AI at the Library: One Year Later

[Intro music: warm acoustic guitar, fades under]

Jamie Torres (Host, Reference Librarian)

Hey everyone, welcome to Overdue Conversations, the podcast where we talk about what's actually happening in libraries. Not the press releases, the real stuff. I'm Jamie Torres, Reference Librarian here at Little Schitt Creek Regional Library, and today we're doing something a little different.

It's been about a year since we launched our AI tools, what we call the Digital Reference Desk, and I wanted to sit down with some of my colleagues to talk about what that's actually been like. The good, the weird, and everything in between.

I've got three of my favorite people here: Director Patricia Chen, our Youth Services Coordinator Marcus Okonkwo, and Circulation Lead Denise Kowalski. Thanks for doing this, everyone.

Patricia Chen (Director)

Happy to be here. Though I'm still not sure I know what a podcast is.

[Laughter]

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Jamie

Okay, let's start at the beginning. Patricia, take us back to before we had AI. What was the library like?

Patricia

Honestly? We were drowning. And I don't say that lightly. We had good people doing good work, but the volume of basic questions (password resets, "where's the bathroom," "how do I print") was consuming us. Our reference librarians, people with master's degrees, were spending sixty percent of their time on things that didn't require a master's degree.

And our patrons were struggling too. The catalog was... well, you remember.

Marcus Okonkwo (Youth Services)

Oh, I remember. Parents would come in asking for books with Black protagonists, or books about kids with two moms, or just something their kid could see themselves in. And the old catalog would give them nothing. Or worse, it would give them one result from 1987.

Jamie

And now?

Marcus

Now they use the recommendation tool and get six, eight, ten options. Current stuff. Diverse authors. It's not perfect, but it actually works. I had a mom tear up last month because her daughter found a chapter book with a character who uses a wheelchair, just like her. That never happened with the old system.

Denise Kowalski (Circulation)

From my end at circulation, the biggest change is the questions I'm not getting anymore. People used to line up just to ask where things were, or how to use the databases. Now Penny handles most of that, and when people do come to me, it's because they actually need a human. Which is how it should be.

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Jamie

Okay, let's talk about the elephant in the room. When we first heard about this AI project, I was skeptical. I'll admit it. I thought it was going to replace us. Denise, I know you had concerns too.

Denise

Oh, I was terrified. I've been here twenty-two years. I've seen technology "improvements" come and go, and usually they mean fewer hours for staff. When Patricia first mentioned AI, I thought, "Well, this is it. They're finally automating us out."

Patricia

And that's a completely reasonable fear. I want to be clear about that. The tech industry has not been kind to workers. Libraries have not always been kind to workers. So when I brought in Sam...

Jamie

Sam Chada, from The Unhinged Librarian.

Patricia

Right, Sam Chada. When I brought Sam in to help us figure this out, my first question was: "Can we do this without cutting anyone?" And Sam's answer was basically, "That's the only way I'll help you do it."

Marcus

Which was... not what I expected from a tech consultant, honestly.

Patricia

Sam's not really a tech consultant. Sam's a librarian who happens to know about technology. There's a difference.

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Jamie

So what was that process like? Working with Sam and getting this all set up?

Patricia

Intense. But good intense. Sam came out for a week initially, just to listen. Talked to staff, talked to patrons, attended our board meeting. Didn't pitch anything. Just asked questions.

Denise

And weird questions! Like, "What's the most annoying part of your job?" and "If you could make one thing disappear, what would it be?" I said password resets. I said it immediately.

[Laughter]

Marcus

For me it was explaining the seven different database logins. I still have nightmares about Hoopla versus Libby versus OverDrive versus...

Jamie

We get it, Marcus.

Marcus

The point is, Sam actually listened to that stuff. And then came back with solutions that addressed the actual problems we named. Not solutions looking for problems.

Patricia

The training was also... different. Sam didn't just teach us how to use the tools. Sam taught us how to think about the tools. What they're good at, what they're bad at, when to trust them, when not to.

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Jamie

Let's talk about privacy, because I know that was a huge concern. Denise, you asked about this a lot in the early meetings.

Denise

I did. Because I've seen what happens with patron data. I've seen vendors who promise confidentiality and then get bought by companies that don't care. I've read the news about data breaches. Our patrons trust us with sensitive information, what they're reading, what they're researching. That's sacred.

Patricia

And that's exactly why we built it the way we did. Sam helped us set up everything on local hardware. That server in the back closet? Your data never leaves it. When you close the tab, your session is wiped. We're not training models on patron queries. We're not building profiles.

Marcus

I explain it to parents this way: "If your kid asks Penny for books about divorce, or depression, or being gay, nobody will ever know. Not us, not anyone. It's gone the second they close the window."

Jamie

And that's... actually true? Like, technically true?

Patricia

It's technically true. Sam walked us through the architecture. There's no logging of queries, no user tracking, no data transmission to external servers. Everything runs on Llama locally. It's not magic. It's just thoughtful design.

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Jamie

Okay, let's talk results. What's actually changed in the past year?

Patricia

Numbers-wise? Circulation is up thirty-four percent. Digital resource usage went from twenty-three percent of cardholders to almost ninety percent. Average question resolution time dropped from twelve minutes to three.

Denise

And we added forty new programs. Forty! Including the "tech help, no judgment" sessions for seniors, which have a waitlist now.

Marcus

The coding club for kids. The seed library. We finally had time to do these things.

Jamie

And staff? Any positions cut?

Patricia

Zero. We haven't cut a single position. In fact, we're looking at adding part-time hours because we're doing so much more programming now.

Jamie

That's... not the story you usually hear about AI implementation.

Patricia

No, it's not. And I want to be careful here. I'm not saying every library can do exactly what we did. We had specific circumstances, specific support from the board, and frankly, we had Sam, who knew how to make this work without compromising our values.

But I do think it's possible. If a library with eight FTE and a modest budget in a town most people only know from a TV show can do this... other libraries can too.

---

Jamie

Before we wrap up, I want to give everyone a chance to share something that surprised them this year. Something you didn't expect. Denise?

Denise

The seniors. I didn't expect the seniors to love it so much. I thought they'd be scared of AI, resistant. But Penny... she's patient. She doesn't make you feel stupid. I have regulars now. Eleanor Chen comes in three times a week just to chat with Penny and find books. She told me it's the first time technology hasn't made her feel old.

Marcus

For me, it's the equity piece. The recommendation engine surfaces diverse voices by default. I didn't have to fight for that. It was built in from the start. Sam understood that libraries serve everyone, not just the majority.

Jamie

Mine is... honestly, it's that I still have a job. And not just a job, a better job. I'm doing real reference work again. Last month I helped someone trace their family tree back five generations. That's why I became a librarian. I'd forgotten that feeling.

Patricia

Mine is the partnerships. Other libraries have reached out. State library folks. Even a few library school programs. People want to know how we did this. And we're sharing everything: the evaluation scorecard, the training materials, all of it. Because this shouldn't be proprietary. This should be how libraries work.

Jamie

Amen to that.

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Jamie

Alright, we should wrap up. Any final thoughts?

Patricia

Just... if you're a library thinking about AI, don't let fear stop you, but don't let hype rush you either. Do it thoughtfully. Do it with your community. And do it with someone who understands library values, not just technology.

Denise

And don't cut your staff. Seriously. The humans are the point.

Marcus

And if you need help, reach out. We're happy to share. That's what libraries do.

Jamie

That's a perfect note to end on. Thanks everyone for doing this. And thanks to our listeners (or future listeners, since we've never done a podcast before and I have no idea if anyone will hear this).

Patricia

We have really good Wi-Fi. Maybe that'll help.

[Laughter]

Jamie

On that note, I'm Jamie Torres, this has been Overdue Conversations from Little Schitt Creek Regional Library. If you want to learn more about how we built this, check out Sam Chada's work at unhingedlibrarian.com.

No spam, just books. See you next time.

[Outro music: same acoustic guitar, fades out]