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Scholarly Papers and Articles University Libraries

3-2025

Artificial intelligence: Considerations for Library Public Service

Delivery
Annie Bélanger
Grand Valley State University, [email protected]

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ScholarWorks Citation
Bélanger, Annie, "Artificial intelligence: Considerations for Library Public Service Delivery" (2025).
Scholarly Papers and Articles. 77.
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Journal Title: International Information & Library Review

(https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/ulbr20)

Column Title: Perspectives on Public Services

Column Editor: Annie Bélanger, Dean of University Libraries, Grand Valley State University,
Allendale, MI, USA [email protected]

COLUMN EDITOR’S NOTES: This column examines advances in public-facing library services.
The focus is on how broadly framed library services evolve and impact users as well as how
diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, usability, and leadership advance service development.
The column seeks to bring a broader viewpoint of public services as all services impacting
users, beyond traditionally viewed public services such as instruction and education,
programming, and circulation. The strength of the column is its broad, international focus and
contributors are encouraged to explore issues and recent advances in public services relevant
to their geographical region as well as the larger global audience. Interested authors are invited
to submit proposals and articles to the column editor Annie Bélanger at [email protected].

Article title: Artificial intelligence: Considerations for Library Public Service Delivery
Author: Annie Bélanger, Dean of University Libraries, Grand Valley State University, Allendale,
MI, USA [email protected]
Abstract: Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming ubiquitous in our daily lives and discussions
about the future. This column will explore the evolution of Rangathan’s Five Laws of Library
Science to the modern reality of continued technological advancements and adoptions in
libraries. The column will then explore how service delivery, informed by Rangathan’s Five Laws
of Library Science, contends with technological advances. The column will further explore
considerations and implications for artificial intelligence within the realm of service delivery and
the understanding of digital literacy. The column will provide an emphasis on artificial
intelligence's possible impacts on personalization and automation of services, user education,
and the daily work of library professionals. It will also explore the expertise and capacity for
library professionals to wrangle with these considerations and implications.
Keywords: Public services, artificial intelligence, library professionals, user education
Word count: 3436

Introduction
Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming ubiquitous in our daily lives and discussions about the
future. Yet, many topics are conflated with or seen as artificial intelligence (AI) as we understand
it today, including machine learning, deep learning, and more. Machine learning is a subset of

1
artificial intelligence, which uses historical data to solve problems.1 While all machine learning is
a form of artificial intelligence, not all artificial intelligence is machine learning.2 Deep learning is
an advanced version of machine learning. The current discussions of artificial intelligence are
focused on the generative components of the artificial intelligence umbrella. For the purpose of
this column, the author will use IBM’s definition of artificial intelligence: “Artificial intelligence (AI)
is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning,
comprehension, problem solving, decision making, creativity and autonomy.”3 This means that it
both includes the generative components, particularly as the author looks to future possibilities,
and machine learning as the author considers current integrations into libraries.

The potential for advancing the creation of knowledge and enhancing productivity seems
unending. There is a deep sense of excitement for these possibilities, which is often paired with
an unbridled push for adoption. In parallel, others have significant skepticism of this adoption
first, learn second approach, which is often focused on the dangers of artificial intelligence. The
middle path is the recognition that libraries, and other adoptees, must contend with the ethical,
moral, developmental, and environmental implications of adoption across wide swaths of society
and industry. Within libraries, the approach to engaging with and adopting artificial intelligence is
reflective of the wider societal mood and the varied approaches.

This column will explore the evolution of Rangathan’s Five Laws of Library Science to the
modern reality of continued technological advancements and adoptions in libraries. The column
will then explore how service delivery, informed by Rangathan’s Five Laws of Library Science,
contends with technological advances. The column will further explore considerations and
implications for artificial intelligence within the realm of service delivery and the understanding of
digital literacy. The column will provide an emphasis on artificial intelligence's possible impacts
on personalization and automation of services, user education, and the daily work of library
professionals. It will also explore the expertise and capacity for library professionals to wrangle
with these considerations and implications.

Consideration of Five Laws of Library Science and

their Evolution
The author believes that in order to look to the future and to consider what should be adopted
within libraries, libraries must first consider their past and the foundational concepts that
permeate their current approach to work. The author strongly believes both that 1) to
understand our past is to understand who we are and why we approach our practices and 2)
that the past need not limit the future. Holding these two dialectical truths in tension together

1
Cole Stryker and Eda Kavlakoglu, “What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?” IBM Topics, August 9, 2024,
https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/artificial-intelligence.
2
Cole Stryker and Eda Kavlakoglu, “What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?” IBM Topics, August 9, 2024,
https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/artificial-intelligence.
3
Cole Stryker and Eda Kavlakoglu, “What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?” IBM Topics, August 9, 2024,
https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/artificial-intelligence.

2
means that the column will begin by looking at the foundational concepts of the library
profession.

In 1931, long before the advent of modern computers, Ranganathan detailed five laws of library
science to consider when deciding how to operate libraries4. The five laws were set as:
1.​ “Books Are For Use
2.​ Every Reader His/Her Book
3.​ Every Book Its Reader
4.​ Save The Time Of The Reader
5.​ The Library Is A Growing Organism”5
The five laws still form the basis of the best practices and values libraries to this day. Libraries
hold books (and other forms of information) to the end of having readers and researchers
engage with the information in order to create knowledge and new understandings. Libraries
collect a wide breadth of information resources to meet the needs of its many readers and
researchers. Libraries create services and a service ethic to proactively meet the needs of
readers and researchers. Libraries invested heavily in their infrastructure to ease the discovery
and use of information. Lastly, libraries continue to evolve while being grounded in their history
and pasts.

In 1931, these concepts were groundbreaking, in many ways affecting the future of the libraries
for almost 100 years. These five laws led to the changes from largely closed stacks to open
concept libraries that are the norm across most of the world now. Yet, libraries have evolved to
include much more than books and reading supports. The technological advances of the early
1990s led to a revolutionary level of change in libraries and library services. In 1995, Michael
Gorman and Walt Crawford evolved Raganathan’s five laws of library science to adapt to what
they saw as the future of libraries and the need to adapt how we approached operating them:
1.​ “Libraries serve humanity.
2.​ Respect all forms by which knowledge is communicated.
3.​ Use technology intelligently to enhance service.
4.​ Protect free access to knowledge.
5.​ Honor the past and create the future.”6
These evolved five laws of library science elevate the need to: center humans and human care;
understand and engage with the widening variety of information sources, information formats,
and mediums for sharing information; engage with technology with intentionally and an
understanding of the benefits and the risks of each technology; ensure that information access
is free7 and available for all, which means that libraries need to support readers and researchers
with comprehension and sense making; ensure that our past and present strengths are
centered as we imagine endless possibilities for our futures.

4
No author, “Five Laws of Library Science,” Librarianship Studies & Information Technology, September
11, 2022, https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2017/09/five-laws-of-library-science.html.
5
Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan, The Five Laws of Library Science (Edward Goldston, Ltd., 1931).
6
Michael Gorman and Walt Crawford, Future Libraries: Dreams, Madness, and Realities (American
Library Association, 1995): 8.
7
Free within the context of publisher owned and controlled access to electronic resources and the
boundaries of the contract that libraries are accountable to.

3
Further evolutions of the five laws are also relevant to the consideration of artificial intelligence
within libraries and library services. In 2004, a version of the five laws was articulated by Alireza
Noruzi to apply to the web by replacing the book with the web and the reader with the user.8 In
2008, in response to the growth of media and variety of media, Carol Simpson recommended
edits that replaced the book with the media and the reader with the patron and user. In 2014,
Patrick Carr explored the five laws within the context of using the Social Construction of
Technology Framework for libraries to explore and guide their transformation impacted by
significant technological advances.9 Carr stated that “According to this framework, the actions
and behaviors of user communities determine a technology's meaning, not the design or
intended functionalities of the technology itself.”10 He further articulated that this means that the
“behaviors and choices of user communities shape this technology’s functionality”, grounded in
his belief that the library itself is a technology rather than a static being.11

Combined together, these evolutions can serve as a basis for inquiry for libraries as they
consider if and how to integrate technological advances. The author wants to note that libraries
exist within the tension (or dual reality) of having a level of agency over technology adoption and
having technology advances imposed on their operations. This lack of agency is a reality as
technology advancements occur within the technology infrastructure used to operate that is
owned by external entities, the technology infrastructure of the wider organizations some
libraries are part of, and the technological expectations of library users.

Service Delivery & Technological Advances

It is no secret that libraries are ubiquitously contending with the growth of demands for more
services and resources. The other unwavering truth is that this growth in demand is occuring at
a time of continued contraction of resources and support for libraries and their functioning.
Technology has played a role in expanding services while contracting resources, such as
automation efforts. Once again, technology seems poised to save the day for libraries.

“Librarians have historically reacted to new technologies that enhance their offerings because
they are change agents for contemporary and cutting-edge technology.”12 Artificial intelligence
appears to provide a promise of increasing the scale and speed of service delivery. At the same
time, artificial intelligence also is creating a need for new services or user learning opportunities.
Lastly, artificial intelligence is raising ethical and environmental concerns. Yet, if libraries are to

8
Alireza Noruzi, “Application of Ranganathan’s Laws to the Web,” Webology 1, no.2, (December 2004): 3.
9
Patrick L. Carr, “Reimagining the Library as a Technology: An Analysis of Ranganathan's Five Laws of
Library Science within the Social Construction of Technology Framework,” Library Quarterly 84, no. 2
(April 2014): 152-164, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/675355.
10
Ibid: 153.
11
Ibid: 153.
12
Sanjay Kumar Jha, "Application of Artificial Intelligence in Libraries and Information Centers Services:
Prospects and Challenges," Library Hi Tech News 40, no. 7 (2023): 1,
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/trade-journals/application-artificial-intelligence-libraries/docv
iew/2847673850/se-2 (accessed February 28, 2025).

4
continue to exist as change agents, they need to contend with the considerations and
implications of artificial intelligence for their services and their own daily work.

Service Consideration & Implications of Artificial

Intelligence
Artificial intelligence provides possibilities for scaling services, advancing service approaches,
and reducing staff involvement in service delivery. It also provides possibilities for behind the
scenes work improvements, which ultimately do interact with users and service delivery. For the
purpose of this column, the author will consider thematic areas of public facing service delivery
that can be modified by artificial intelligence as well as the associated benefits or drawbacks.

Personalization and Automation of Services

In considering Ranganathan’s five laws of library science, the third law - every book its reader -
and the fourth law - save the time of the reader - personalization of services and automation of
service delivery seem predestined as artificial intelligence reaches deeper into library
operations. One of the most prominent promises is the ability to automate and personalize
services and increase the speed of response. What if every question can be answered any time
of day through the library website? What if the chat and email reference service were automated
to reduce delays and could adapt to the user behavior? What if user preferences could
automatically generate a personalized experience? What if meeting the needs of users,
particularly online, could be automated at point of need? Arguably, these are feasible with
existing technologies. However, the technological capabilities and staff input time required to
enact these with a high-quality, high-impact outcome is out of the reach of most libraries.

Personalization and preemptive, automated support can continue to both streamline service
delivery. This could improve the quality and speed of service delivery as well as make the work
of the library increasingly invisible. While the author does not advocate to complicate service
access to elevate the status of the library, the author does want libraries to consider how to
articulate and demonstrate the impact of the library in the ongoing delivery of a high-quality suite
of services. As we consider personalization, one might ask personalization to what end? And by
what means? How might personalization enhance user experience and education? How might it
diminish user education?

Libraries are an integral part of the learning arc, particularly when affiliated with educational
organizations. “The emphasis on personalization of learning through AI has been increasingly
questioned.”13 Is the personalization and preemptive meeting of needs supporting the continued

13
Selwyn, N. Should robots replace teachers? AI and the future of education (Wiley, 2019). Quoted in
Andrew Cox, "Exploring the Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Robots on Higher Education through
Literature-Based Design Fictions: Revista De Universidad y Sociedad Del Conocimiento," International
Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 18, no. 1 (January 2021), 3,

5
growth of users? Their continued learning journey? How does personalization of services foster
the development of habits of mind, refined literacy skills, thinking skills, and comprehension
skills? What is the impact on users’ ability to integrate information to form knowledge?

As libraries consider using artificial intelligence to provide personalized or preemptive service

delivery experiences, it will be important to consider alignment with the library’s desired
outcomes. To do this, the author suggests reviewing the mission, the service philosophy, the
learning or educational objectives, and the approach to the development of information literacy
and other literacies. This review should include a reflection of how the adoption of artificial
intelligence components support, advance, or impede any of those components. In parallel, the
consideration of a personalized and preemptive approach can in turn start to elucidate possible
needs for user education created by artificial intelligence integration into services and, more
broadly, their daily lives. Lastly, libraries should consider if the artificial intelligence integrations
align their professional and organizational values, particularly those of user privacy and equal
access to information.

User education
Libraries have provided user education and multiple supports for the development of a broad
range of literacies since they became part of the societal commons - a part of the public sphere
dedicated to bettering society and its citizens. Since the early nineties, libraries have also been
partners in addressing technology equity through access and skills development so users can
access the online world and leverage technology to meet their needs. While this partnership has
focused heavily on the provision of access to technology and the internet, it has also been
paired with tipsheets, workshops, educational sessions, and individualized support to ensure the
ability to use the technology and its associated resources. Since the mid-200s, the need for
technology equity support has continued unabated, and libraries have also worked to address
media, data, and overall digital literacy needs of their communities. This was clearly
demonstrated when the COVID-19 global pandemic shuttered community access points and
many libraries boosted the wifi to be usable outside of the building or set up technology loans to
ensure people had continued access.

Over time, and in different regions of the world, the educational mission of libraries has often
focused on information literacy, critical thinking skills, and the ability to determine the validity and
veracity of information found. Starting in the 1990s with the integration of computers and
electronic library services, libraries have had to expand information literacy to encompass
baseline technological literacy and digital literacy to ensure users could access, use, and
comprehend information in all formats. The proliferation of information online and through social
media in the 2000s created a need to begin to consider information literacy beyond the scope of
research or formal library supported resources. Since then, there have been many instances of
libraries and librarians stepping into radical collaborations with social change agents and
activists to fight back against misinformation. This has been driven by an exponential increase

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/scholarly-journals/exploring-impact-artificial-intelligence-rob
ots/docview/2478378171/se-2.

6
in misinformation driven by greater access to technology and tools that make its creation and
spread easier.
The “Urban Libraries Council (ULC) explains that “technology has always played a role
in spreading misinformation and disinformation, but the advancement of artificial
intelligence, particularly generative AI, has ushered in an era of unprecedented
expansion in the volume, sophistication, and believability of falsified information.””14

The author further emphasizes that libraries play a critical role in providing access to information
as well as the support to develop the skills necessary to discover and use this information
ethically and responsibly. If artificial intelligence is a component of library services or simply of
the daily lives of those they serve, what learning materials might libraries need to create and
provide? And even the creation of those learning materials raises the question of what skills and
competencies will library professionals need to develop and maintain?

In most recent years, the myth of digital natives15 persists and is undermining the education that
these individuals have received.16 The author posits that persistence of this myth has enhanced
the need for libraries to actively seek to improve information, data, media, and digital literacies.
The development of literacies needs to focus on users as well as colleagues newer to libraries.
The author considers that even those that have a strong foundation in these literacies will need
to continue to hone their skills and knowledge as technologies continue to evolve rapidly.

When considering technology equity skills, digital literacy, and artificial intelligence literacy, the
author articulates the following competencies as informed by her within a liberal education
institution and ongoing leadership in the development of an institutional digital literacy
framework17 and associated library services:
●​ Essential technology skills to enable work and educational engagement - this includes
understanding file and document structures, creating and saving files, basic software
selection and use
●​ Emergent digital literacy - understanding the creation of media and other digital artifacts,
identifying veracity of media and digital artifacts, ethical implications of digital use and
creation, understanding of ownership, selection and use of digital tools
●​ Advanced digital literacy - ability to create digital artifacts with proficiency and ethical
basis, leveraging advance digital creation software and features, integration of
understanding and knowledge in the creation of digital artifacts, fluency in digital
applications affiliated with personal expertise

14
Matt Enis, “AI and the Public,” Library Journal, November 11, 2025,
https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/ai-and-the-public.
15
Digital natives describe individuals who have grown up in a time of easy access to the internet and
ubiquity of technology. The myth is that these individuals are therefore digitally savvy, leading them to
have a deeper and coherent understanding of technology and its uses.
16
Rebecca Eynon, “The myth of the digital native: Why it persists and the harm it inflicts,” In Educational
Research and Innovation Education in the Digital Age Healthy and Happy Children (OECD, 2020): pp.
131–143.
17
The Grand Valley State University Digital Literacy definition is available at:
http://gvsu.edu/provost/digital-literacy-definition-384.htm. It forms the basis of the internal framework and
shared approach.

7
In all of these levels, there are shared basic educational components that are directly interlinked
to information literacy: ability to engage and use, ability to identify veracity and authority, and
ethical use. The author argues that the use of artificial intelligence fits within the umbrella of
digital literacy and the broader umbrella of information literacy. For clarity, within the context of
digital literacy, a baseline definition of artificial intelligence literacy would be “a set of
competencies that enables individuals to critically evaluate AI technologies; communicate and
collaborate effectively with AI; and use AI as a tool online, at home, and in the workplace”18

Library Journal argues that “the rapid growth of AI-generated misinformation is certainly one of
the more pressing issues that public libraries can help address, patrons will likely have other
questions or interests involving AI.”19 Artificial intelligence will remain an important component of
users’ lives and of libraries’ future path. From a lens of user education, libraries need to
articulate their approach to digital literacy and more specifically the understanding and the use
of artificial intelligence. While many library professionals are learning about artificial intelligence
at the same time as users are (and the rest of the world), they are uniquely positioned to
support user education.

Integration into the Library’s Work

Artificial intelligence broadly defined is already present in most of the daily work of library
professionals in ways that have not always been considered. The author invites the reader to
consider the technology tools that the reader is using in order to accomplish most of their tasks.
To elucidate the point, the author will outline the embedded artificial intelligence used in the
process of writing this column. The author used word processing software that includes word
suggestions, spelling corrections, and grammatical corrections; all of which are a form of
embedded artificial intelligence that most do not give a second thought to. The author used a
web browser, which had artificial intelligence enabled without a requirement for the author to
agree to its use; the author made the intentional choice to scroll past the suggestions in order to
use critical thinking skills in selecting articles to read and cite. Even before sitting to write the
column, the author received an email from the virtual meeting software used for another
scholarship project that provided a meeting summary generated by artificial intelligence. In all of
these examples, the author did not have agency in what tools the organization implemented and
whether artificial intelligence was activated or not. Yet, artificial intelligence is now present in the
author’s daily work, quietly working in the background.

While there are artificial intelligence components present in day to day working tools, there are
also many additional components of artificial intelligence that can be added to the work of public
services. These include: chat bots in chat and email reference services; search enhancements
in the integrated library system; use of artificial intelligence to create user tip sheets and user

18
Duri Long and Brian Magerko, “What is AI literacy? Competencies and Design Considerations,” in CHI
’20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, (Association for
Computing, 2020): 2, https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376727.
19
Matt Enis, “AI and the Public,” Library Journal, November 11, 2025,
https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/ai-and-the-public.

8
educational components; use of artificial intelligence in creating user video tutorials; use of
artificial intelligence to clean up and normalize catalogue data; and more. The author argues
that these opportunities should be considered carefully and with intentionality before venturing
forward. The considerations need to include the benefits to the scale and scope of work that can
be accomplished, the mitigation of human error, the risks to data privacy, the bias present in the
coding that creates the artificial intelligence tools, the resourcing requirements to sustain
artificial intelligence tools, and the capabilities of those ask to use artificial intelligence tools.

Cox argues that libraries could use the resourcing and readiness model developed by Mikalef
and Gupta as an evaluative framework to ascertain the capacity and readiness levels of a library
(and its home organization) to adopt, and perhaps, develop artificial intelligence systems
components.20 Library professionals have deep experience in prompt engineering, which is a
fancy term for creating a search strategy. Library professionals have experience evaluating
tools, information quality, copyright considerations, ownership and provenance, and ethical
considerations of different approaches to creating information. Library professionals as a whole
also have expertise and skills associated with information discovery, information architecture
and metadata, sense making of large sets of information, protecting user privacy, curation and
preservation of information, and the selection and implementation of technology tools internally
and externally. Lastly, library professionals have a strong tradition of user education materials,
workshops, and deeper instructional support. To this end, the author posits that library
professionals need to be part of the exploration, selection, and implementation of artificial
intelligence tools within libraries (and the wider organizations they may belong to) as well as the
development of the user instruction materials and programs to ensure effective, efficient, and
ethical use of these tools.

Conclusion
The author urges libraries to be proactive in engaging with artificial intelligence possibilities and
integration in order to retain agency over their future and to meet user needs. At the same time,
the author urges libraries to consider their mission, core values, Ranganathan’s five laws of
library science, and ethical implications as they decide how to integrate artificial intelligence,
along with any other technological advances. Even for skeptics and pessimistic futurists,
choosing not to engage in the dialogues of artificial intelligence means that the voices that
articulate the risks, dangers, and possible mitigations approaches will not even be present.

20
Andrew Cox, “The Implications for Use of Artificial Intelligence in Libraries and Education: An
Introductory Overview,” in book New Horizons in Artificial Intelligence in Libraries (De Gruyter , 2024):
64-65.