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The essence of being a librarian in disruptive timesEvgenios Vlachos, Anne Faber Hansen and Jakob Povl Holck

IntroductionToday, librarians are faced with speedy developments in robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and similardisruptive technologies. Some (often larger) libraries have already embraced the new trends andimplemented robot assisted patron guidance, virtual frequently asked questions management, pick-and-place-machinery or automated material handling operations, not to mention educational initiatives forstudents (e.g., information literacy training).

Background

The transformation of librariesinto technological playgroundswhere patrons, especially studentsand young people, have a chanceto interact directly with robots is apart of the new trends. One canimagine that many librarians areafraid of the new possibilities.

Purpose

The purpose of this poster is todraw attention to and discuss thecurrent trends – and ponder theinterfaces between the librarian’score competencies and the newtechnologies. For what makes agreat librarian? Are the machinesand the online features truly goingto replace the human librarianseventually? What should thelibraries do in these disruptivetimes? Never before has the role ofthe librarian been more critical.

Method

To address these issues, weperformed a literature search infour databases: IEEE, LISTA,Scopus, and Web of Science.Studies were included if they usedthe components robot (theintervention) and library (thecontext); if they were published in2016, 2017 or 2018; and if they werein English. After the removal ofduplicates and screening on titleand abstract level, 51 publicationsremained. Reading through thefiltered corpus, we ended up withthree major, equally importantaspects, which may describe theessence of today’s librarianship.

Perspectives

We point out where librariesshould shift their focus to stopharboring fears about beingreplaced by technology.

Results

I. Librarians aredemocratizers of data accessand providers of equal accessto technology, information,actionable intelligence, andcontinuing education (byoffering courses andeducating the public on thefuture balance of the humanand the digital, along withthe ethical implications thatfollow).

II. Librarians aremediators between diversecommunities and reliable,understanding, empatheticguides. As long as humanscontinue to visit libraries,these traits will always beessential in interpersonalcommunication. Fortunately,these traits still lie within thebounds of the human realm.

III. Even thoughmachines offer a great varietyof possibilities and superiorinformation literacy, ahuman librarian will alwaysbe needed in the loop toclarify the input, ensurecopyright clearance andlicensing, and filter theoutput of the AI system.

University Library of Southern Denmark,Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark

(evl; annefaber; holck)@bib.sdu.dk

mailto:evl@bib.sdu.dk