Carl Grant
Dean (Interim) of Libraries
University of Oklahoma
Twila Camp
Senior Director of Digital Innovation and Development, Libraries
University of Oklahoma
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming key to dealing with modern, knowledge-based economies and it is permeating our lives further each day. The potential for AI to play key roles in knowledge creation within academic institutions is rapidly emerging. This presentation will briefly explore the AI environment in higher education, using a case study from the University of Oklahoma (OU) Libraries. Developers at OU Libraries have been working in two primary areas: 1) A chatbot that can answer patron questions based on the ALA READ Scale through AI software that uses a system of natural language processing, API integrations, and the tagging of web content and, 2) Application of a separate concept extraction tool on researcher created content in order to find and increase research collaborations between researchers at both the local and national levels. For these projects to reach their full potential, a way to scale the implementation rapidly must be put in place. We will discuss the planned launch of the new National AI Project Registry. This registry will be for institutions to record their AI projects for the express purpose of finding collaborators. This national registry will help researchers learn what is happening at other institutions while also providing opportunities to collaborate and/or build off of the work of others on topics like implementation issues, controlled vocabularies, and licensing issues.
