SBU checks out global effort monitoring AI in libraries

By GREGORY ZELLER //

Long Island’s largest university will play a big part in the future of artificial intelligence in libraries.

Stony Brook University Libraries, Stony Brook University’s massive academic-research mothership, has hitched its wagon to Artificial Intelligence for Libraries, Archives & Museums, an umbrella of academic and cultural institutions focused on the evaluation and integration of AI technologies in libraries, schools and cultural-heritage environments.

As an AI4LAM member, Stony Brook joins a growing global community exploring efficient – and ethical – applications of AI in research, scientific discovery, public education and other key areas.

Featuring 2 million print volumes, a massive suite of digital research databases and world-class archival collections, Stony Brook University Libraries – which this week introduced seasoned researcher Hojun Son as its first-ever AI research scientist – is Long Island’s largest academic research library.

It joins prestigious institutions including Stanford University and Yale University, and international partners including the British Library and the National Library of Norway, on a quest that is both thrilling and critically important, according to Nicholas Johnson, Stony Brook University Libraries’ inaugural director of artificial intelligence.

“Joining AI4LAM is an exciting opportunity to join a community where shared tools, evaluation frameworks, ethical guidelines and best practices for AI in libraries are being defined,” Johnson said Wednesday.

The international consortium “pools expertise on the technical and policy questions that no single institution can resolve alone,” the AI director noted, listing data stewardship, model evaluation and “metadata enrichment” among the frontline considerations.

“It also means lasting relationships with international colleagues working through the same questions we are,” Johnson added.

AI4LAM – which officially formed last December but traces its unofficial beginnings to a 2018 partnership uniting Stanford University Libraries and the National Library of Norway – includes universities, national libraries, prestigious museums and research-focused organizations from across North America and Europe. To date, more than 40 member institutions have signed the organization’s Memorandum of Understanding.

“I have been following AI4LAM since its inception,” Karim Boughida, dean of Stony Brook University Libraries, said in a statement. “As someone who has been involved with AI-related work and conversations for many years, I was very happy to see the initiative grow in prominence and maturity over time as more major libraries, archives, museums and cultural-heritage institutions joined the conversation.”

The umbrella’s ongoing review of ethical frameworks, copyright implications and other forms of responsible data use will now be bolstered by SBU, where similar AI-focused research is already in play. The SUNY flagship is expected to jump in with both feet, with Stony Brook faculty and staff already slated to participate in several AI4LAM working groups and community discussions covering topics such as AI literacy and the application of cultural-heritage collections to machine-learning research.

“Joining AI4LAM means being part of an international community thinking seriously about the future of AI in knowledge, research, discovery and cultural heritage environments,” Boughida added.