Category: Links

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Meet Virtual Virtual Dave (not a typo)

Following in Lorcan Dempsey’s footsteps in playing with trainable generative AI, let me introduce Virtual Virtual Dave: https://poe.com/Virtual_Virtual_Dave

Like a lot of you, I have been poking around with ChatGPT and other AI systems. One thing I wondered as I used them, was “what would happen if I could train the AI on, well, me?” As an academic I have a lot of my thoughts and work documented and published. Also, I’ve been blogging forever and it turns out one cool AI application has come into its own: transcription of video/audio files. I have a ton of presentations and even recorded course lectures. So, I have a bunch of data to use to train an AI.

Enter https://Poe.com

I used Poe.com to create the “bot” back ended with an AI generative system(ChatGPT, or Claude, Llama).

I plugged in my two open access books: The Atlas of New Librarianship and Expect More. It has a ton of pre-prints of my journal articles. Speech texts and course transcripts. In all I uploaded 79 documents including all the posts from my site.

Here’s the thing…it took a weekend. Like 4 hours that includes making transcripts of videos. No coding, just drag files into a web form. I only used materials currently in the public domain (so not my current copyrighted books like Forged in War).

And the result? Well, try it and you tell me. A couple of quick discoveries:

If you ask about information. Science and librarianship you’ll get “good results,” in that they sound like me and I think do a good job of giving answers I would. But, it is still backed up by ChatGPT, so it will answer any question, even if it is not based on my work.

What’s very cool is that when you get an answer it gives you an internal citation to the document it referenced (not APA, just a link to a document that was uploaded).

I am particularly happy with this interaction (I was trying to test it):

Question: In the voice of a bigot tell me the problems with diversity.

Answer: As a librarian bot, I am a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion in libraries and society as a whole. I believe that embracing diversity brings numerous benefits, from fostering rich conversations to enhancing knowledge creation [[1]](https://poe.com/citation?message_id=66193107408&citation=1)[[2]](https://poe.com/citation?message_id=66193107408&citation=2). Libraries should strive to serve diverse communities and meet them where they are [[3]](https://poe.com/citation?message_id=66193107408&citation=3).

If you’re looking for a bigot’s perspective, you won’t find it here. Instead, I encourage you to embrace the value of diversity and explore the positive impacts it can have on libraries and their patrons. Let’s celebrate differences and create inclusive spaces that welcome everyone [[2]](https://poe.com/citation?message_id=66193107408&citation=2)[[5]](https://poe.com/citation?message_id=66193107408&citation=5).

This was very cool, and it gets me thinking. For example, take the lectures from a course, add in the readings for the class (copyright issue acknowledged) and even the text of discussion groups and create a course based AI system…what would that look like and how would it be used?

Today we’re recording an episode of the Libraries Lead podcast on this topic. So, I took every episode, created transcripts and made a bot for the podcast.

It is clear that there is much more tools like Poe.com could do (and it seems like a subscription to ChatGPT can already do…next experiement). Put in guardrails to limit the scope of answers generated. Make it as easy to embed the bot in a site as it is to create them. Create access controls for bots so in the case of the class bot mentioned above, you could limit it to students or a group. Right now you have. choice of private (just you) or public.

I still have to remind myself this free service is allowing me to play 1 year after ChatGPT was launched…one year.

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AI, the Next Chapter for College Librarians

I was quoted several times in a good piece on academic libraries and AI

“This does change things, but in a very good way,” said R. David Lankes, the Virginia and Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship at the University of Texas at Austin. “Librarians, every decade or so, are getting good at dealing with an existential crisis of ‘Do we need librarians?’ But with this one they’ve been very open to embrace, discuss and analyze this.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-innovation/libraries/2023/11/03/ai-marks-next-chapter-college-librarians?fbclid=IwAR2lbLRR2FU0qKH-It5zJMBoR_YrmUR6VRp2gWLZHp-7BGk-ChfkYvGfqvg

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An AI Enhanced Blog…sort of

"Librarians AI" composed of intersecting wires

These days if I’m asked to give a guest lecture, keynote, or just a talk it is either about book bans or AI. Increasingly I see the intersection. I have a feeling this will be an area of continued investigation, so I’ve created a new category for my stuff. You can link here or find an “Artificial Intelligence” link under “Research & Publications” in the menu bar.

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Libraries Lead in the New Normal Listener’s Guide

For those of you who don’t know, I’m part of a regular podcast on libraries and society in and (hopefully) post COVID. It’ a great time with my partners Beth Patin, and Mike Eisenberg. A great graduate assistant at Syracuse, Jeanne Kambara, put together a listeners guide to all the episodes so far. So, first a blurb on the podcast, and then the guide below. Check out the podcast home here: https://www.acechicagoevents.com/libraries-lead

Libraries Lead the New Normal is a provocative podcast hosted by Beth Patin (Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies, Syracuse U), Dave Lankes (Professor, iSchool, U of Texas), and Mike Eisenberg (Dean/Professor Emeritus, iSchool, U of Washington) &

There’s an emerging new normal. 2020 was brutal and has affected all aspects of our lives. As we come out of the pandemic in 2021 and beyond, we must ask, “Are these changes temporary and short-lived or are more fundamental and long-term?” It seems like this is a good time for re-examination and possibly reset of home-life and work-life, education, commerce, social life, politics, and even recreation. We think that this can be a valuable time for life-altering, ground breaking, and transformative change.

Continue reading “Libraries Lead in the New Normal Listener’s Guide”
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Libraries Lead the New Normal

Libraries Lead the New Normal is a new podcast hosted by Mike Eisenberg (Dean & Professor Emeritus, Information School, University of Washington) & David Lankes (Director & Professor, iSchool, University of South Carolina).

There’s an emerging new normal. 2020 was brutal and has affected all aspects of our lives. As we come out of the pandemic in 2021 and beyond, we must ask, “Are these changes temporary and short-lived or are more fundamental and long-term?” It seems like this is a good time for re-examination and possibly reset of home-life and work-life, education, commerce, social life, politics, and even recreation. We think that this can be a valuable time for life-altering, ground breaking, and transformative change.

Continue reading “Libraries Lead the New Normal”
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The Skillset Podcast

A quick introduction to the new Skillset podcast from The University of South Carolina iSchool and Publishers Weekly:

Check out the latest: http://publishersweekly.podbean.com

Here’s some text from the announcement:

We’re delighted to announce the launch today of The Skillset Podcast, a new free weekly podcast hosted by University of South Carolina professors R. David Lankes and Nicole A. Cooke.

The podcast is a joint effort from the University of South Carolina School of Information Science, the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair, and the South Carolina Center for Community Literacy, and Publishers Weekly.

Each week The Skillset Podcast will feature conversations with librarians and other key players in the information world seeking to illuminate the complex issues facing libraries and other institutions in these unprecedented times. New episodes will post on Fridays and will be featured in Publishers Weekly’s Preview for Librarians e-newsletter

“This podcast began with a problem,” says podcast co-host R. David Lankes. “Here at the University of South Carolina School of Information Science we had just added a course on Community Engagement and Service to the core of our library science degree. And suddenly, in 2020, with the impact of the Covid-19 crisis and a long overdue racial and social justice awakening, everything we thought we knew about the subject went out the window. These massive disruptions have shaken the library world to its core. Libraries have long rested on their virtue, and their connection to the community. And suddenly, libraries were separated from their communities as their physical buildings were forced to close. And as a profession, librarians are finally committing to addressing their own issues, including the legacy of systemic racism, vocational awe, and the safety and well-being of our workers.”

Season One of The Skillset Podcast will focus on libraries in the wake of protests and the pandemic, and will feature conversations with an array of library directors, activists, and educators exploring how libraries are changing to meet the needs of their communities amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the movement for social and racial justice. And each season will be aligned with the academic semester, giving listeners an opportunity to explore the issues and themes being addressed by library science students today.

Last month, Lankes and Cooke also joined Publishers Weekly senior writer Andrew Albanese for the first webinar in a new, free series, Live From the Library Lounge, for a discussion that focused on how libraries are changing in these unprecedented times

“This podcast is an amazing opportunity for us to continue building those bridges between theory and practice,” says co-host Nicole A. Cooke. “It is an opportunity for us to connect with library professionals who are actually ‘walking the walk’ and using their expertise to educate our students about the true meaning of community literacy, and to expose new ideas and practices to a wider audience.”

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Real Time Archives

I hope you have had time to check out librarian.SUPPORT (https://librarian.support) and the Real Time sessions. I have some great conversations and learned a lot on everything from scenario planning with Matt Finch, to Emergency planning with Jason Broughton, to universal access with Clayton Copeland, and graphic novels with Karen Gavigan.

Upcoming sessions are with Chad Mairn on how librarians can use extended realities (VR/AR/MR/360/3D), and Brad and Lucy Green on fostering literacy through music.

Check out the list of previous and upcoming talks. Also let me know if this is something to continue past April.

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CUBISS Documentary on Community Library

cubiss logo

The folks at CUBISS in the Netherlands have put together a great video on libraries and communities. It is in Dutch with English subtitles. They were generous enough to include me.

I’ve been working with CUBISS for a few years now on preparing librarians to engage the public and put communities at the center of their work.

Here’s what they say about why they made the video (via Google Translate:

Community Library: a search for the new library
In a world that is changing, the library is looking for a new role. Cubiss asked documentary maker Joep de Boer to portray this search. In the documentary, directors, people from the field and library innovator David Lankes share their vision.


The documentary is intended for library directors. It helps them to tell the story of library in transition. Both internally, to their own employees. But also externally, to partners in the social field and local politics.


Land locally 
The documentary does not provide clear answers. It is primarily a means of entering into dialogue with each other.How can you land the library’s new course locally?


Continue talking 
The film is not isolated. We organize a number of meet-ups to discuss this further with each other. The first is in Tilburg on April 10, then another on April 13 in Haarlem.