ongo-
ing in museums and cultural institu-
tions nationwide. The NMS will craft
the first federal, free, publicly available
database of credible stats on museums
and related institutions, which will al-
low for new policy approaches to in-
vest more efficiently in the infrastruc-
ture of the country’s heritage. Data
from the NMS will include key statis-
tics from large, small, urban, and ru-
ral museums and related institutions,
bridging resource, technology, and dis-
tance gaps. “The NMS will help quan-
tify the impact of museums in commu-
nities as economic engines, employers,
and stewards of the nation’s heritage.
Propose your case studies, best practices, how-to
articles, research results, and opinion pieces on any
tech-enabled effort that helped your library achieve its
Librarians: Submit your story proposals using our query form at infotoday.com/cilmag.
The information gathered annually will
provide a clearer and more comprehen-
sive picture of funding needs and the
important contributions that museums
make to the education, health, wellbe-
ing, and economy of communities,” ac-
cording to a press release. “Much like
the national Census, the NMS will pro-
vide a broad picture of the state of mu-
seums and related institutions in the
United States. By benchmarking the
reach and impact of federal dollars in
the museum field, the NMS will enable
new policy approaches to more efficient-
ly invest in America’s historical, natu-
ral, and cultural infrastructure.” More
than a decade of IMLS research preced-
ed the launch of the NMS, which cul-
minated in the NMS pilot. The pilot’s
development and administration were
based on a thorough and methodical
process designed to ingest extensive
feedback from the museum community.
“The NMS pilot identified approximate-
ly 20,000 museums and related institu-
tions that might be eligible for inclusion
in the NMS, which will target a broad
range of institutions nationwide repre-
senting a variety of disciplines, includ-
ing botanical gardens, arboretums, na-
ture centers, zoos, aquariums, science
and technology centers, planetariums,
historic sites, historic houses, special-
ized and general museums, children’s
museums, natural history museums,
anthropology museums, and art muse-
ums,” according to the press release. l
purpose, vision, mission, or mandate.

by
alison a.
trotta
‘“Every time I see a library is under threat, I wince inside because I know that I
would not be who I am if it wasn’t for libraries, if it wasn’t for having libraries to go
to, if it wasn’t for having access as a child to all the stories, people’s stories, books,
to librarians … I would never have grown up to be me,” [Neil Gaiman] said.’
—‘Writer Neil Gaiman Honored at The Art of Elysium’s 2024 Heaven Gala,’ Ryme Chikhoune, WWD, Jan. 7, 2024
ALA announced the recipients of the
I Love My Librarian Award honoring
exceptional librarians from academic,
public, and school libraries nominated
by patrons for their expertise, dedica-
tion, and significant effect on those
in their communities. In total, ALA
received 1,400 nominations from li-
brary patrons, which illustrates the
importance of librarians across the
country. Nominations were centered
on librarians’ stellar service, including
expanding access to literacy and library
services, outreach in communities, and
supporting mental health needs. Each
honoree was given $5,000 cash as well
as complimentary registration and a
$750 travel stipend to attend ALA’s
LibLearnX in Baltimore this past Janu-
ary. The recipients are as follows: Me-
lissa Corey (Robidoux Middle School in
Missouri), Claire Dannenbaum (Lane
Community College in Oregon), Fred
Gitner (Queens Public Library in New
York), Claire Graham (Malvern-Hot
Spring County Library in Arkansas),
Gabriel Graña (R.D. & Euzelle Smith
Middle School in North Carolina), Di-
ana Haneski (Marjory Stoneman Doug-
las High School in Florida), Gladys E.
López-Soto (University of Puerto Rico,
Mayagüez Campus, in Puerto Rico),
Ted Quiballo (Northwestern Universi-
ty in Illinois), Mychal Threets (Solano
County Library in California), and Curt
Noted & Quoted
 people • libraries • awards • promotions
Witcher (Allen County Public Library
in Indiana). The award is sponsored by
Carnegie Corp. with additional support
from The New York Public Library.
•••••
ORCID announced new board mem-
bers, who are serving a 3-year term:
Clare Appavoo (executive director of
the Canadian Research Knowledge Net-
work), Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe (profes-
sor at the University of Illinois), María
Soledad Bravo Marchant (executive
secretary for the CINCEL Consortium,
Agencia Nacional de Investigación y
Desarrollo, in Chile), César Augusto
Rendón-Valencia (CEO of Consortia
SAS in Colombia), Ellen Tise (senior
director of library and information
services at Stellenbosch University in
South Africa), Alla Zharinova (act-
ing director for the State Scientific
and Technical Library of Ukraine in
Ukraine), and Juli Zielke (CEO of the
Australian Research Council in Aus-
tralia). “The Nominating Committee
aimed to put forward a diverse slate
of candidates driven by ORCID’s mis-
sion and inspired by ORCID’s strategic
themes. The Committee was pleased to
have nominations from candidates with
the skills and experience specifically re-
quested to better balance the existing
Board this year, namely the ability to
advocate on behalf of ORCID in their re-
gion, expertise in finance, technology,
marketing, and/or communications,
as well as experience in organizational
governance. The Committee also en-
sured that the Board, as per our bylaws,
retained a majority of representatives
of non-profit members,” according to a
press release.
•••••
Andrew K. Pace is the new execu-
tive director of the Association of Re-
search Libraries, as of Feb. 1, 2024.
Pace was previously at the University
System of Maryland and Affiliated In-
stitutions Library Consortium, where
he had been executive director since
2022. There, he led the consortium of
17 academic libraries across Maryland,
centrally hosting management, discov-
ery, and resource-sharing applications
for millions of print, licensed, and OA
resources. His team also led new digi-
tal initiatives in digital asset manage-
ment, OERs, and new service develop-
ment. From 2008 to 2022, Pace held
executive director positions at OCLC.
Before that, he was head of IT at North
Carolina State University Libraries.
Pace is an active ALA member and was
elected to the NISO board of directors
in 2023. Additionally, he has presented
at numerous conferences and is the au-

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 29
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Noted & Quoted
thor of several works that focus on li-
brary technology, product and project
management, and community-building.
•••••
Simon & Schuster has a new board of
directors, comprising six leaders with
extensive experience in the publish-
ing, media, and technology industries:
Richard Sarnoff (veteran senior pub-
lishing executive and investor) will be
chairman of the board, along with Ted
Oberwager and Chresten Knaff (both
executives from KKR), as well as Mad-
eline McIntosh, V Pappas, and Kareem
Daniel as independent board members.
“We are thrilled to have such a dynamic
and highly qualified team guiding us
forward. Their collective experience
in digital innovation, global business
strategy, and deep understanding of the
publishing ecosystem will be instru-
mental in our growth and success as an
independent publisher,” says Jonathan
Karp, Simon & Schuster’s president
and CEO.
•••••
67 Bricks promoted Jennifer Schi-
vas to CEO, after a leadership team re-
structure. She will take over running
the company from its co-founders, Sam
Herbert and Inigo Surguy, who are both
now co-chairs of the board of directors.
Additionally, David Leeming has be-
come CTO, from his previous position as
delivery director, taking complete own-
ership of the firm’s technology strategy.
“The new structure reflects the growing
success of 67 Bricks as it provides vital
technology leadership to the publish-
ing world. The company’s client base
has seen a real diversification in the
last few years, from AI consultancy
for private equity firms, to technology
strategy consultancy for scholarly pub-
lishers, to full content platform builds
for B2B information companies such as
The Economist and IWSR,” according
to a press release.
•••••
ALA’s Core: Leadership, Infrastruc-
ture, Futures division announced the
30 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
selection of three members of its Emerg-
ing Leaders program. Ashley Mitch-
ell, adult services librarian at Camden
County Library System in New Jersey,
has 20-plus years of experience in vari-
ous departments. She earned a degree
in psychology from Morgan State Uni-
versity and an M.L.I.S. from the Uni-
versity of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign.
Alison Van Norman is the outreach and
marketing librarian at Elon University.
There, she plans and markets library
events and programs, while acting as li-
aison to the art, music, and performing
arts departments. Van Norman has an
M.L.I.S. from the University of North
Carolina–Greensboro. Carrie McClain
is the chief equity, diversity, and inclu-
sion (EDI) officer for Tulsa City-County
Library, where she works cross-depart-
mentally to construct and implement
its EDI strategy. She has an M.A. in
humanities relations and has worked
in EDI positions since 2016, joining
the library field in 2022. According to
a press release, these Emerging Lead-
ers “will participate in project planning
work groups, network with peers, gain
an inside look into the ALA structure,
and have an opportunity to serve the
profession in a leadership capacity. Fol-
lowing a virtual, day-long kickoff ses-
sion during … The Library Learning
Experience (LibLearnX), the program
will continue in an online learning
and networking environment for six
months, culminating in a presentation
of the groups’ work at the 2024 ALA
Annual Conference in San Diego, CA
this June.”
•••••
The Association for Library Service
to Children (ALSC), a division of ALA,
has selected Kristin Tarnas of Hawaii
Preparatory Academy in Waimea, Ha-
waii, as its 2024 Emerging Leaders
representative. Tarnas is a teacher li-
brarian, serving K–8 students on the
Village Campus. She has an MS.Ed.
from Bank Street College of Education
and an M.L.I.S. from the University of
Hawaii–Manoa. “Advocating for chil-
dren and the books that matter to them
requires understanding, work and lead-
ership. This is where librarians come in
and come together! I applied to be part
of ALA’s Emerging Leaders program
to learn and work with other librar-
ians, and I am especially grateful to
represent librarians who dedicate their
hearts, minds and hands to providing
library service to children,” Tarnas
says in a press release.
•••••
Nexbib, a library technology solu-
tions provider, announced Scott Hack-
stadt as president of North America,
beginning Feb. 1. This signals the com-
pany’s expansion into new markets,
committing to serve the library indus-
try in the U.S. and Canda. Hackstadt
has more than 20 years of experience in
the library field, which includes devel-
oping patented RFID and automation
products. Aside from his CTO experi-
ence in technology leadership, he has
proven success in managing sales along
with implementing digital solutions
selling strategies. “We are delighted
to welcome Scott to our international
team and continue the valuable team-
work demonstrated in various success-
ful projects. We look forward to the
new insights and creative concepts he
will contribute. With this background,
we are confident in becoming a trusted
partner for American libraries, offer-
ing a sustainable, advanced portfolio
that meets the diverse needs of their
communities,” Nextbib Denmark’s
managing director, Sven Mønsted
Hilm, says in a press release. l
Does your library
have a special
announcement
to make?
CIL is always looking for
more items to include in the
Noted & Quoted section.
So if you have something
to share, please send it in.
Contact: Alison A. Trotta
CIL Noted & Quoted Editor
atrotta@infotoday.com
 EDTECH
In 5 years,
[WSDLC] has
grown to
serve 44%
of all school-
age students
in Wisconsin
with 24/7
access to the
collections
and more
than 4 million
checkouts.

Building an
Affordable Statewide
Audio and Ebook
Collection
W
isconsin has long been a collaborative state for library services.
Whether it’s a statewide delivery service for public libraries or an
audio and ebook collection serving more than 5 million readers, the
strong commitment to working together to provide equitable access and equal
services throughout the state makes Wisconsin unique. The Wisconsin Schools
Digital Library Consortium (WSDLC; wsdlc.org) is a self-sustaining, mem- By
ber-funded digital library of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and comics that Sara Gold
serves more than 425,000 students at the affordable cost of $1.65 per student.
Nearly 50% of Wisconsin’s school-age children benefit from materials provid-
ed through WSDLC. The journey of WSDLC from idea to implementation was a
4-year evolution with many people and moving parts prior to its launch in 2018.
Reflecting on 5 years of WSDLC and seeing its growth, sustainability, and sta-
bility as a grassroots consortium is nothing short of remarkable.


infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 31

 COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Building an Affordable Statewide Audio and Ebook Collection
History
EDTECH
The idea for WSDLC came from the success Wisconsin
has had with Wisconsin’s Digital Library (wplc.overdrive
.com/wplc-114-119/content), a library-funded statewide
collection of digital materials that serves the state’s pub-
lic library patrons. This collection, utilizing OverDrive as
the platform and content provider, has been in place since
2006. In 2010, OverDrive introduced the School Download
Library. Wisconsin soon had one of the highest adoption
rates for the program in the country—although, the pro-
gram was cost-prohibitive for many districts. At the same
time, Wisconsin’s Digital Library expanded significant-
ly, with a $1.2 million collection budget. It was then that
school media specialists, such as Jennifer Peterson of Me-
nasha Joint School District, began to ask if it was possible
to create a similar shared collection for schools. In Peter-
son’s case, she already had a large ebook collection within
her district. However, she was hoping a shared collection
on a larger level would save her time—through not having
to select and curate every title—and money. The average
ebook cost is $27, and a statewide collection would greatly
reduce her collection budget costs.
Graphic by Rebecca Rosenstiel
The project timeline
When this project was an idea in peoples’ minds, it need-
ed a project manager to offer organization and guidance.
Enter WiLS (wils.org), a nonprofit member organization
serving libraries and cultural institutions in Wisconsin.
The WiLS staff had experience providing management for
an existing statewide consortium, the Wisconsin Public
Library Consortium (WPLC; wplc.info), which oversees
Wisconsin’s Digital Library. The Wisconsin Department
of Public Instruction (DPI) hired WiLS to begin work on
this project in 2014.
WiLS researched the school ebook landscape in Wis-
consin and across the country, summarizing the findings
in a report (see wsdlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/
final-report-2015-1.pdf). In 2015, it took the results of this
report to the state school library conference—WEMTA—
and got feedback from attendees. In 2016, a think tank
was formed consisting of school media specialists, school
district business administrators, curriculum people, and
representatives from the cooperative educational service
32 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
agencies (CESAs). The think tank acknowledged that the
project needed a structure that would allow buy-in from
partners and districts around the state. Wisconsin has
two large school districts of more than 20,000 students,
and the rest of the state is made up of medium, small, and
very small rural districts. The consensus of think tank
participants was that a member-funded consortium would
be an ideal model for the project.
The Wisconsin DPI, CESA Purchasing, and WiLS were
established as project partners; each brought unique
strengths and connections to the WSDLC consortium. Be-
tween the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, an interim
board was established that included three media special-
ists from around the state and representatives from the
Wisconsin DPI, CESA Purchasing, the statewide CESA
network, and WiLS. WSDLC’s interim board established a
governance structure, wrote the bylaws and collection de-
velopment policy, determined a sustainable funding struc-
ture through an annual membership fee, and helped write
and issue an RFP. In 2017, OverDrive was announced as
the first vendor partner of WSDLC, and an opening day
collection of ebooks went live in January 2018, serving 86
districts and 94,650 students. Au-
diobooks were added in 2019 and
proved to be widely popular for mid-
dle and high school students.
At the time of its launch, the WS-
DLC library was divided into three
collections of ebooks by grades:
K–4, 5–8, and 9–12. WSDLC’s
board worked closely with Over-
Drive to determine how much it
would cost to fund an adequately
sized opening day collection. WS-
DLC’s board then promoted the WS-
DLC heavily throughout the state
to build a membership. WSDLC is
unique in that it is funded almost entirely through annual
membership fees, which are currently $1.65 per student.
There are no additional fees to join, and students are able
to access each of the three collections based on their con-
tent access level settings for a single, per-student price.
Districts have a great deal of flexibility in joining WSDLC,
with some adding all schools and grades at once and others
adding a grade or two at a time to test the waters. Private
schools are part of the WSDLC membership as well. WS-
DLC membership is treated like a subscription and runs
from September to August of the following year. Member
schools and districts have the option to join throughout
the year for a prorated price.
Funding
WSDLC’s funding model is simple but very effective.
The per-student fee allows the consortium to increase its
funding as the membership increases. The board sets the
membership fees in 3-year increments to allow members
 Building an Affordable Statewide Audio and Ebook Collection
Content access levels allow school media specialists to
determine what titles are accessible to their students.
to budget year over year for any fluctuations. Out of the
per-student annual fee, 25 cents goes to administration,
such as the fees for project management contracts, mate-
rials, registration for conferences, and web-hosting. The
remaining amount is used for collection development. At
the end of each membership year, any remaining collection
funds are split, with 10% going into the WSDLC reserve
fund and the rest being added to the collection budget for
the upcoming year. Wisconsin is fortunate to have Wis-
consin’s Common School Fund (CSF; dpi.wi.gov/sfs/aid/
categorical/common-school-fund), which is given to pub-
lic school districts annually and can be used to purchase
library books and other instructional materials. The CSF
is the primary—and often only—source of funding for
school libraries in Wisconsin. Managed by the Board of
Commissioners of Public Lands, the CSF was established
by Wisconsin’s constitution in 1848 with the granting of
about 1.5 million acres of land for educational purposes.
The vast majority of these lands were sold to create the
principal for a permanent school fund, with the earnings
to be exclusively used to support and maintain school li-
braries. In 2022, the amount distributed to Wisconsin
public school districts through the CSF was $52 million.
WSDLC membership fees are an eligible use of CSF, which
helps ensure that districts can afford to remain members
year after year.
Governance
WSDLC includes a board with elected and appoint-
ed members representing the WSDLC partners and each
of the 12 CESAs. Board members serve for up to 3 years
depending on whether they are elected or appointed, and
the board chair serves for 2 years. The board follows a set
of operational guidelines and meets virtually five times a
year. In addition, the Selection Advisory Committee is a
group of members who volunteer to serve a 2-year term to
provide guidance for collection development and review
any requests for reconsideration. The current board chair,
Peg Billing, from Lakeland Union High School in Minoc-
qua, Wis., sums up WSDLC’s shared governance very well:
The WSDLC is an organization of and for the
students and teachers of Wisconsin. It is governed
by working school media specialists. I strongly
believe that what sets this consortium apart from
all others that I have participated in is that we, the
school librarians on the board, truly have a REAL
| COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES
EDTECH
say in what happens. Our governance structure is
set up to ensure fair across-the-state representa-
tion of both large and small districts and schools.
In addition, we allow a number of ‘at-large’ mem-
bers to help balance out the representation. This
structure ensures that everyone, no matter the
size of the district or school, has someone on the
Board with their best interests in mind.
Collections and Access
Today, the WSDLC collections have grown to include
58,000-plus copies of more than 20,000 unique titles.
The collections have shifted in grade levels slightly over
time, with the elementary collection designed for grades
K–5; the middle school collection for grades 6–8; and the
high school collection for grades 9–12. In addition to ac-
cess to the shared collections, each WSDLC school or dis-
trict member can, through an advantage program, add ti-
tles that are available to their students and staffers only.
This provides autonomy to individual members by allow-
ing them to add titles for classroom use as well as create
their own unique curated collections.
Materials for inclusion in the shared collections are se-
lected by collection development librarians at OverDrive,
with guidance and feedback provided by WSDLC’s Selec-
tion Advisory Committee. In addition to offering ebooks
and audiobooks to students, the collection now includes a
large assortment of magazines, comic books, and graph-
ic novels. The WSDLC also provides fiction and nonfiction
titles in English and Spanish that are designated to get
students to read for fun and learning. A popular collection
of readalongs is used by members to encourage reluctant
readers, and WSDLC includes many copies of award win-
ners and Battle of the Books titles to ensure accessibility
with short or no wait times. For extremely popular titles,
WSDLC has a Lucky Day collection, which features titles
that are available immediately with no holds allowed.
WSDLC has a commitment to offering titles from tradi-
tionally underrepresented authors and includes an annual
diversity audit as part of the collection development pro-
cess. Providing materials to reach each student is an es-
sential goal of WSDLC. Gidget Moore, the school library
media specialist for Viroqua Area Schools and a WSDLC
board member, says, “Being a part of the WSDLC when
they added the audiobook collection is one of the proudest
moments in my career, because it evened the educational
landscape for students who found reading to be difficult.

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 33
 COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Building an Affordable Statewide Audio and Ebook Collection

-Development-Policy-Current-2023-Approved.pdf) and re-

EDTECH

consideration of materials. The policies are reviewed an-

nually by the Selection Advisory Committee and WSDLC’s
board. Following an increase in book challenges in Wis-
consin, the board issued a statement on WSDLC’s shared
collections (wsdlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/State
ment-on-WSDLC-Shared-Collections-.pdf), which is part
of the foundational documents of WSDLC’s commitment
to intellectual freedom.

Training
Training and support are very important for members.
WiLS and OverDrive partnered to create an extensive li-
brary of training materials from flipped classrooms on
various topics, such as getting started on curating col-
lections as well as tiny case studies, which are written by
members and focus on their solving specific problems (e.g.,
integrating graphic novels into the classroom). WSDLC is
also represented at state conferences and holds an annu-
al membership meeting in the spring. Its website (wsdlc
.org/about) has an extensive set of helpful resources and
marketing materials, many of which are customizable.
A weekly newsletter provides a wealth of information for
members as well.
WSDLC utilizes a variety of ways to measure results
and gather feedback from members, including an annual
member survey, the membership meeting, and, with the
board’s guidance, an annual wishlist provided to Over-
Drive that contains items we wish to improve on, wheth-
er it is reports and statistics or the accessibility of Over-
Drive’s Sora app. WSDLC also uses a member listserv and
a board listserv and sends out weekly messages to each.
Graphic by Rebecca Rosenstiel

The project managers meet biweekly with the OverDrive

About the consortium, 2023 infographic
More than anything, the WSDLC supported students when
the task of physically reading was insurmountable, bring-
ing worlds only found in books to those previously denied
the experience.”
Content access levels allow school media specialists to de-
termine what titles are accessible to their students. In addi-
tion, OverDrive provides media specialists with the ability
to hide titles at the school or district levels without affect-
ing the access to other members. This feature is instrumen-
tal in helping WSDLC meet members where they are.
Policies
An important role of WSDLC is maintaining current pol-
icies, particularly around collection development (wsdlc
.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/WSDLC-Collection
team as well.
The development of WSDLC has been breathtaking
to witness. In 5 years, it has grown to serve 44% of all
school-age students in Wisconsin with 24/7 access to the
collections and more than 4 million checkouts. The equi-
ty through access that WSDLC is delivering to Wisconsin
schools that were previously unable to provide ebooks and
audiobooks to their students is the greatest achievement
thus far of WSDLC. n
Sara Gold is a “librarian for librarians” and acts
as the new business development and consortia
manager for WiLS, a nonprofit membership
organization that turns ideas into action for libraries
through facilitating collaborative projects and
services in Wisconsin. She serves as a project manager for the
Wisconsin Schools Digital Library Consortium (WSDLC) and the
Wisconsin Public Library Consortium (WPLC). Gold’s librarian
superpower is building diverse, equitable collections, and she
is passionate about advocating for better lending terms from
publishers as well as supporting the freedom to read for all.

34 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com

voices of the
searchers
Librarians as Prompt Engineers
Mary Ellen Bates
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, in its Dec. 29, 2023, issue, predicted that
by the end of 2024 we will see laptops with neural-processing chips,
enabling “on-device AI” without the need to connect to the cloud. As
a result, the expansion of generative AI (GenAI) into all aspects of the
information workflow will drive the need for greater AI literacy.
To get a sense for what my clients may be seeing when they use
Google Bard (now Google Gemini) or ChatGPT for their information
need, I have been conducting some informal tests on how search
chatbots handle research questions. (I know—<shudder>—but it’s
important to see what the competition is doing and to understand
where there is a need for some additional AI literacy.) One of the
issues I have seen consistently is how effective GenAI is in turbo-
charging any unspoken bias in search queries.
A client recently asked me for some best practices for cost-effective
marketing strategies for a small business. Out of curiosity, I tried putting
that specific query into three GenAI tools—Google Gemini, Claude,
and Perplexity. They all generated bulleted lists of standard approach-
es, such as blogging, social media, and referral networks. However, as
any good reference librarian would have told you, my client’s question
included some hidden assumptions that an effective reference inter-
view would have sussed out. Framing the question around budget
constraints can lead to results focused on cutting corners or short-term
gains. When I asked the chatbots, “What are the best marketing strate-
gies for small businesses?” the recommendations—while often low-
cost—focused on more strategic perspectives, such as identifying
your ideal customer, focusing on your value proposition, and using
a mix of online and offline marketing channels.
I had a similar experience with another client, who asked me to
research how to measure the success of diversity and inclusion (D&I)
initiatives. That question sounded neutral on its face until I threw it in
a few GenAI tools and realized that the word “measure” was weight-
ing the answer toward quantifiable metrics. The results focused on
superficial datapoints or compliance rather than assessing the genu-
ine impact of these initiatives on fostering inclusive workplaces and
promoting equitable opportunities. When I reworded the question,
“How to evaluate the success of diversity and inclusion initiatives?”
the response was much more useful and included suggestions to first
align the D&I goals with your organization’s broader goals and focus
on metrics that reflect those goals and to consider intersectionality
and the need to analyze data across various dimensions such as race,
gender, ability, and sexual orientation.
A good librarian knows how to listen to the unspoken assumptions,
unconscious biases, or unknown unknowns embedded in a research
request and to probe for the “question behind the question.” As I saw
with my two recent client projects, the framing of the question inher-
ently limits what the answer will look like. Unfortunately, our users or
clients are likely to be taking their research question—often expressed
in a way that presupposes a certain kind of answer—directly to a search
engine chatbot. And they will then get an answer that is plausible and
that falls within the parameters implied in the question.
This presents an opportunity for librarians and information profes-
sionals to help build AI literacy among their users. Enter the new buzz
phrase for effective search queries: “prompt engineering.” In the context
of GenAI, prompt engineers are information scientists who understand
how a particular large-language model works, what kinds of queries
generate useful insights, how to look for unexpected results, and so on.
Yes … just like how a reference librarian takes a user’s information need
and translates it into an effective search query in whatever online (and
print!) resources offer the most relevant and authoritative information.
Years ago, when I was in library school, professional online services
such as DIALOG and LexisNexis offered weeklong training sessions to
acquaint new users with the structure of online databases and effective
advanced search queries. Thankfully, we have moved away from the
days when online searching was an arcane skill that required extensive
preparation and training. However, we are at a point similar to those
early online days—everyone has access to new information resources
that offer previously unknown levels of search power, but operate as
apparent black boxes. Just as we used to explain inverted indexes and
controlled vocabulary to our users when introducing them to a biblio-
graphic database, now we need to explain the importance of develop-
ing chatbot prompts that do more than confirm our unconscious bias-
es. As GenAI becomes ubiquitous, it is crucial that librarians and search
professionals are seen as AI whisperers as well as research superheroes.
Mary Ellen Bates (mbates@BatesInfo.com, Reluctant-Entrepreneur.com) has
a conflicted relationship with generative AI.
Comments? Email Marydee Ojala (marydee@xmission.com), editor, On-
line Searcher.
infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 35
 Visual
Literacy
in an
AI-Driven
World
By Lesley S. J. Farmer

36 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com

 Images constitute an increasing
percentage of digital content,
and that content is being disseminated globally almost
instantaneously. These visual messages are generated by
an increasingly broad spectrum of creators for a variety of
purposes, not all of which are accurate or ethical.
Particularly because people tend to believe visual
information more than textual information these days,
they might not realize how misleading some of those images
can be. As a result, they may make bad decisions, and their
actions may result in dire consequences such as political
violence. AI, with its fabricated images, exacerbates this
issue. More than ever, people need to be visually literate.

F or their part, librarians and information professionals strive

to provide literacy and intellectual access to information in
all recorded formats. This mission expanded exponentially
with the advent of the internet. Each new format brings challenges,
but librarians are able to discern ways to evaluate the associated
The rest of this article discusses visual literacy in light of AI-
generated images and suggests strategies for empowering users
to apply visual literacy to consume and produce such images in a
knowledgeable and responsible way.

content and use the materials meaningfully and responsibly.
These skills are needed more than ever to deal with AI, particularly
new generative AI (GenAI) tools that can produce realistic text and
images. At the same time, these tools—and society’s heightened
interest in them—can be leveraged to increase information litera-
cy instruction and practice.
In terms of AI, the majority of discussions have focused on AI-
generated text; AI-generated images have been addressed less
frequently. On the creators’ end, visual literacy about AI-generat-
ed images tends to concentrate on copyright issues. On the con-
sumer end, the main focus has been to determine if the image is
AI-generated. However, these issues encompass just a small as-
pect of visual literacy.
At a time when visual images constitute a growing part of in-
formation, librarians can leverage AI-generated images to foster
and support visual literacy, which is a subset of information lit-
eracy. In the process, not only can generic visual literacy skills be
instilled, but those unique characteristics of AI-generated imag-
es can be highlighted to deepen visual literacy understanding.
This understanding can lead to informed visual creation via AI.
VISUAL LITERACY BACKGROUND
Fundamentally, visual literacy consists of the ability to locate,
evaluate, understand, use, communicate, and generate visual im-
ages effectively and responsibly. In 2022, the ACRL developed a
framework for visual literacy in higher education that provides
knowledge, skills, and attitudinal indicators of visual literacy with-
in the changing visual information landscape (ala.org/acrl/sites/
ala.org.acrl/files/content/standards/Framework_Companion_
Visual_Literacy.pdf ).
Visual images use a set of visual elements—line, shape, form,
space, color, value, and texture—that create a composition draw-
ing upon the artistic principles of balance, symmetry, proportion,
rhythm, movement, emphasis, harmony, and unity. Creators le-
verage these elements and principles to convey meaning. For in-
stance, dark colors usually convey seriousness, while pastel colors
convey innocence or newness. Significant objects are placed cen-
trally or are larger than less important ones. Horizontal lines and
symmetrical compositions typically evoke calmness or status quo,
in contrast to diagonal lines and disproportionate compositions.
These qualities are often unconsciously sensed by the viewer, but

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 37
 visually literate viewers can appreciate these decisions more ana-
lytically. They can discern the use of visual elements more criti-
cally, particularly when the creators are using them to manipulate
the viewer. Think propaganda visual messages
Culture also impacts the use of these elements and principles.
Colors often have culturally defined connotations. For instance,
Vietnamese brides traditionally wear red, while Westerners tend
to wear white. But in medieval times, green was a favored bridal
gown color. Yellow can connote royalty, joy, evil, or cowardice,
depending on the culture. Likewise, animals symbolize different
meanings in different cultures: Owls may be wise or evil; snakes
may be killers or healers; foxes may be wise or wily. Particularly
as images are seen globally, viewers need to understand cultur-
ally defined visual symbolism in order to interpret those images
accurately. Likewise, different cultures apply artistic principles
differently. Here is another example: In some cultures, distance
is indicated by placing the object higher up in the composition;
in other cultures, relative distance is indicated by showing far
away figures as smaller, although they can be on the same hori-
zontal line.
UNDERSTANDING VISUAL IMAGE MESSAGES
Most viewers concentrate on trying to better understand the
meaning the visual image conveys and what its message might be.
Here are guiding steps to use in the context of visual literacy:
1. Observe. What do you see? What do you notice first?
What people and things are shown? How are they
arranged? What is the setting? What is happening?
2. Reflect. What words come to mind when you see the
image? What is the visual point of view? What do you
think the message is, or does it have one? What did
you learn by looking at this image?
3. Style. How was the image made? How do the visual
elements and principles evoke the message? How
does the medium—drawing, watercolor, oil paint,
collage, photograph, sculpture—impact or “shape”
the message? If text accompanies the image, how does
that affect your analysis?
4. Reaction. After analyzing the image, how do you react
to it? If it moves you to act, what would that action be?
Visual literacy also involves examining the context of the image.
In that respect, visual literacy overlaps media literacy. The Center
for Media Literacy (medialit.org) identified five constructs that
viewers should consider when processing a visual message:
1. Who created the visual message? Is that creator
authoritative or reputable?
2. Why was the visual message communicated? Is the
creator trying to influence the viewer?
3. What values and points of view are represented or
omitted?
4. How do the visual medium and techniques attract
and engage the viewer? Does it evoke strong
emotions? Does the technique feel manipulative?
5. How might the message be interpreted by
different viewers?
38 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
These questions are very relevant to AI-generated images, and
they point out the complexity of authority.
APPLYING VISUAL LITERACY
TO AI-GENERATED IMAGES
All of the visual literacy aspects apply when viewing AI-gener-
ated images. Additional dimensions also need consideration for
full analysis.
First of all, the process by which the images are created is a key
factor. AI image generators collect millions of existing images,
apply metadata or “tags” to each image, and create huge image
datasets. Humans are the ones gathering and tagging those im-
ages, so the quality and representation of those images may be
suspect. For instance, people of color are underrepresented, and
those image that are collected often do not represent the spec-
trum of those groups. Stereotypes are likely to emerge (objecti-
fied Latinas, gangsta Black males). The adage “garbage in, gar-
bage out” applies. As a result, AI image generators can perpetuate
racial biases and, at the least, generate inaccurate and mislead-
ing images. An unfortunate reality is that the original source and
provenance of the images are seldom identified, which brings up
the importance of attribution and intellectual property: This is
another visual literacy skill that resides under the information
literacy “umbrella.”
Visual literacy in the realm of AI-generated images needs to in-
clude this knowledge in order to recognize these biases. That same
skill is also needed by the person who prompts the AI image gen-
erator to “create” the desired image. In some cases, the prompters
intentionally want to mislead the targeted viewers or influence
them in a certain direction. In other cases, the prompters may not
have the visual literacy knowledge to recognize the biases embed-
ded in the image. In the latter situation, the prompters may find
themselves making an embarrassing or cultural faux pas.
It should be noted that someone wanting to have an image cre-
ated may be considered more a specifier than an original creator.
That person provides the textual prompt for the AI algorithm to
match the metadata associated with possible images and then
synthesize it to generate the closest overall image match. This
prompt engineering (the process of structuring text to describe a
task for AI tools to perform) largely resembles the employing of
good keyword searching strategies, a skill that is easily transferred
to general information literacy.
DETECTING POSSIBLE AI FAILURES
While the AI tool tries to reconcile the different images that re-
flect the prompt, it does not always succeed. Human visual acuity
is especially sharp when it comes to analyzing faces because it is
a biological survival strategy. (Is that person dangerous? Is that
person healthy?) Thus, details such as eyes, hair texture, skin
condition, and facial gestures are scrutinized closely for reliabil-
ity. When the hair texture is too even, when the face looks too
symmetrical, when the skin looks “plastic,” or when the light re-
flection differs between two eyes, the viewer can usually detect
AI-generated images. Hands are another giveaway. If they look
distorted or blocky, or if there are too many or too few fingers, the
image may be AI-generated. An Aug. 30, 2023, article by Chandra
Steele, “How to Detect AI-Created Images,” in PC Magazine, pro-
vides some good tips to use (pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-detect-
ai-created-images).
The notion of the uncanny valley, coined by robotics professor
Masahiro Mori in the 1970s, describes the almost visceral feeling of
eeriness or unease people feel when seeing a humanoid-like ro-
bot. This is also a hint that an image might be AI-generated. When
a person’s image looks too perfect or slightly “off” to be real, that’s
likely an AI fabrication. (It is also why engineers avoid making ro-
bots look too human.) Creating deepfakes is now possible using AI
image generators, which further challenges “uncanny valley” limi-
tations. (You can see examples in Daniel Victor’s March 10, 2021,
New York Times’ article: nytimes.com/2021/03/10/technology/
ancestor-deepfake-tom-cruise.html.)
Scientific knowledge also helps to spot AI-generated images, as
well as images that have been manually edited and manipulated
using digital image editing tools such as Photoshop and Maya.
Contradictory light sources, impossible feats of gravity (holding a
cow as if it weighed 5 lbs.), absurd biological displacements (sharks
in swimming pools), and implausible weather patterns (multiple
parallel tornado spouts) all provide evidence of some kind of im-
age manipulation. It could stem from the AI drawing upon fake im-
ages or inaccurately synthesizing multiple images. The BBC’s June
9, 2020, article by Tiffany Wen on identifying fake images provides
some good guidelines that can be applied to AI-generated images
(“The Hidden Signs That Can Reveal a Fake Photo”; bbc.com/fu
ture/article/20170629-the-hidden-signs-that-can-reveal-if-a-
photo-is-fake). In any case, by understanding the process of AI
generation and manipulation, viewers gain a new visual literacy
skill that is medium-specific.
AI image generators are already impacting how visual artists
work. To a degree, these artists may feel conflicted. On the one
hand, they sometimes find that prompting an AI tool to generate
a defined image can jump-start their imagination, just as an im-
age source book or an online image search can spark an idea. On
the other hand, artists sometimes find their own published work


“The uncanny valley is the region of negative emotional response towards

robots that seem ‘almost’ human. Movement amplifies the emotional response.”
(Image and caption source: Wikipedia.)

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 39

 Visual Literacy Resources
Sample instructional resources to teach visual literacy through AI include
the following:

“Seeing Is Not Believing: Visual literacy in the Age of AI.” Developed by Kasia
Wolfson, Cohort 2021–2022, Dawson College Anthropology Teaching Fellow
(dawsoncollege.qc.ca/ai/portfolios/seeing-is-not-believing-visual-literacy-in-
the-age-of-ai)

“AI in the Classroom. Visual Literacy, Creativity and Authorship in the Age of
Algorithm-Driven Media.” A list of instructional websites (mediumisthemessage.
eu/ai-in-the-classroom-visual-literacy-creativity-and-authorship)

CRAFT AI Literacy Resources. Stanford University (ed.stanford.edu/careers/

learning/resources/craft-ai-literacy-resources-0)

being used as source materials for the same AI tool, without giv-
ing attribution, let alone remuneration, for the use of that image.
Artists sometimes try to trace back the image to its original dis-
semination, which is a good practice for all AI users. Several on-
line tools serve this function with more or less success. In a Nov. 9,
2023, article Ben Beck suggests several reverse-image searching
tools (“The Top 7 Reverse Image Search Tools and How to Use Them”;
clearvoice.com/resources/reverse-image-search-tools).
Because visual literacy also addresses the ethics of images, rec-
ognition of this issue and reflection upon its impact on artistic
creating constitute an important part of visual literacy education.
Jörg M. Colberg’s March 27, 2023, thoughts on AI images, in Con-
scientious Photography magazine, address what he calls “very
convincing nonsense” in the context of visual literacy (“Thoughts
on AI Images: Art, Very Convincing Nonsense, and Visual Litera-
cy”; cphmag.com/thoughts-ai).
VISUAL LITERACY EDUCATION
Society—business, education, and legislation—is still grap-
pling with ways to deal with AI, though less so with images than
with text. Visual literacy has already been undervalued within
educational curricula and more so within the context of AI. Nev-
ertheless, the populace is busy experimenting with these AI im-
age-generator tools. So as information professionals, librarians
need to get ahead of the game and provide physical and intellec-
tual access to AI image generators in terms of the critical con-
sumption of AI-generated images as well as to use these tools to
generate their own images. More generically, librarians can le-
verage interest in AI to promote visual literacy.
What, then, are ways to leverage AI-generated images to foster
visual literacy? Here are several starting strategies.
• Research how algorithms and GenAI image generators
are developed.
• Track the evolution of AI image generators.
• Critique AI-generated images.
• Trace AI-generated images and their citations (which
are often bogus).
• Test the same AI prompt to see if different images emerge.
• Examine AI-generated images in terms of bias.
• Show how transforming information from test to image
impacts the information, exemplifying transliteracy.
• Discuss the legal and ethical concerns that AI art
generates, including analyzing case studies where
AI-generated image use led to cheating.
• Bring in visual artists to talk about their use of AI
image generators.
GENERATE YOUR OWN IMAGES
One effective way to gain visual literacy skills through AI is to
generate those AI images. Such practice enables users to see how
AI image generators work, how prompt engineering works, and
how images convey accurate or biased information. In a Tech and
Learning article, Diana Restifo identifies several free AI image
generators for users to test (“Best Free AI Generators”; techlearn
ing.com/news/best-free-ai-image-generators-for-teachers).
Some ways to leverage visual literacy to generate AI images in-
clude employing color theory, exploring typography, leveraging
visual composition, taking advantage of symbols and symbolism,
considering target audiences, being culturally sensitive, and com-
plying with intellectual property rights.
AI-generated images and AI image generators offer a unique op-
portunity to rethink information literacy and to align it with today’s
technology. Indeed, this generation of students has a once-in-
a-lifetime opportunity to experience a new set of technology
tools from the ground up. How exciting!
Lesley S. J. Farmer (Lesley.Farmer@csulb.edu) is professor, educational
technology and media leadership, California State University–Long Beach.
Comments? Emall Marydee Ojala (marydee@xmission.com), editor,
Online Searcher.

40 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com

 metrics mashup
Measuring Research Impact on Public Policy: The
Landscape Broadens With Sage Policy Profiles
R esearch impact is traditionally measured by citation counts
and, more recently, by alternative metrics such as mentions
in the media. But what about research impact on policymaking? A
free, new researcher-based source of policy citations that is now
available from Sage Publishing does just this. Will this tool change
how research impact is measured and described? If so, how? Will
there be other effects?
Sage Policy Profiles (https://policyprofiles.sagepub.com)
provides indicators of a specific researcher’s cited references
in public policy documents. It is another source for valuable
information in an ever-expanding toolbox of research impact
indicators. The service emanates from a partnership between
Overton (overton.io), a subscription-based social policy cita-
tion index, and social science publisher Sage. Overton pro-
vides the data and back-end architecture of the tool, and Sage
hosts it as content available in its Sage Social Science Space
website (socialsciencespace.com).
Despite being around since 2011, Social Science Space, or S3
for short, had not appeared on my radar until this point. S3 pri-
marily hosts what I would consider plain-language articles
with a social science research focus. S3 contains other resourc-
es, job listings, and forums for researcher sharing and commu-
nicating. (As an aside, there are some thought-provoking arti-
cles on research impact in the S3 collection. See socialsciences
pace.com/tag/metrics.)
Overton, a citation database focusing on policymaking docu-
ments, is the brainchild of Euan Adie. If his name sounds famil-
iar to you, that’s because he developed and founded Altmetric
(altmetric.com), now part of the Digital Science portfolio. Both
Altmetric and another Digital Science tool, Dimensions, contain
policy documents as part of the data behind their impact indica-
tors. Thus, I was curious to explore their differences. Overton
boasts a document count of 11 million policy documents and
grey literature sources. By comparison, Dimensions claims a
“mere” 1.8 million policy documents.
STRATEGIC FOCUS
When asked about some of the strategies behind creating
free profiles as opposed to making them proprietary, Camille
Gamboa, associate VP of corporate communications for Sage,
indicated that Sage Policy Profiles is meant to be “a service to
the research community,” focused on helping individual re-
searchers understand and leverage their impact in policy
spheres. According to Gamboa, the partnership “supports a
Elaine M. Lasda
University at Albany, SUNY
larger shift in the research assessment conversation,” moving
beyond metrics based solely on cited references in PRJAs
(peer-reviewed journal articles). Overton’s Adie pointed out
to me that providing the information in the context of a re-
searcher profile allows the researcher the ability to dictate
where that profile appears, eliminate name disambiguation,
and verify the content in the profile.
From my perspective, this strategy is straight out of Adie’s
Altmetric playbook. Launched in 2012, Altmetric gained indi-
vidual users through a free bookmarklet, while marketing its
more robust services and data to publishers and institutions
via paid subscriptions. This approach of making the informa-
tion free for individual users, but subscription-based for com-
panies and institutions, seems to me exactly what Sage and
Overton are doing with Policy Profiles. Profiles are free and the
full Overton database requires a subscription. Furthermore, I
am not certain what kind of traction Sage’s S3 has been getting
since its launch in 2011. My sense is that it isn’t exactly all the
rage with the cool social science kids. Overton launched in 2019,
one year prior to the pandemic. Their partnership should raise
the profile of both S3 and Overton as useful social science re-
sources. Although Gamboa states no researcher profile sub-
scription database is coming down the pike, I do wonder if
eventually Adie will hand off maintenance and management
of Overton to Sage as his database product matures.
TAKING SPP FOR A TEST-DRIVE
Here’s how Sage Policy Profiles worked for me when I
kicked the tires and took it for a spin. You can authenticate
manually using an email address or via a Google or LinkedIn
account. I used LinkedIn and had no glitches. Not expecting
to find anything interesting, I was quite surprised to see that
there are two policy documents that have each cited an article
I wrote. One was a report from a government agency in Spain
about providing chat reference services; the other was “The
Metric Tide,” a U.K. report on the responsible use of metrics
for research evaluation in that country.
The profile interface provides a modicum of functionality,
such as date range limiters and links to both the policy docu-
ment’s full text and the reference of the researcher’s cited
publication. A cool feature is that the Policy Profile also pro-
vides second-order citations for the policy documents, which
is to say those later works citing the policy document that cit-
ed the profile holder. The My Research section of the profile

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 41
 only lists four of my publications. Knowing that Altmetric data
hinges on identifiers, I wondered if that is also true of Overton
data. So, I looked to see what is on my public ORCID profile. OR-
CID lists five of my publications, but one of them does not have a
DOI or a journal ISSN. Without those identifiers to track, it makes
sense that the article did not display. My Google Scholar Citations
profile lists 26 publications, although among these are items I would
categorize as flotsam and jetsam for the purposes of this discussion.
This exercise, for me, confirms Adie’s statement that Policy Profiles
are more “complementary than competitors” with tools like Google
Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, and Dimensions.
WHO IS INFLUENCING WHOM?
How does scientific research impact policy and vice versa? The
interplay between scientific research and public policy creation is
the subject of decades of literature related to scientometrics and the
history of science. It seems to me that varying aspects of both policy-
making and scientific inquiry influence each other in different ways.
How significant is a policy document? Questions of signifi-
cance are a huge debate related to altmetric indicators. For ex-
ample, how much does it matter if your work is posted on X (aka
tweeted)? Or saved in a reference management tool? It occurs to
me that there is a wider and less predictable variation in impact
of posts on X and certain other altmetric sources than the im-
pact of being cited in a policy document. Certainly, the ultimate
show of research impact on policy and society is when the re-
search results inspire legal and regulatory changes. My hunch is
that it’s unlikely to find a tweet that can by mapped to a policy
implementation. “The Becker Library Model for Assessment of
Research Impact” (becker.wustl.edu/impact-assessment/model)
provides an interesting and thorough way to look at the tangible
impacts of research, some of which are rather labor-intensive to
obtain. Policy Profiles could help researchers demonstrate their
case as per this model with less effort.
If a researcher is highly cited by policy sources, what does that
mean? My first thought is that when a policy recommendation gets
traction, any underlying research is cited less and less as the rec-
ommendations circulate in and out of policy circles. It is probably
no surprise that policymakers do not always attribute their sources
as rigorously as academics. Will research findings more quickly
become part of scholarly or disciplinary “canon”? Would they be
so accepted as part of an academic discipline’s precepts that the
idea stops being attributed to the original researcher? Or, would
having access to the connection between the research and citing
policy document slow the speed of that obliterative tendency, be-
cause the researcher can more easily demonstrate the connection
between their work and the policy?
Will this information affect how public funders (such as the Na-
tional Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health in the
U.S.) perceive applicants? Will funder access to this data direct sci-
entific inquiry away from so-called “pure research” toward topics
and areas that have more impact in policymaking circles? We al-
ready see these issues with citation analytics. There have long been
concerns that the editorial direction of high-impact journals and
the limitations of peer review reinforce the status quo within a dis-
cipline and make it difficult for researchers with novel but as-yet
42 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
unpopular research agendas to get traction on their studies.
However, I wonder if certain types of interdisciplinary research
might serve policymakers in a way that may not be adequately
covered by various disciplinary journal collections. This new tool
helps remedy what might otherwise be invisible impact by delv-
ing into additional content where interdisciplinary researchers
might be cited. Here’s another point to consider: Although there
have been recent inroads in the traditional citation databases,
coverage of social science research remains less robust than cita-
tion database coverage of the “hard” sciences. This discrepancy
can leave a gap in understanding the influence of social science
research. Policy Profiles could help researchers identify and fill
gaps in the story of their research impact by showcasing use and
dissemination beyond the ivory tower. It is worth mentioning
that Sage’s Gamboa points to the fact that the profiles are not lim-
ited to social science researchers. She notes that other disci-
plines, such as environmental studies and medicine, also find
this information valuable
IMPACT ON INFO PROS
As info pros and librarians, we can serve our users by pointing
researchers to this tool for their own success in grant applications,
award nominations, promotion/tenure, and other areas of re-
searcher achievement. As Marydee Ojala points out, “As a tool de-
signed for individuals, Sage Policy Profiles can’t be used to search
for other researchers’ work” (infotoday.eu/Articles/News/Fea
tured-News/Sage-Partners-with-Overton-to-provide-a-tool-that-
allows-researchers-to-uncover-their-policy-impact-161992.aspx).
At the same time, understanding the nuance of policy document
citation is a new competency for us. We need to know the differ-
ences and effects of citation metrics from sources that are based on
journals, web sources, and now policy documents.
Grey literature is notoriously difficult to search for, and then on
top of that, tracking cited references within this content is wildly
inconsistent. The secondary citation information on a researcher
profile could be helpful, especially if one did not have an Overton
subscription. Overall, Overton and Sage Policy Profiles provide
us with new opportunities to ramp up our knowledge and skills.
I have zero doubts that the personal profiles will drive increased
Overton subscriptions. There’s that saying when a customer is pre-
sented with habit-forming wares … the first one’s always free. Once
researchers are habituated to having this information, it stands to
reason that, sooner or later, researchers will be asking for the more
robust Overton database for both grander and more nuanced re-
search impact projects. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s a shrewd
strategy on Adie’s and Sage’s part to grow their userbase. In my opin-
ion, Overton and Sage’s commitment to responsible use, contextual-
izing citations through full-text indexing of citing sources, and giving
researchers agency over their information means we all stand to ben-
efit from their partnership and this interesting freebie.
Elaine M. Lasda (elasda@albany.edu) is library strategist, University of Al-
bany, SUNY.
Comments? Email Marydee Ojala (marydee@xmission.com), editor, On-
line Searcher.
 infolit land
Is Information Literacy a Human Right?
A s information literacy instructors and scholars, we’ve been
flying the flag for a long time. Our message to faculty, al-
though perhaps too blunt, is “Hello! Can you hear me? Your stu-
dents don’t know how to do research, and you’re not helping
them as much as they deserve.”
Numerous studies have confirmed the gaps in student re-
search ability. Project Information Literacy (projectinfolit.org)
has devoted many years and many multi-student investigations
to prove it. Here is a sampling of communications I’ve received
from graduate students (yes, graduate students) that illustrates
the problem. I have dozens more:
“I spend hours searching when I could be reading or ana-
lyzing or writing … I’m still trying to resolve this issue. I don’t
know how to use the searches efficiently! The tutorials are
there on the website, but they are not user friendly.”
“Thank you for your encouraging words on research being
available online! I feel like I will be able to accomplish my re-
search paper on servant leadership. It has been frustrating hav-
ing little or no guidance over the years.”
“Having a frustrating time searching JSTOR as a database for
articles relevant to my topics. I’ve watched the [university’s] tuto-
rial a number of times, as well as a few on YouTube. I’ve tried
numerous searches. I’m just not sure if I’m doing something
wrong, or if I should be using a different database.”
“I am embarrassed to admit my assignment is not completed.
I also am having a hard time using the library. I have watched the
guide to library search twice and am struggling to pull up produc-
tive sources. I completed my BA in leadership at … and struggled
throughout my degree whenever I needed to use the library.”
These are not undergraduate, first-year students. All of them
have completed bachelor’s degrees without, apparently, hav-
ing gained the skills they needed for graduate-level research.
Graduate school has hit them like a brick, and their plaintive
emails to me tell the tale.
The consistent message from academia is that people learn
how to do research by doing research. Students who continue to
struggle should visit a librarian or the writing center—and pro-
fessors are not supposed to act as writing instructors. By implica-
tion, research skills are nice to have but not educationally cen-
tral. Meanwhile, those same professors send students out into a
working world where information skills are central. To add to the
problem, most of the information and knowledge their students
acquired in school comes from content that will be obsolete
William Badke
Trinity Western University
within a decade. Their employers affirm that employee informa-
tion skills are inadequate.
INFORMATION LITERACY AS A HUMAN
RIGHT: THE DOCUMENTS
Paul Zurkowski wrote in 1974 that, without widespread infor-
mation literacy, the developing information systems will serve
only the elites (“The Information Service Environment Relation-
ships and Priorities. Related Paper No. 5”; files.eric.ed.gov/full
text/ED100391.pdf). Even 50 years after this pronouncement,
we can see that inequities in knowledge skills are sowing seeds
of inequality, pervasive misinformation, and a lowered recog-
nition of the authority of scholarship.
Although the Universal Declaration on Human Rights doesn’t
mention information literacy, it does affirm the right to freedom
of expression. Article 19 states, “Everyone has the right to free-
dom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to
hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and
impart information and ideas through any media and regard-
less of frontiers” (un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-
of-human-rights).
The idea that information literacy is a human right was af-
firmed by Paul Sturges and Almuth Gastinger in their 2010 article,
“Information Literacy as a Human Right” (Libri, Vol. 60, No. 3: pp.
195–202). They based this affirmation on two international con-
ference statements: “The Alexandria Proclamation on Informa-
tion Literacy and Lifelong Learning” (2005; repository.ifla.org/
bitstream/123456789/3147/1/alexandria-proclamation-on-li
braries-the-information-society-in-action-en.pdf ) and The
Prague Declaration—“Towards an Information Literate Society”
(2003; ar.unesco.org/sites/default/files/praguedeclaration.pdf).
The former states: “Information Literacy lies at the core of life-
long learning. It empowers people in all walks of life to seek,
evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their
personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It is a basic
human right in a digital world and promotes social inclusion of
all nations.”
The Prague Declaration has similar language.
WHY A HUMAN RIGHT?
Even defining a “human right” can be a bit of a challenge. I
don’t, for example, need to argue that air is a human right be-
cause most humans are not experiencing withdrawal of their
right to breathe. So, obviously, a risk of deprivation is part of
the essence of human rights. The other key element is need. I

infotoday.com | MARCH 2024 | 43
 require air or I will die. Similarly, in a complex information world,
people require the skills to navigate it in the acquisition and use
of crucial knowledge or they cannot function properly.
I think we’re only beginning to understand what a minefield our
current information landscape has become. When a full third of a
nation’s population believes that a federal election was stolen, when
the followers of absurd political conspiracy movements such as
QAnon abound, and when violence erupts constantly on the ba-
sis of false beliefs about the nature of the world, we need to recog-
nize that we have entered a highly dangerous era.
Then there is the very obvious evidence that students, from K
through whatever higher degree, are woefully lacking in informa-
tion literacy ability, as attested by hundreds (or thousands) of
studies. We librarians see it every day. Students may know lots of
things but when they have to research and problem-solve, the re-
sults are inadequate or even pathetic.
If a human right is based on need, along with potential depriva-
tion of the ability to meet that need, then current levels of informa-
tion literacy instruction meet both criteria. If we were building able
researchers, we wouldn’t see even graduate students fumbling to
accomplish fairly basic information requirements.
THE PROBLEM WITH CURRENT EDUCATION
Any time a would-be pundit weighs into what is wrong with
education today, there is bound to be controversy. Learning is
hard and takes a lot of time. The efforts of teaching often fail to
bear the kind of fruit we hope for. So, I want to add my voice care-
fully while reckoning with the fact that I’ve been an educator for
40 years and thus have thoughts to convey.
The problem with today’s education begins in the centuries-old
belief that to educate people is to fill them with knowledge in the
same way we stuff soil into empty pots. This notion is understand-
able. In the days before the internet, a privileged few had access to
most of the knowledge. Some of those had the altruistic desire to
impart their knowledge to the underprivileged. The structure of
the information landscape in those times was simple enough that
its boundaries could be discerned. Imagining that you could fill a
brain with what it needed to know seemed reasonable.
Actually, it never was reasonable, and the rapid expansion and
growing complexity of the information landscape has blown the
“filling empty pots” model of education out of the water. It was never
true that filling pots while not considering the need to impart knowl-
edge-handling and critical-thinking skills was genuine education
able to equip students for life. It was never true that people learn
knowledge skills on their own without specific instruction.
Let me be blunt: When we dropped the web, social media, and
widespread conspiracy theory dissemination on a citizenry lacking
even the most basic information-handling and critical-thinking
skills, we doomed a large part of the population to fall into a morass
of confusion and craziness. What is more, we failed to equip our
graduates to even function effectively in the workplaces they entered.
In 2012, Laura Saunders, Simmons College, wrote: “Overall, this
study confirms earlier findings that faculty believe the competen-
cies associated with IL [information literacy] are important and stu-
dents need to develop these competencies, but there is a lack of con-
sensus about where IL belongs in the curriculum and who should
44 | MARCH 2024 | infotoday.com
be teaching it” (“Faculty Perspectives on Information Literacy as a
Student Learning Outcome,” The Journal of Academic Librarianship,
Vol. 38, No. 4: pp. 226–236; doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2012.06.001).
There you go (and remember this was published more than 10
years ago). We see the need, but no one really knows how to teach
information literacy or who will do it. There are not enough librar-
ians in all the world to accomplish the task, and academia is not
doing much even to get going on addressing this striking problem.
IS INFORMATION LITERACY A HUMAN RIGHT?
To ask this question is essentially to ask, “Is a full education that
equips people to function effectively in an increasingly complex
world a human right?” Of course it is, and societies around the
world have acknowledged exactly that. But we are locked in a cen-
turies-old educational pattern that elevates content over process.
We are still filling empty pots in the same way medieval monks
taught their students.
Sure, we teach critical thinking, and we have exercises such as re-
search projects that should be getting our students into the literature
so they can explore issues and learn how to make good arguments.
But if information literacy is a human right, why is most of this activ-
ity done outside of the classroom without providing the equipping
activity our students need to succeed at it? Who is responsible for
teaching information literacy? In my opinion, we all are.
A NEW VISION
If we truly and deeply believed that information literacy was a hu-
man right, we would rethink the very heart of education at all levels
of schooling. First, we would re-evaluate our goals. Is a student who
can get an A on a multiple-choice exam a good student? What if that
student has no idea how to formulate a problem statement, enlist
reputable information to address it, and manage that information as
the tool to wrestle through the various voices to a reasoned conclu-
sion? What if that student has no idea how to spot misinformation or
hear more than one point of view?
Second, we need to decide who is going to teach information lit-
eracy, what they are going to teach, and how that instruction will be
woven into the heart of all curricula. A new vision must go far be-
yond nominally recognizing that information literacy is a human
right and work to program that right into academia at every level.
Maybe this is just a futile dream. After almost 40 years of teaching
research courses and writing about information literacy, I still en-
counter a lot of librarians despairing of their efforts. In a recent
meeting I attended with academic librarians in Canada, one after
another of them acknowledged that their one-shots were essentially
futile. We need a dramatic change.
I envision an era when our students go out into an amazingly
confused information world and navigate it with finesse. I see our
graduates enlisting the world’s knowledge to solve the world’s
problems, confident in the fact that their education told them ex-
actly how to proceed.
William Badke (badke@twu.ca) is associate librarian at Trinity Western
University and the author of Research Strategies: Finding Your Way Through
the Information Fog, 7th Edition (iUniverse.com, 2021).
Comments? Emall Marydee Ojala (marydee@xmission.com), editor, On-
line Searcher.
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