Application of AI in Academic Library Services: Prospects and Implications for Quality Service Delivery

Introduction

Information and its role in development is a necessity in every country. Information is a significant factor of production, playing a major role in the industrial revolution with technological developments in all spheres of human endeavours. Growth is a priority for universities as they pioneer the development and advancement of knowledge. Educational institutions invest in technologies and information resources through their libraries to support their teaching, learning, and research functions. These libraries play a significant role in the collection, organization, dissemination, preservation, and retrieval of information in a timely and organized manner.

Academic libraries are mandated to meet the information needs of their parent institutions by providing access to information resources, information, and reference services and implementing and investing in emerging technologies to optimize their service provision for user satisfaction. Technological advancements and the proliferation of artificial intelligence have transformed the academic library fundamentally by providing invaluable resources with increased access to information.

Artificial Intelligence is an essential technology whose machinery is enhanced with the support of state-of-the-art technological innovations and improvements. Artificial intelligence has emerged as a pervasive form of technology in our everyday lives and now forms a part of various activities in the academic world. The term artificial intelligence (AI), according to Kaliraj and Devi (2022), was coined by John McCarthy and is defined as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines and brilliant software programs.” It is also “the application of computers and utilization of computer-based products and services in the performance of different library operations and functions or the provision of various services and production of output products” (Tsabedze et al., 2022).

The emergence of AI and its implications on academic library activities, services, and products is critical in the present information-dependent society. The degree to which AI is adopted in the library space is likely to be driven by widespread technical developments and so cannot be controlled by librarians. Its advancement becomes a prevailing threat to the need for professional librarians. The intensive burden on librarians to provide high-quality services to library users due to the information explosion in our present society has led to the integration of modern technologies.

This chapter assesses Artificial Intelligence’s prospective use and implications in academic libraries and analyses librarians’ competencies, perceptions, and skills to use AI supported technologies. The objectives of the chapter are to:

• 1.

  Assess the knowledge and perception of librarians in using AI in Academic libraries.

• 2.

  Assess the use of AI in service delivery in Academic libraries.

• 3.

  Identify the prospects and implications of AI in Academic libraries.

These hypotheses were also tested:

• H1: There is a relationship between one’s level of education and their source of knowledge of AI.

• H2: There is a relationship between the level of one’s education and the frequency of their knowledge of AI acquisition.

Review Of Literature

To serve as a standard against which the finding from the study was measured, the literature was reviewed under the following topics: