Introducing Chatbots in Libraries

Bachofer, Mark

McNeal, M. L., & Newyear, D. (2013). Introducing chatbots in libraries. Library Technology Reports, 49(8), 5-.

Summary:

For my Presentation Five in this class, I set out to explore the feasibility of utilizing artificial intelligence as a chatbot to answer the questions of digital patrons. While I’m definitely not the biggest fan of AI, especially in creative endeavors, at the branch where I work, two-thirds of my workdays are spent manning the ASK inbox. For the majority of the emails that we receive, I am able to cut and copy a preprepared response, and send it back out. In my mind, this would be an ideal use for such technology – scanning incoming emails, recognizing certain keywords, and deploying the premade advice. But before I fully condoned the use of AI chatbot technology, I wanted to make sure that I understood where it came from.

In Introducing chatbots in libraries, McNeal provided exactly the resource I was looking for. This article discusses the history of chatbots, and their more recent implementation in libraries. I was surprised to find that some branches have been using them since the mid-2000s, but given that the technology has existed since 1966, I suppose that’s not too unreasonable.

The first chatbot was designed as a therapist. Specifically, ELIZA acted as a Rogerian therapist, which reframe statements are questions to then induce further introspection, and allow the individual undergoing therapy to control the conversation. This type of conversation seemed ideally suited to a chatbot, as they specialize in recognizing keywords, and providing outputs based on those triggers. However, it also seemed ideal for a library scenario.

Indeed, many libraries have adopted chatbots – new systems include Emma the Catbot in Mentor, Ohio and Pixel at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln – but their overall purpose remains the same: to allow branch staff to get back to the desk. Interpersonal contact is one of the key duties of library staff, and if AI is able to increase the time that we are able to spend interacting with the public, I think that it is worth implementing.

Evaluation:

I very much enjoyed this article. It gave a solid history of chatbots, and was able to uncover the underpinnings of this technology. It’s important to understand where new technologies come from, how they’ve developed, and how they can be used in the future.

I did notice that there was not much discussion about the personal privacy issues of AI chatbots, which is still a concern I have. I think that while implementation of such a system in libraries is a good idea that could free up a lot of staff time, we will have to take precautions to avoid distributing people’s information.