Hi friends! My name is Isabel and I live in Orange County, CA. My area of interest in the LIS world has ended up being marketing and social media, much to my surprise. I liked learning about marketing strategies in my undergraduate degree, but I didn’t feel good using them for for-profit companies whose missions I didn’t believe in. Marketing for GLAMs or general non-profits has turned out to be the perfect match for me!
If I’m being honest, I chose this course because I’m afraid of how emerging technologies will affect libraries, especially generative AI. On one hand, I am a writer and proponent of the arts, so I don’t like the threat generative AI poses to creative artwork. as another thought, I am alarmed by the lack of critical thinking and original thought that has been emerging as a result of generative AI use. I personally know college students who use AI for all their assignments and people who turn to AI for decision-making before consulting other humans. My fears for library services are that people will prefer to turn to generative AI for their information needs, and that governments and other sponsors will try to replace library workers with artificial intelligence. I know I’ve only talked about AI thus far, but I am also interested in learning about other emerging technologies and their positive and negative effects on the library field. I’m probably most excited to discuss social media and its rising role in library marketing, as this applies to my career and I find social media fascinating in general.
Hi Isabel,
Marketing is such a useful skill to have in the library! It is something I am still learning as an adult services librarian trying to get my programs out there. I look forward to reading about your perspective on the course materials this semester.
PS: Your website theme is so pretty.
Thanks Ina! Based on the readings I’ve done from Module 1 so far, it seems like my Business degree will be more useful in library services than I first thought! And thank you for the compliment on the website theme, the rose banner is a photo I took myself 🙂
Hi Isabel! As someone who also cares deeply about literacy and the arts, I feel similarly about AI. It was surprising reading in “Library 2.0” that people were already far more inclined to turn to the internet for answers 20 years ago. With LLMs available in our pockets and practically serving as people’s friends (I know people who give ChatGPT nicknames and personal pronouns, and I’m not even getting into the emotional support people seek from it), the amount of effort it takes to do your own research can seem like a lot in comparison. How can we as LIS professionals insert literacy skills back into people’s truncated information search processes, especially in today’s information landscape and sociopolitical climate? I’m looking forward to exploring this topic more in this class, and I’m glad you’re here with similar questions too!
@isthebel thank you for sharing your your background and more importantly, your thoughts on what is currently happening in the AI landscape. There are many ethical concerns related to this tectonic shift created by LLMs. I added a new option for the inspiration report that you may be interested in looking at regarding these topics.
Welcome to the hyperlinked library!