ARL and CNI Release Report on Strategic Implications of AI Futures for Research Libraries

ARL and CNI Release Report on Strategic Implications of AI Futures for Research Libraries

“Four near-term priorities emerged from the workshop with particular urgency for library leaders:

• Invest in workforce now. AI literacy programs, flexible position descriptions, and safe opportunities for staff experimentation are foundational regardless of which AI future materializes. Waiting for the landscape to stabilize before upskilling is a strategic risk.
• Leverage unique collections. Research libraries hold assets—special collections, digitized archives, curated corpora—that commercial AI systems cannot replicate. Using these to responsibly train or inform local AI models and developing AI-first approaches to metadata and collection management represents a distinctive institutional opportunity.
• Lead on governance and ethics. Establishing AI governance frameworks, ethics boards, and evaluation processes for bias is not only an institutional responsibility, it is a competitive differentiator. Libraries are positioned to lead campus-wide conversations on responsible AI use, data privacy, and informed consent in ways few other units can.
• Build and deepen partnerships. Forging cross-campus collaborations with AI researchers, integrating libraries into institutional AI strategies, and strengthening collective action across the library community on copyright, licensing, and shared standards are essential to maintaining library influence and relevance.”

Download, read, and share the report, Strategic Implications of AI Futures for Research Libraries: Workshop Report, by Karen Estlund and Cynthia Hudson Vitale.

This project was supported by the US Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) (grant RE-256859-OLS-24). The views, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this report do not necessarily represent those of IMLS.