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.
