Five steps to embed GenAI literacy for university librarians

As academics, we’re facilitators of information, so we must make a commitment to GenAI literacy. It’s important that we understand how to use these tools to guide our students safely and with a critical eye. 

In some countries, such as here in the Dominican Republic, and also Japan, Colombia and Argentina, the state supports this commitment under a national AI strategy. This supports human development in AI, guaranteeing ethical and responsible governance and involving universities in the process of forming innovation pathways.

• GenAI practice blossoms through the open exchange of insights
• Show students what thoughtful engagement with GenAI looks like
• Beat GenAI ‘stranger danger’ with staff training

In this context, the university library is no longer just a place where people look for books. Instead, it becomes a hub for training and guidance on how to use GenAI critically, ethically and oriented towards the common good.

But only some university libraries in Latin America and the Caribbean offer literacy and educational resources on GenAI, according to studies that found 43 per cent organise specific training activities, and only 13 per cent have formal institutional policies on the use of these technologies. In other words, progress has been made but we still need to convert this into a clear and sustainable institutional commitment, with well-defined ethical norms and frameworks.

Some platforms have launched GenAI training programmes for teachers. This shows them how it can be used as a pedagogical tool: improving search strategies, detecting biases in students’ results and designing rubrics that value the critical use of sources.

But while many students and teachers use GenAI today, for writing, chatting and translating, they are unaware of both the GenAI tools integrated into library databases and catalogues and the ethical criteria for using them in academic papers. 

We can see this reflected in invented bibliographies, unverified arguments and involuntary plagiarism, among others. Without GenAI literacy, the academic community is vulnerable to misinformation and to the real loss of critical analysis, deep reading and self-writing skills. 

This is how the library can take on a leading role: designing workshops and guides for students to learn how to contrast GenAI responses with academic sources; helping teachers define permitted and prohibited uses in their subjects; and to build, together with the authorities, clear policies on how to cite the use of GenAI and how to act against its misuse.

To address this problem, here are some strategies that have worked for us.

Step 1. Diagnosing needs

The first thing we must do as library managers is collect information from students and teachers about the use of GenAI, and where they lack knowledge.

Step 2. Design a basic GenAI literacy programme

Construct a programme with an introductory module for beginners, then graduate to more involved work on research methodology. Set up workshops for educators on the limits of the tool, its biases and the risks of using it.

Step 3. Implement workshops and hands-on resources

Then put those programmes into practice. Offer workshops, guides and accessible resources that compare the tools’ responses to scientific articles available in the library’s database, and identify errors, biases and hallucinations – perhaps invented references. 

Step 4. Create clear partnerships and policies

Libraries must work to strengthen their alliances with deans, career services, educational technology units and research departments to make institutional guidelines on the use of GenAI as thorough and comprehensive as possible. 

Step 5. Evaluate and adjust

Finally, we must evaluate the impact of these actions and keep adjusting to technological evolution and changes in student practices. We can do this through defining indicators of quality of references, frequency of cases of literal copying, and use of databases with AI tools.

Inaction on AI will cost us the ability to investigate rigorously and affect confidence in our country’s academic standing.

Liliana González is library director at Universidad del Caribe (UNICARIBE).

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