AI Assistants in Discovery Tools

Our University library recently announced a pretty substantial upgrade to the Primo discovery service and since the College of Law library shares that system, we’re along for the ride. One of the new features that caught my eye is the Primo Research Assistant, a generative AI-powered tool that promises to make library research and discovery easier for the growing number of users who are getting accustomed to asking natural language questions in other AI platforms. Rolling out later this year, the Primo Research Assistant “provides immediate answers to natural language queries and offers visibility into sources and references, so libraries can empower users with a seamless discovery experience, grounded in trusted content, and advance institutional scholarly goals,” according to the announcement posted on the ExLibris blog earlier this summer. 

The blog post offers a quick overview of how to use Primo Research Assistant and what it can do for users. When a library user enters a search in the usual Primo interface, they will get the option to engage with the Research Assistant. The Research Assistant interface will give the user prompts and options on furthering their research. As the user refines their query, the Research Assistant will provide summaries based on available library resources, with links to full-text resources. ExLibris plans to add new features as AI continues to evolve it’s capabilities. 

Other discovery services are planning to integrate generative AI into their products, if they haven’t done so already. ProQuest, another company under the Clarivate umbrella with ExLibris, this summer announced further developments in its own ProQuest Research Assistant, which had been in beta-release since February. Indeed, Clarivate is integrating this type of AI-powered research assistance in many of its products. Outside of Clarivate, other companies are making AI assistants a bigger part of their discovery products. For example, OCLC recently added AI-generated book recommendations to its WorldCat discovery service. A recent post on Library Journal by Matt Enis, AI on the Horizon, is a good overview of how many library technology companies have integrated generative AI into their products, both internal-facing and public-facing. 

Digital POWRR Institute

 Jaime Valenzuela is the Archivist and Scholarly Communications Lead at the Cracchiolo Law Library at the University of Arizona. In this guest post, he writes about his recent experience attending the Digital POWRR Institute on building digital collections and how it applies to his work in an academic law library.

I am a solo archivist at the Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library and my responsibilities include documenting the life of the law school. Preservation is included in that responsibility so that others may access that life in its many forms in the future. Much of that life is now being produced or captured digitally. For a law library fortunate enough to find itself responsible for documenting its history, digital preservation is a key piece of responsible stewardship. 

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to attend the Digital POWRR (Preserving digital Objects With Restricted Resources) Institute at the University of Arizona. The Institute is designed for librarians and archivists to build skills for curating and preserving digital collections under the tutelage of Digital POWRR project staff. Topics of lecture and discussion included digital preservation policy, storage solutions, hardware obsolescence, and integrity. 

One of the best aspects of the Institute was the “Walk the Workflow” demonstration of a digital preservation tool called DataAccessioner. This open-source tool is designed to create a copy of the files that live on external media to a new file location such as a shared network drive. Important features of DataAccessioner include the ability to enter descriptive metadata following the Dublin Core metadata schema and the creation of checksums of the file being migrated from one location to another.

To actively participate in the demonstration, I downloaded and installed the latest version of OpenJDK (a freely available version of java) and a legacy version of DataAccessioner to my personal laptop. For tool testing purposes, I choose to use my personal laptop to bypass any administrative privileges associated with my institutionally owned work laptop. With software installed, I used pre-selected files shared with all Institute participants to use during a live end-to-end demonstration of the workflow. The workflow was also distributed physically allowing for a secondary form of instruction and to serve as documentation for use in the future. Screenshots were included in the documentation, and the files that participants used were the same files used in the demonstration. With the help of instructors, I was able to successfully create duplicate copies of the material I worked with. Having the opportunity to test drive a tool such as DataAccessioner under the guidance of instructors was the highlight of my Digital POWRR experience. 

Another great take away from the Institute is the “POWRR Plan.” The POWRR Plan is a personalized and actionable preservation plan that attendees work on in consultation with POWRR instructors to take home to their institutions allowing attendees to use some of their new found knowledge and take action. The plans include both short and long term goals that span form one month to twelve. 

One of my short term goals within my POWRR Plan was to properly document the digital objects under my stewardship. Using an existing internal LibGuide created for the purposes of documenting library workflows, I included a section titled “Digital Material: What it is and Where is it Stored?” One of my long-term goals is to create a statement on preserving digital collections at my law library. Having such a statement will help ensure that digital preservation is a part of my law library’s core philosophy within archives and special collections.

Non-Library Technology Solutions to Library Problems

When looking for technology to address a library problem, I was recently reminded of the tendency to look for answers in old, familiar places. However, that doesn’t always lead to a good solution to the problem at hand. Sometimes, the best answer to a library problem can be found in a different area entirely.

While reviewing safety practices following a few significant security incidents on campus, access services staff identified a need for a way to call other staff for assistance. In situations where it would be unwise to step away from the service desk to get someone from their office to assist, there was no good way to summon that help. These situations would include demanding patrons, suspicious behavior, or other activity that wouldn’t warrant calling campus police but should not be left for one person to deal with on their own. 

In trying to find a way to address this need, existing library technology infrastructure was the obvious place to look first. The landline phones were considered but dismissed because they are not discreet to use and it’s not always readily known who is in their office and available to go to the desk. The service desk is also equipped with a “panic button” but that was ruled out quickly as well since it is connected directly to campus police. Its intended use is for more urgent, more serious situations. 

The first step in expanding our thinking to find a solution was, pretty obviously, to look at devices specifically designed for security. However, those devices also proved to be a sledgehammer instead of the scalpel we were looking for. They were also prohibitively expensive. 

Much like conducting a reference interview, we had to get past the question being asked and determine what the real need was. In this case, it was simply a way to alert others that assistance was needed. With that in focus, our head of access services identified a solution that works for us: a medical call button. 

Technically designed as a way for people with mobility problems to call for assistance and avoid risking a fall, this device also answered our need. The small call button is mounted under the service counter and can be reached easily and discreetly. When pressed, it activates a quiet yet still noticeable chime in the office suite area behind the public service desk. It chimes until someone responds and resets it. 

This device perfectly met our needs. Access services staff now have a way to call for assistance if necessary and the peace of mind knowing that help is easy to summon. As an added benefit, this medical device was significantly more affordable than alarms designed and marketed as security devices.

Sometimes, a library problem can best be addressed by technology that wasn’t specifically designed for libraries. This situation was a good reminder to look beyond the familiar for solutions.