{"id":721,"date":"2024-04-01T11:22:41","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T11:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/?p=721"},"modified":"2024-04-01T11:22:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T11:22:41","slug":"ai-theological-libraries-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2024\/04\/01\/ai-theological-libraries-and-me\/","title":{"rendered":"AI, Theological Libraries \u2026 and me"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Edinburgh hosted the Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries<\/a> conference this year at New College on 21-23 March. As usual there was the opportunity for discovering fascinating and historic libraries, including (of course) New College Library, the National Museum of Library of Scotland and the Signet Library.<\/p>\n

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Computer17293866, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

A key focus this year was Artificial Intelligence or AI, and Prof Nigel Crook from Oxford Brookes University opened the conference, speaking about \u2018Generative AI and the Chatbot revolution\u2019, and concluding that while he didn\u2019t predict a future like the one in the Terminator, this couldn\u2019t entirely be ruled out. 😊 Following this was Professor Paul Gooding from the University of Glasgow, with an engaging talk on \u2018Applying AI to Library Collections\u2019. He identified a key challenge for libraries as being the control of AI development by a handful of technology firms \u2013 the forces driving AI tools are not situated in the library sector. How can libraries play a part in AI innovation?
\nWhen we talk about AI this can mean machine learning, natural language processing or deep learning. The majority of \u2018AI\u2019 work in libraries refers to machine learning. Good overviews of the area are Paul Cordell’s Machine Learning + Libraries: A Report on the State of the Field <\/a>and Andrew Cox\u2019s\u00a0The impact of AI, machine learning, automation and robotics on the information profession.<\/a><\/p>\n

AI is already part of library practice in some familiar applications. Historically optical character recognition is probably the most deployed machine learning technology in libraries. Data mining and analysis tools for library datasets are already part of the landscape, for instance at the National Library of Scotland\u2019s Data Foundry<\/a>.Other applications include crowdsourcing \u2013 involving communities in annotating collections and AI clustering and classification (using machine learning to identify connections between large scale collections, inc. metadata). Services for library users based on AI encompass chatbots and knowledge discovery \u2013 recommender systems. We\u2019re also seeing AI systems for automating metadata recognition and extraction, and AI enabled book recommendations for print & e-books.
\nPaul recommended engaging with and building networks and communities about AI in libraries. For instance, AI4LAM<\/a> is an international, participatory community focused on advancing the use of artificial intelligence in, for and by libraries, archives and museums. Paul has been involved with the AEOLIAN<\/a> (Artificial Intelligence for Cultural Organisations) Network. Libraries can play a key role in providing community, advocacy & knowledge exchange about AI.
\nOther conference highlights included an introduction to a Jewish Library for Progressive Judaism by Rabbi Mark L. Solomon and updates on the latest digital products in Theology & Religion from Bloomsbury, EBSCO and ATLA. One of the most interesting sessions in the ABTAPL conference is always the panel session at the end of conference. I was fascinated to hear about the awareness raising campaign at Heythrop Library, where library users were requested to provide impact statements about the value of the library to them, which were then shared on posters, Twitter and library website. It was also valuable to have contributions from members of the Religious Archives Group, Catholic Archives Society and Cathedral Archives, Libraries and Collections Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Edinburgh hosted the Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries conference this year at New College on 21-23 March. As usual there was the opportunity for discovering fascinating and historic libraries, including (of course) New College Library, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[35,29],"tags":[177,176,44],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcUES5-bD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":839,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2024\/07\/26\/ai-vs-the-imago-dei-views-from-us-theological-libraries\/","url_meta":{"origin":721,"position":0},"title":"AI vs the Imago Dei : views from US theological libraries","date":"July 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On Tuesday 18 June, I flew half way around the world to attend the Atla conference in Long Beach, California. There were two questions that Atla delegates asked me that I had to pause and think about to answer. The first was \u2018Why did you come such a long way\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conference reports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/files\/2024\/04\/Artificial_intelligence.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":606,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2023\/10\/09\/meeting-the-challenges-facing-ecclesiastical-libraries\/","url_meta":{"origin":721,"position":1},"title":"Meeting the challenges facing ecclesiastical libraries","date":"October 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"BETH are a European group of national organisations representing librarians working in theological college, seminary, Church and monastic libraries. Solo librarians or librarians working in small teams are characteristic of their membership, although there is also representation from University libraries. I attended their conference on the theme of Challenges facing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conference reports"","img":{"alt_text":"Cordoba Mosque \/ Cathedral","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/files\/2023\/10\/Cathedral.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1112,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2025\/08\/22\/what-we-learned-from-our-conferences-academic-support-librarians-and-professional-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":721,"position":2},"title":"What we learned from our conferences : Academic Support Librarians and professional engagement","date":"August 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Academic Support Librarians are a learning team, who have attended professional development events in line with the prioritised themes in our team workplan. Ishbel Leggat attended the RLUK conference in Liverpool in March, where she learned\u00a0 \u201chow colleagues at other institutions are embedding AI skills into the curriculum, how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ASL stories"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/files\/2025\/08\/Picture1-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1074,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2025\/07\/05\/challenges-changes-and-collaborations-american-theological-library-association-conference-pittsburgh-june-18-21-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":721,"position":3},"title":"Challenges, Changes and Collaborations\u2013 American Theological Library Association conference, \u00a0Pittsburgh June 18-21 2025","date":"July 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I was delighted to be invited to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this year to speak at the Atla 2025 Annual meeting. It\u2019s actually the second time I have been to a library conference in Pittsburgh \u201cthe steel city\u201d, the first was to an ARLIS art librarians conference over 20 years ago. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ASL stories"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/files\/2025\/07\/Steps-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1128,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2025\/10\/01\/what-ai-did-next-exploring-ais-role-in-european-theological-libraries\/","url_meta":{"origin":721,"position":4},"title":"What AI did next : exploring AI\u2019s role in European theological libraries","date":"October 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I was privileged to attend the BETH = Bibliotheques Europeennes de Theologie conference in Stavanger, Norway, 20-23 September 2025, which had the theme of exploring AI\u2019s role in Theological libraries. I really appreciated the practical nature of many of the papers in this conference, which highlighted projects and processes using\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conference reports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/files\/2025\/10\/BETH-2025-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":511,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/asl\/2023\/04\/26\/artificial-intelligence-where-does-it-fit-into-library-strategy\/","url_meta":{"origin":721,"position":5},"title":"Artificial Intelligence : where does it fit into library strategy?","date":"April 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Everybody\u2019s talking about AI and Chat GPT \u2013 what will they mean? I attended an event on 20.4.2023 organised by the Information School Sheffield University which explored this question for libraries. Dr Andrew Cox introduced the session, reminding us that chatbots & AI have featured heavily in the news recently,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conference reports"","img":{"alt_text":"Metal sign outside the Main Library, taken from a low angle at the bottom of the stairs. 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