This post is part of a series entitled, "Just Say Not to AI." Click here to pull up all the posts in this series (in reverse chronilogical order). For the first post in this series, click here.
Today I am beginning a new series where I counter the unabated proliferation of generative AI in the library profession. While I will focus on AI and Readers' Advisory, I am not closing the door to speak out about other areas of librarianship in this series.
This is the first post in that series and it will be linked in the heading for all future posts; therefore, I wanted to also give a little background as to what finally pushed me to start this series.
Stated simply it was the RUSA Town Hall Meeting on January 8. 2025. At this meeting, Melissa S. Del Castillo presented "Leveraging AI for Enhanced Reference & User Services" You can view the recording here. You can also view the slides here.
This presentation was infuriating. The things the presenter promoted using AI for were not only terrifying but I think quite dangerous. Concerns about deprofessionalization are already huge in librarianship and while I do not think every library worker needs the Masters Degree to do good work, we are all information professionals. We cannot cede our place as the people who help make sure our users have access to credible and accurate information.
LIBGUIDES?!?!?! I screamed out loud. LibGuides are literally thing we make to help people navigate access to resources and information on a topic. It is literally the thing that best defines why we are irreplaceable as the connection between information from credible resources and those who want that information.
In case you think I misunderstood and am overreacting, I am not. I passed the link on to a few of my colleagues and they all were terrified and infuriated by this presentation. They had other examples that made them even more mad. And the fact that it is all being passed off as our "duty" as information professionals to use AI ....I just can't Just watch the recording, but make sure you are ready to be angry.
Deep breath....
Readers' Advisory is also right there on the left. Now while I think none of these things should be done by generative AI, I of course took umbrage with RA being there. Why? Because RA requires human interaction. Readers' tastes do not follow an algorithm. People like what they like and it often does not make sense to a computer. RA is all about leveraging the human interaction involved in making connections between books and readers. As I discuss here and in all of my presentations, our connections with readers begin with books; those connections lead to relationships; those relationships create community; and libraries are nothing without our communities.
And so, I true Becky fashion, when I am angry and disagree with others, I act. Hence this new series-- Just Say No to AI. In this series I will highlight the resources and RA practices that are not only the opposite of AI but also are among the helpful to all of us. The idea is to highlight why and how RA is human driven.
Today, I will begin with the most people driven resource, one that I love and use so much that I have added it as one of the "Practice" examples in my 10 Rules of Basic RA Service-- Reddit.
Reddit is home to thousands of communities, endless conversation, and authentic human connection. Whether you're into breaking news, sports, TV fan theories, or a never-ending stream of the internet's cutest animals, there's a community on Reddit for you.
Reddit by definition is a place of authentic human connection and interaction. And "books" is a topic that is thriving, vibrant, and chock full of real life readers discussing their favorite books, suggesting books to each other, and discussing book topics on the site. But it is not just a free for all of people and their opinions there. Most Reddit feeds and topics are moderated by humans as well.
An important note: you do not need to login our register to use Reddit as a resource. You only need an account to comment. I use Reddit daily and have never once logged in.
The main page for all book information is here. It is a human moderated space. From that page you can use the provided links to explore. Or, you can do my favorite thing. I use Google to run searches to find reader driven suggestions and add "Reddit" to my search language. So, the search "books for fans of Stephen Graham Jones Reddit" gives me multiple places where I can enter different Reddit forums and see what readers are saying about this popular author.
I have found many unique suggestions and readalike options by following the trail of readers who care enough about the books they love to share their thoughts with other readers. And you can easily drill down to very specific interests, likes, and dislikes. Here are a few example searches I have done for readers with the "subreddit" or specific area of the site where the information is filed to give you a sense of the breadth of subreddits.
- Romances with NO miscommunication (r/RomanceBooks)
- Books for those who like the liminal space trope (r/horrorlit)
- Science Fiction in space without war (r/booksuggestions)
- Historical Fiction not about WWII (r/suggestmeabook)
- Memoirs by people who are not celebrities (r/suggestmeabook)
Try it for yourself. Do a Google search for something uber specific. Ask your most picky patrons to give you their most difficult suggestion and then add reddit to the search string. And if by chance you don't find an answer, no worries. You can login and start your own string and ask your specific question. I promise you, a human reader (or 10) will start giving you answers ASAP.
Please stay vigilant about the intrusion of generative AI into our very personal work of matching books with readers. Do not let others, especially those who claim they are on our side and or part of our community, lead you to believe you need generative AI to do your job. You do not. In fact, your work will suffer if you forget that readers like what they like and it does not always make sense when plotted on a chart or extracted from an algorithm. But when you, the RA information professional, have a conversation with a reader, you can help navigate their specific likes and dislikes, sort through the resources, and help them find their next great read.
Look for more of this series soon.
And if you have ideas on how we can just say no to AI, contact me for a possible guest post.
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