IN DEPTH ‘‘
Rob Green is Editor of Information Professional.
There is definitely considerable pressure on organisations, especially those in the public sector, to adopt AI. – Jess Pembroke
The Info Pro Podcast has gone live
CILIP has launched The Info Pro Podcast, bringing you a new way to stay on top of sector news and thought leadership. Focusing on key themes from across the profession the podcast will speak to experts and spe- cialists, helping to shine a light on some of the biggest questions facing information professionals right now. The podcast is available across platforms – just search for The Info Pro Podcast. Building on Information Professional’s editorial values and experience, and working with selected partners the podcast aims to deliver key insights and spark debate. The first two episodes are now live, with regular episodes landing each month. We will also be delivering bonus episodes throughout the year – make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss out.
Episode one: Not convinced yet? AI in libraries – Policy, Ethics and Privacy
This episode looks at the potential barriers to libraries adopting AI tools. With the technology still relatively new for most users, there are justifiable queries around policy and how to navigate issues such as ethics and privacy. Are services holding back while policy catches up, and if they are, what can oganisations and individuals do to make sure they are prepared and confident. Opportunities around AI have the potential to transform services for staff and users and organisations will not want to miss out.
Co-host Jess Pembroke, Director of Information Law Services at Naomi Korn Associates, said: “There is definitely considerable pressure on organisations, especially those in the public sector, to adopt AI. The shift represents a substantial change in these workplace practices and there’s quite a lot of challenges. Most people are simply seeking advice on where to begin. “Policy is a good way to start and there have been conversa- tions about whether this sits within existing processes, but I think most people would agree that AI is quite a seismic shift in the way that we work.”
Librarians and information professionals may not be involved in the process of drafting these policies, but they need to be aware of the policy and understand what it means for their role, Jess explains adding: “I think it’s important that organisations set that standpoint with a policy. AI overlaps in lots of differ- ent areas. You’ve got procurement, you’ve got data, you’ve got leadership, and there needs to be some dedicated guidance. Depending on your organisation’s attitude to risk, you might be quite, the organisation might be quite keen to use the AI tools out there, whereas another organisation might take a completely different stance. So it’s whether you integrate AI into an existing framework or create a standalone policy. I think the demand is out there from information professionals to have a specific stance on an approach to AI as an organisation.” Episode One’s guest is Dr Andrew Cox, author of two CILIP reports (The impact of AI, machine learning, automation and robotics on the information profession and AI and the UK Library Profession: Survey Report 2025), urged information professionals to start experimenting, adding that most of us are using it already – whether through Microsoft’s Co-pilot, Chat GPT, Gemini to countless other tools.
In library settings AI is gaining prominence with specific tools emerging to help navigate collections, and more on the horizon. Andrew said: “In the academic sector, it’s not so much that uni- versities said ‘we need generative AI’, It’s more that generative AI uses have proliferated for our user base. And we’ve had to work out how to respond a bit reactively.
Rob Green with Jess Pembroke. 28 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL
“You can go directly to chat GPT, but now you can also get an overview on a Google search. You can also access generative AI
Winter 2025
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