It's Academic

Weather in the northeast corner of the country where I live has turned cold, which means it’s time for a yearly reflection on the months that have passed. While I think it’s important to regularly review certain aspects of one’s job – such as evaluation goals and timeline-based projects – an overview of achievements gained and ones that have stalled is important for growth moving forward.

I’d like to focus this post on how I’ve expanded my network of connections to those in the academic library setting and, more specifically, Access Services. As I’ve come to learn over time, this field is very broad in the world of libraries. Professionals in it wear many hats, a challenge many of us (myself included) have had to lovingly embrace as a side effect of the field we find ourselves in. This isn’t to say it’s a negative thing – in fact, it’s very positive. This field requires us to know a little bit about everything that goes on within the wall of our libraries, from building entrance and exit points, book processing, student worker management, and access to resources.

We’re the front line for our libraries. This means we see the most of what goes on that others do not. Ninety-five percent of the time we’ve got a handle on it, but other times we are left wondering, “Does anyone else experience this, too?”

Enter networking!

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend the Access Services in Libraries annual conference held in Atlanta, Georgia for the last four years. It’s been extremely valuable and rewarding to get the opportunity to talk with others about their experiences, share struggles and victories, and learn new ways to engage with my student employees. There are travel grant opportunities available each year for this conference, which I was fortunate enough to receive in the first year I attended.

Another resource for networking has come from attending virtual access service interest group meetings and in-person, one-day workshops for consortiums my library is affiliated with. These opportunities have allowed me to expand on best practices for library policies and procedures that need tweaked, such as student working hiring and collection development.

Looking back on these networking opportunities over the past year, I feel lucky to have not only met many wonderful professionals in the field but also had the chance to share what my small academic library has been able to accomplish. This time in higher education is tough for many individuals and institutions. Sharing what works provides endless benefits for those who need a boost, and also allows those struggling to realize that they aren’t alone!

My college recently conducted a short survey with students about their preferences in online asynchronous classes.  As many librarians teach all or part of online courses, I thought this information might be of benefit.  The responses below are in order, with the most common responses at the top.

What content do you most like to see in online courses?

1. Weekly course schedules with due dates
2. Study guides
3. Links to library resources, Purdue Owl, and tutoring
4. Assignment video explanations
5. PowerPoints

What do you dislike the most in online courses?

1. Discussion boards
2. Vague and unclear instructions
3. Lack of communication
4. Short windows of time to complete assignments

What do you find difficult about online courses?

1. Managing my time
2. Staying motivated
3. Communicating with the professor
4. Keeping track of due dates
5. Understanding the course layout

What day of the week do you prefer to do coursework?

1. Monday (by far the most popular day)
2. Sunday

The newest issue of PaLRaP has been published! It features articles about topics like faculty collaboration, collection development policies, and Dungeons and Dragons. Check it out at this link: https://palrap.org/ojs/palrap

Last month, I came across an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “What a Landmark AI Settlement Means for Authors,” in which Dan Cohen outlines the recent Bartz vs Anthropic case, a lawsuit that is helping shape how artificial intelligence learns from the creative work of humans. This was one of those reads that stuck with me, sparking questions when the topic of AI pops us which, on our campus, is often!

In summation, novelist Andrea Bartz discovered her books had been used to train Anthropic’s AI chatbot, Clause. In her own New York Times piece, “I Sued Anthropic, and the Unthinkable Happened” (Sept. 29, 2025), Bartz described the horror of finding that technology had “reduced decades of intense work to text files gobbled up by algorithms in a fraction of a second”.

Bartz and other authors took on Anthropic in a class action lawsuit with an army of lawyers and ultimately settled for $1.5 billion, compensating the authors of approximately half a million books (or, at least their publishers). Initially, Anthropic faced potential damages of $150,000 per violation, an amount that could have exceeded $100 billion and put the company out of business. One could argue that such penalties would have been justified – papers have been retracted and tenure revoked, and overall academic integrity questioned for less.

From a library perspective, I care about fair use, access, and attribution, all principles that make knowledge sharing possible. When teaching research skills, I emphasize the importance of giving credit where it’s due. As AI continues its “learning”, shouldn’t it also be citing its sources? Ideally, AI would behave like a responsible student: acknowledging its references and leading readers back to the original text rather than replacing these sources.

In several of my library orientation classes, I demonstrate how to evaluate AI-generated information. We pull up content created by AI and then try to trace and evaluate the sources, if they even exist! Some LLMs (Google Gemini) include citations, while others (ChatGPT), lack any actual accreditation. When prompted for sources, they hallucinate or credit sources such as Reddit in ways that (should) raise more questions than answers.

As AI becomes a regular tool in all forms of information gathering, how do we keep the human voice at the center? It’s a question that I’ve been considering as I watch students use AI to edit their papers and use it myself to polish messages, emails, and, in complete transparency, this very post!

What is the role of the library in this? Historically, (most) librarians have not resisted technology but guided its use with care. While many still yearn for the days of old card catalog drawers and magazine files, our work has always been about connecting people with trustworthy information, however it evolves. If AI represents a new kind of reader, perhaps librarians can help it become a better one that recognizes where the knowledge is coming from and that scholarship is conversation that we’re clearly going to be navigating together.

I’d also like to use this final space to continue making connections – Beaver County Library System LIBRARYCON ’25 is happening this Saturday on our campus! Whether you’re nearby or in the mood for a road trip, consider joining us in celebrating libraries with authors, illustrators, live entertainment, costume contests, therapy bunnies, local organizations, Cryptids, food trucks, local vendors, readers, (probably!) robots, and SO MUCH MORE!