Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly embedded in everyday life, but understanding how it works, how it should be used and what ethical questions it raises can be difficult. As communities navigate those questions, three College of Communication & Information Sciences researchers are looking to a familiar and trusted resource for help: libraries.
Dr. Yuan Li and Dr. Bharat Mehra of the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) and Dr. Jack Lipei Tang of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations (APR) have received a $199,994 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to explore how libraries can strengthen public understanding of artificial intelligence.
The two-year National Leadership Grants for Libraries planning project, “Amplifying Library Voices in AI Ethics and Literacy Through a National Social Media Network Design,” will examine how libraries can work together to share credible, accessible information about AI ethics and literacy through social media.
Li, the project’s principal investigator and an assistant professor in SLIS, researches human-computer and human-AI interaction, with a focus on how people use and learn from emerging technologies. Mehra, a professor and EBSCO Endowed Chair in SLIS, studies equity in library and information science, particularly how technology can empower underserved communities.
Tang, an assistant professor in APR, adds a strategic communication perspective to the team. His research uses data analytics to understand communication networks and how information moves through them, particularly around complex social issues. Together, the researchers are approaching AI literacy from both the information and communication sides of C&IS.
For Li, the idea for the project emerged from previous research examining social media conversations about generative AI and GLAM organizations, including galleries, libraries, archives and museums. The research showed that people were already discussing questions central to libraries, from trust and misinformation to the role of professional expertise.
But the researchers noticed something else: libraries were often part of those conversations without necessarily leading them.
“In one analysis, libraries produced fewer than 15% of high-reach posts,” Li said. “Technology experts, influencers, and other public commentators often began many widely circulated conversations, which then spread into library and professional circles. Simply put, libraries usually function as amplifiers rather than creators of public discussion.”
That finding led Li and her colleagues to consider what a stronger, more coordinated presence for libraries in public conversations about AI could look like.
“For a long time, libraries have helped people assess information, acquire digital skills, and make informed decisions,” Li said. “In the age of generative AI, this educational role should be extended deliberately to the online environments where people encounter, discuss, and form views about AI.”
As AI becomes more prevalent, Mehra said understanding the technology requires more than simply knowing how to use it. AI literacy can also help people think critically about these technologies and make informed decisions about their place in everyday life.
“Artificial intelligence is here to stay and it’s impacting every aspect of our everyday lives in substantial ways that we could not have imagined just a few years back,” Mehra said. “The public must become critical and constructive consumers of these new AI technologies for positive impact and to make meaningful changes in their socioeconomic, sociopolitical, and sociocultural lives towards progressive growth and wellbeing.”
Libraries, Mehra said, are particularly well positioned to help communities develop that understanding because they already serve as a bridge between information and the public.
“Libraries in their roles as knowledge creators, information providers, and community intermediaries can play a vital and sustainable role,” Mehra said.
The project will explore how that role can extend into the digital spaces where conversations about AI are already taking place. Rather than relying primarily on individual libraries to develop their own programming and resources, the research team will design and pilot a coordinated, library-led network for communicating about AI ethics and literacy through social media.
As part of that work, the team will assess what library professionals and the public need from AI education and test a shared content hub for participating libraries. The hub could give libraries access to resources they can adapt for their own communities rather than requiring each institution to develop AI materials independently. What the researchers learn will inform a roadmap for a future national Library AI Ethics & Literacy Network.
Tang’s APR background brings a strategic communication perspective to the project. He will help the team consider how libraries can identify important AI ethics issues and communicate about them effectively on social media.
“Strategic communication can help libraries select important issues surrounding AI ethics that impact public interest and further, craft engaging content on social media that contribute to make librarians’ voices heard in a fragmented and networked world,” Tang said.
Working alongside Li and Mehra, Tang will help develop the networked communication strategy that could eventually connect libraries and their AI-related resources on a national scale.
Over the next two years, the team will use the planning grant to determine what a larger network would require and how it could be sustained. For Li, the goal is not to make social media the primary source of AI literacy. Instead, it offers another way for libraries to meet people where they already encounter questions about emerging technology.
“The fundamental concept is straightforward: libraries have the knowledge, skills, and public confidence needed to help people understand and deal with generative AI,” Li said. “Librarians have always been seen as reliable sources of information and advice, so this role is not outdated in the age of AI; it is even more important.”
The project also creates an opportunity to bring together expertise from across the College around a challenge that reaches beyond any one discipline. By combining SLIS perspectives on libraries and human-AI interaction with APR expertise in strategic communication, the researchers can consider both how people understand emerging technology and how trusted information reaches them.
AI continues to reshape the way people find and interact with information. Through this project, Li, Mehra and Tang hope to help libraries take a more active role in that changing landscape while positioning C&IS research within a conversation with national implications.
“Libraries are not outdated or detached from technology, but reliable partners helping communities make sense of it,” Li said.