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“An opportunity arose for me to go back to school. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offered to pay for my master’s degree in strategic communications,” he said, “but when I started—being 56 years old—the idea of using AI had me scared.”

Thanks to resources in the UMGC library system, Toland not only is using AI to help with project research, but it also is helping him jumpstart his studying. Toland must manage combat-related anxiety that sometimes makes it hard for him to get started on projects. He said AI prompts are helping him overcome that.

At lightning speed, AI is weaving its way into everyday tasks everywhere. For the past few years, the UMGC library system worked to inform students about responsible use of AI for classroom and research assignments. It has now moved onto the next phase: adding AI tools that make the library system more efficient and academic exploration faster, easier and smarter.

This undertaking—which puts UMGC ahead of much of academia—has two prongs. One is to help students, including by preparing them to use AI appropriately in the workplace. The other is to advance the librarians’ use of AI tools for archiving and for supporting students. 

“It started out that we were having to help students learn how to use AI responsibly. We let them know that they were going to get ‘hallucinations’”—referring to false or nonsensical information generated by AI—“and other things that weren’t real and weren’t true,” said Director of Library Services Julie Harding. “Now we’ve moved more into the tools we can make available for them to use.”

The library system already offers AI research guides, search tools and chat and Zoom appointments, including one-on-one consultations of up to an hour with a librarian. It recently unveiled a new page to provide novice users of the library with tips on how to find and explore the databases. 

Those library tools and services are rounded out by , an AI tool designed to help each student with academic research.

“When students go onto our site to search for articles, the Research Assistant will give them the top five relevant articles and ebooks on their topic from our databases,” said Harding. “It also summarizes sources and gives the student opportunities to look past the top five resources.”

Toland said Research Assistant has become one of his main study tools. He uses it to find publications and other resources in the library databases. He is also tapping Research Assistant to provide synopses of readings and for personalized prompts that keep him moving forward. He said his work on projects has become more efficient.

“Because of my [anxiety] disability, there are times when I don’t understand what an instructor wants or what an assignment means,” Toland explained. “I ask AI to put it in layman’s terms, to turn it into more fundamental text so I can understand. I also sometimes ask it to help clarify what my final project should look like or to define specific instructions related to an assignment.

“By taking a piece of the busywork away from me, it helps me speed up. That’s a big burden taken off my shoulders,” he added. “I used it a few weeks ago when I was doing a project and it helped me tighten up some loose ends.”

UMGC Reference Services Librarian Colleen Quinn, who leads the library’s innovation team, said the university’s use of AI tools is opening “really great opportunities.”

“It has been really wonderful that UMGC has taken a positive stance with AI, understanding that it is a tool that people are continuing to use,” Quinn said. “Having students who know how to ethically use it will give them a leg up with their careers.”

There is a growing list of ways the library is raising AI literacy. Harding and Robert Miller, the information literacy librarian who tests many of the AI tools UMGC is exploring, wrote a comprehensive that is posted on the library website. It covers everything from how to know if an AI source is trustworthy to the acceptable way to cite AI-generated material in research papers.   

The other way in which AI is being deployed is to help the library system itself.

“We are using AI in the archives. We are testing out a few generative AI tools to generate metadata for our digital collection,” said Quinn. “Our archives have tons and tons of things waiting to be digitized. The use of AI could immensely free up that process. It’s a great tool to help support the archives efforts.”

She believes the library’s use of AI is a natural next step for an institution that never stops transforming.

“Any type of library—whether at UMGC or elsewhere—is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our patrons. That used to be providing physical access to books and reading materials,” Quinn said. “Now the library is in a position to … provide tech services and teach important information technology skills.”

Quinn has become a familiar figure at conferences on AI use in libraries, and she spends much of her time reading and learning about new AI tools and other ways to advance so-called information literacy. She said it is clear that UMGC is ahead of the AI game.

“A lot of the presentations I’ve been attending are encouraging buy-in from librarians, telling them not to be afraid and how to instruct students to use AI ethically,” Quinn said. “UMGC is already AI-positive. We have our artificial intelligence guide that we published. We have Research Assistant, a tool in our searching service. We’ve been hosting library webinars on using AI and its ethical use.”

The library developments dovetail with UMGC President Gregory Fowler’s commitment to an educational future where learners—and faculty members—are supported by an AI toolbox. During a July 1 Town Hall presentation to the university community, Fowler spoke of integrating AI in far-reaching ways. 

“I picture a similar assistant alongside every faculty member, portfolio director and success coach, synthesizing data so that a team member knows immediately which learners need support and what activities those learners are currently engaged in,” he said. 

He noted that UMGC is often a pathbreaker when it comes to technology and new ways of thinking about the educational process. Quinn said the library fully embraces that challenge.

“I think the advantage we have at UMG is how agile we are,” she said. “When new things emerge—new trends in education and different skillsets that industries and employers desire—we have the ability to quickly adapt to those changes.”