University of Alberta Library
Current Approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI)

July 21, 2026

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a transformative set of technologies that is reshaping approaches to teaching and research at universities. The University of Alberta Library (UAL) and its peers are actively responding to these changes through advances in service delivery to support the needs of the campus community.

The UAL is strategically adopting AI tools in supported projects and licensed products. This work is guided by the University of Alberta’s Framework for the Responsible Use of AI and the Artificial Intelligence Data Safety Guidelines. We are actively exploring, experimenting with, and evaluating these tools to identify appropriate and beneficial applications. This roadmap outlines current and planned activities, along with strategies to mitigate risks while maintaining a human-centred approach.

Libraries play an important role in supporting teaching and research. As such, we are observing and responding to how AI is reshaping student learning, teaching practices, research activities, and scholarly publishing, including how library collections are acquired and licensed. The Library’s ongoing work in these areas focuses on empowering the university community, including library employees, in the following ways:

  • Establishing an AI Working Group and Community of Practice: Created in 2023, this working group first identified and then made recommendations with respect to prioritizing AI opportunities for the Library. The Library’s subsequent AI Community of Practice meets monthly to discuss timely topics concerning AI.
  • Developing AI Policy and Literacies: UAL has reacted to emerging AI tools by developing foundational resources related to ethics, copyright, and scholarly publishing in this area. Our instructors have also developed websites, workshops and learning modules on large language model ecosystems, including how to assess the pros and cons of generative AI.
  • Providing Infrastructure & Expertise: UAL provides AI-capable high-performance computing and specialized consultations with researchers. We have applied tools to improve readability of library modules including French language translation, and to assist in the description and transcription of items in our collections.
  • Research Innovation: UAL continues to actively evaluate AI’s role in metadata creation, transcription and text recognition, transcribing audio, expediting the search process in evidence synthesis reviews, and how AI might be used with structured data. This work has resulted in academic publications and cross-disciplinary research projects outside the Library. In addition, the 2025-26 theme of the Digital Scholarship Fellows program is “LLMs and AI” and the Digital Scholarship Center supports selected fellows in this area of work.

Areas of Exploration

Long-term strategies and goals related to AI will be informed by evolving university policy, developments across higher education, and guidance from professional associations. Through ongoing engagement with staff and campus partners, the Library will actively explore and shape its contribution to an AI-enabled academic environment in ways that align with our values, mission, and community needs.

In the short term, UAL prioritizes the ethical and practical exploration of AI across many areas, including the further development of digital literacy skills, operational efficiency, policy development, and researcher navigation. Some current areas of exploration include:

  • Supporting ongoing discussions across the Library concerning AI’s impact on higher education, ethical concerns, library applications, information literacy instruction, and evidence synthesis applications.
  • The Teaching and Learning Team is assessing usage data from educational modules where AI was used to improve readability, and is participating in a campus pilot with Information and Technology Services (IST) to help evaluate the use of AI educational platforms in the Canvas Learning Management System.
  • Faculty Engagement Librarians are integrating AI-focused learning objectives into course-based teaching and workshops, as well as assisting with audio transcription on local LLM in the Digital Scholarship Centre.
  • Open Publishing Services continue to work with its journal editors to develop sample policies and field questions related to open journal and monograph publishing.
  • Bruce Peel Special Collections is developing resources to assist researchers interested in using AI to explore archival finding aids, including sample prompts and strategies for navigating and discovering relevant materials.
  • The Collections Strategies Unit’s ongoing tracking of vendor tools and services, including decisions about the selection of such services.

Responsible AI Adoption

We are mindful of the multifaceted and evolving challenges of AI and its impact within the academic library context. Where we integrate AI into library services, UAL is committed to the Framework for the Responsible Use of AI and to assessing and addressing any risks presented by these evolving technologies. This includes ensuring that our adoption of technology never compromises our core values of equity and service excellence. We prioritize a people-centric approach and involve our teams in the decision making process around emerging technologies. We are also carefully navigating the legal and financial complexities of AI, specifically regarding copyright, licensing restrictions, and budget sustainability.

There are risks to AI use, including environmental impacts, the risk of hallucinations (i.e. when AI makes things up), impacts on library workers, and a growing tension between expanding access to tools at the risk of lowering quality. Weighing the maturity of AI tools and the accuracy and quality of AI outputs will be critical in our decision-making. We acknowledge there may be issues with data privacy, algorithmic fairness, and potentially other issues and will seek mitigation to help protect our community of users.

Our Commitment to Human Expertise

UAL maintains a human-in-the-loop approach to ensure the integrity of our services. For example, AI is never used as a sole decision-maker or as a primary source of advice. While AI may assist in tasks like metadata creation, content summarization, and accessibility, it is always paired with human oversight to maintain our standards of quality. The library’s reputation as a trusted information source will not be compromised. Any AI adoption will uphold the university’s Framework for the Responsible Use of AI and the Artificial Intelligence Data Safety Guidelines.

Our Commitment to the Community

AI concepts and tools are evolving, and we will continue to monitor the progress of how these technologies may impact our work so that we can continue to support the university community. UAL will continue to exercise caution with AI adoption while recognizing and realizing AI’s transformative potential for teaching and research. By collaborating with campus partners and serving on related university committees, we align our AI experimentation and adoption with the academic mission of the University of Alberta, the strategic priorities of UAL, and strive to model ethical and responsible use of AI as we continue to develop long-term strategies for emerging technologies.