Getting Started with AI: Guide for Library Staff

As a library, our role is not to promote or discourage specific tools, but to help our community understand them, use them responsibly and thoughtfully, and ask good questions. Staff don’t need to be experts in AI. What matters is being open to learning about AI on your own, alongside colleagues, and with patrons. It’s important to understand what AI can and can’t do. This allows you to help patrons in ways that reflect the library’s mission, vision, and values.

This guide is a starting point. Each library needs to customize what’s included to fit its own staff, community, and context. Use the ideas below to identify what’s relevant for your setting, leave out what isn’t, and add what’s missing. The goal is staff who are ready to support the local community.

How staff approach AI work is as important as what they know. The items below name the mindsets the rest of the guide uses as a foundation. 

• Stay open to learning about AI,  on your own, alongside colleagues, and with patrons. The technology and the questions it raises will keep moving; the mindset of learning and curiosity is key.
• Be comfortable with not knowing. “I don’t know, let’s find out” is an acceptable answer, and modeling that for patrons is part of good practice.
• Stay neutral on specific tools. The library’s role is not to endorse or discourage any particular AI product.
• Treat patron privacy as a given. Notice when AI tools collect or store information, and help patrons notice too.
• Recognize where your personal views on AI may differ from how you serve patrons or how your library wants you to serve patrons.. Find what works best for you and your library  in talking about AI professionally, whether you’re personally skeptical, enthusiastic, or somewhere in between.

These are the knowledge areas and skills that benefit every staff member, regardless of role. Specific roles add to this; they don’t replace it.

Knowledge About AI

• What a large language model (LLM) is, at a basic level, including that it generates responses based on patterns in training data rather than retrieving facts
• The most widely used consumer AI tools (currently these are ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, CoPilot & Deepseek) and what people frequently use them for
• Common limitations: errors and fabrications, bias in training data, currency of information, inconsistency across uses
• The kinds of AI patrons are likely to encounter beyond chatbots. Topics may include AI in workplaces and for specific job tasks, uses in education/classrooms, common scams and synthetic media

Knowledge About Privacy and AI

• The basic privacy settings on widely used AI platforms
• What kinds of information AI tools may collect, store, or use to train their models
• What counts as sensitive information patrons should think twice about sharing with an AI tool

Skills for Working with Patrons

• How to answer factual questions about AI, and how to say “I don’t know let’s find out” when you don’t know an answer
• Who and what to consult related to AI ethics and policy
• How to talk with patrons about potential uses of AI (brainstorming, drafting, exploring) and uses to be careful with (sensitive, personal, or high-stakes decisions)
• How to read, understand, and edit AI-generated content before using it  and how to help patrons do the same
• How to flag a privacy concern to the appropriate colleague

Front-line Library Staff

• Familiarity with the AI tools patrons are most likely to bring questions about, and the kinds of questions they typically ask
• Common scripts and approaches for the most frequent patron interactions
• Knowing when and how to refer to a librarian or specialist

Librarians

• Deeper understanding of what AI tools can and can’t do, including the differences between major tools
• Skills for facilitating conversations with patrons or groups about evaluating AI-generated content
• Approaches for integrating AI into programs and one-on-one tech help when patrons request it

Programming and Outreach Staff

• Approaches for designing programs that introduce AI in accessible, non-intimidating ways
• Practices for using AI as a planning tool for programs, including what to watch for in AI-generated planning materials

Collection Development Staff

• Knowledge of materials that support digital literacy around AI including how tools work and how to evaluate responses
• Approaches for including a range of perspectives in the collection (benefits, risks, societal impact)
• Practices for keeping AI-related materials current as the technology evolves
• Considerations for bias, representation, and fairness in AI-related materials
• Ways to recognize AI-generated content already in the collection

Support Departments (IT, Marketing, Admin)

• Knowledge of what internal AI use is acceptable at your library
• Library guidance on AI-generated images and on AI-generated content in communications
• Approaches for evaluating AI tools and risks at a systems level

Massachusetts Library System, AI for Library Workers video (Spring 2026) 

Nicole Henning, AI Literacy for Library Workers self-study course (November 2025) $

Southern Tier Library System, Information Literacy for Library Staff: Artificial Intelligence Lib Guide (last updated April 2026)

Last updated July 8, 2026