Artificiell intelligens och folkbibliotek – möjligheter och utmaningar gällande hur den kan implementeras i verksamheten och tjänsterna

Sammanfattning

This work aims to investigate how public libraries can utilize artificial intelligence (AI) in their operations regarding tasks and services. The study is conducted as a systematized review of scientific publications and the ”Cultural-historical activity theory” (CHAT) by Engeström (1987) is used for a qualitative thematic content analysis. The work examines how AI implementation affects the libraries' activities and services by looking at which implementations are mentioned, how they relate to the societal and democratic mission of public libraries, as well as social aspects and ethical considerations. In addition to operations, the professional role of public librarians is also included in the study, focusing on how AI competence is addressed in relation to this role. The results indicate that there are many possible implementations for AI in public libraries, ranging from streamlining and automating recurring tasks to personalizing user services. Regarding ethical approaches, the importance of privacy and transparency is particularly highlighted. The social aspects related to the public library, both in terms of a digital and physical space, as well as the presence of librarians, are reported to be significant. In the future, the competence of public librarians needs to include some knowledge about AI both for themselves and to be able to teach it to the citizens.