Lorcan Dempsey

AI-assisted document query and summarization services are becoming more common. This post compares the 'ask a PDF' outputs of several services. Overall responses were good, with reasonable variation, and no significant hallucinations. It also touches on some characteristics of AI-based services.

I reflect on my first year of teaching at the iSchool in the University of Washington. A little about teaching. A little about Canvas, the library, and some software tools. A little about me and my learnings.

So-called soft skills are important across a range of library activities. Existing trends will further amplify this importance. Describing these skills as soft may be misleading, or even damaging. They should be recognized as learnable and teachable, and should be explicitly supported and rewarded.

Libraries are engaging with AI in their educational, service and policy work. This post discusses seven contexts in which that work is taking place.

As we move from a collections-based to a relational library, storytelling becomes very important. One trend is the emergence of a stronger narrative or storytelling emphasis on websites, which helps position the library, promote its services, and address specific interests.