[Eril-l] Evaluating AI tools in licensed databases

[Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list]

We're a small team, just 9 librarians, so we've been evaluating them mostly ad hoc.  The only even informal rubric we have is: is the purpose for the tool at odds with our educational mission to encourage students to engage with the scholarly literature? All of the tools that provide summaries are the very opposite of useful for us, and the faculty would probably get upset with us if we made them available. When we have a choice, we disable those.

On the other hand, tools like EBSCO's "Natural Language Search" that actually can help students learn good boolean syntax (we figure that's still a useful skill for a few more years) is viewed positively, because it's working with, not against, what we're trying to teach in our info literacy program and our faculty are trying to teach too.

Sadly, another criterion is that we have absolutely no funds in our budget to pay for an "add-on" like Scopus' AI feature. Not a penny. I would try to make the academic/pedagogical case for Consensus but it's not worth trying because we'd never be able to pay after the free trial period.

Melissa Belvadi
mbelvadi at upei.ca
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Hi all,

I'm curious how folks are handling AI integrations in databases such as EBSCO, JSTOR, etc. How do you evaluate these tools, and how do you decide whether or not to enable them (when that choice exists)? If your library has developed a framework or rubric you'd be willing to share, I'd love to see it!

Thanks!
Katherine

--

Katherine Fish (she/her)

Serials and E-Resources Librarian

DeWitt Wallace Library 117

651-696-6530 | kfish at macalester.edu<mailto:kfish at macalester.edu>


1600 Grand Avenue

Saint Paul, MN 55105 USA


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