Matt Enis, Library Journal ; AI Influencers: Libraries Guiding AI Use
"In addition to the field’s collective power, libraries can have a great deal of influence locally, says R. David Lankes, the Virginia and Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship at the University of Texas at Austin and cohost of LJ’s Libraries Lead podcast.
“Right now, the place where librarians and libraries could have the most impact isn’t on trying to change OpenAI or Microsoft or Google; it’s really in looking at implementation policy,” Lankes says. For example, “on the public library side, many cities and states are adopting AI policies now, as we speak,” Lankes says. “Where I am in Austin, the city has more or less said, ‘go forth and use AI,’ and that has turned into a mandate for all of the city offices, which in this case includes the Austin Public Library” (APL).
Rather than responding to that mandate by simply deciding how the library would use AI internally, APL created a professional development program to bring its librarians up to speed with the technology so that they can offer other city offices help with ways to use it, and advice on how to use it ethically and appropriately, Lankes explains.
“Cities and counties are wrestling with AI, and this is an absolutely perfect time for libraries to be part of that conversation,” Lankes says."
