Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Libraries

by Jason Griffey (Editor), Andromeda Yelton, Bohyun Kim

This issue of Library Technology Reports argues that the near future of library work will be enormously impacted and perhaps forever changed as a result of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning systems becoming commonplace. It will do so through both essays on theory and predictions of the future of these systems in libraries and also through essays on current events and systems currently being developed in and by libraries. A variety of librarians will discuss their own AI and machine learning projects, how they implemented AI and to what ends, and what they see as useful for the future of libraries in considering AI systems and services.  First up is an essay relating the development and design of a machine learning system developed by a library and deployed to production in a library anywhere in the US. The system is HAMLET (How about Machine Learning Enhanced Theses) by Andromeda Yelton, currently a developer at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. At MIT, when she created and developed HAMLET. Next, in chapter three, we have an essay by Bohyun Kim, CTO and associate professor at the University of Rhode Island Libraries, where she discusses the launch of their Artificial Intelligence Lab, which is housed in the library on campus. Then in chapter four, Craig Boman, Discovery Services Librarian and assistant librarian at Miami University Libraries, looks at his attempts to use a type of machine learning to build a system to assign formal subject headings to unclassified, full-text works. This report will conclude with a discussion of possibilities and potentials for using AI in libraries and library science.

31 pages, eJournal

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Jason Griffey is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at NISO, where he works to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise is useful and needed. Prior to joining NISO in 2019, Jason ran his own technology consulting company for libraries, has been both an Affiliate at metaLAB and a Fellow and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and was an academic librarian in roles ranging from reference and instruction to Head of Library IT and a tenured professor at the University of TN at Chattanooga.

Jason has written extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently a chapter in Library 2035 - Imagining the Next Generation of Libraries by Rowman & Littlefield. His latest full-length work Standards - Essential Knowledge, co-authored with Jeffery Pomerantz, will be published by MIT Press in 2025.

He has spoken internationally on topics such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, the future of technology and libraries, decentralization and the Blockchain, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property. A full list of his publications and presentations can be found on his homepage.

He is one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries for the Measure the Future project, an open hardware project designed to provide actionable use metrics for library spaces. He is also the creator and director of The LibraryBox Project, an open source portable digital file distribution system.