The evolving role of Librarians in information literacy and AI

 

By Nontobeko Sikhosana

In an era where information is abundant and artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how we access and interpret knowledge; the role of librarians has never been more crucial—or more dynamic. Traditionally seen as gatekeepers of books and academic resources, librarians today are key players in helping communities navigate the ever-changing information landscape. They are no longer just custodians of knowledge but are emerging as digital guides, educators, and ethical stewards in the age of AI.

• From Information Seekers to Critical Thinkers

One of the most essential responsibilities of librarians is promoting information literacy. In a world flooded with misinformation, disinformation, and deepfakes, knowing how to find reliable information and evaluate its credibility is a critical life skill.

Librarians teach users how to:

Identify trustworthy sources

Evaluate bias and intent

Understand academic integrity

Use databases and search tools effectively

These skills empower students, researchers, and the general public to become critical thinkers in a digital-first world.

·       Embracing AI as a Tool and a Teaching Moment

As AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Bard, and others become increasingly integrated into daily research and learning, librarians are stepping up to guide their ethical and effective use.

Librarians are:

Introducing users to AI-powered research tools

Offering training on how to craft effective prompts

Teaching the basics of AI, including its limitations and ethical concerns

Helping institutions develop responsible AI use policies

By demystifying AI, librarians bridge the gap between technology and responsible information use.

·       Ethical Leadership and Digital Equity

AI raises important questions about privacy, bias, access, and data ownership. Librarians play a pivotal role in these conversations, advocating for:

Ethical information practices

Inclusive access to digital tools and AI technologies

Data literacy and protection

Institutional awareness of algorithmic bias

They also help ensure that underrepresented communities are not left behind in the AI revolution.

·       Librarians as Lifelong Learners and Educators

To stay ahead, librarians continuously upskill, experimenting with new technologies and adapting their services. Many now lead workshops, collaborate in digital humanities projects, and advise on research strategies that include AI integration.

They are indispensable partners in academia, supporting faculty, students, and researchers in navigating this evolving landscape.

Librarians are at the forefront of two critical missions: upholding information literacy and guiding responsible AI use. Their work ensures that individuals and institutions don’t just consume information and technology—but understand, question, and use it wisely.

In this fast-paced digital world, librarians are not being replaced by AI—they’re empowering us to use it better.

References

Akakpo, M.G., 2024. Skilled for the future: information literacy for AI use by university students in Africa and the role of librarians. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 28(1), pp.19-26.

Hossain, Z., 2025. School librarians developing AI literacy for an AI-driven future: leveraging the AI Citizenship Framework with scope and sequence. Library Hi Tech News, 42(2), pp.17-21.

Cox, A.M. and Pinfield, S., 2020. Research data management and libraries: Current activities and future priorities. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 71(11), pp.1341–1357. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24340

Hervieux, S. and Wheatley, A., 2024. Building an AI Literacy Framework: Perspectives from Instruction Librarians and Current Information Literacy Tools.

Diversity in the workplace

 

by Nontobeko Sikhosana

Every company has a unique set of goals and the diversity practices must align with them to be successful.  Even today employees in organizations or libraries have different cultures and personalities. Diverse workforces help to increase profitability. Companies that look beyond the “culture fit” to focus on “culture add” will reap the rewards of a rich company culture.

To achieve diversity throughout the entire workforce, companies must intentionally recruit, hire and retain talent that is diverse in background, education and experience. These factors have an impact on an individual’s understanding of the world and are shaped by their race, gender, age, culture, religious and political beliefs, socioeconomic background, geographic location, sexual orientation, citizenship status, mental and physical conditions, and so on. When companies employ a diverse workforce, they benefit from the full spectrum of ideas, talent and creativity.

Diversity is not just about human resources and organizational culture for a library. The interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights by American Library Association (2006) states that librarians have an obligation to select and support the access to materials on all subjects that meet, as closely as possible the needs and interests of all persons in the community which the library serves. This includes materials that reflect political, economic, religious, social, minority, and sexual issues.

Libraries must have a clear sense of what diversity means to the organization before embarking upon collection assessment. Most colleges and universities have created non-discrimination and diversity statements that reflect the goals and values of the institution. Academic libraries should align their own definitions of diversity with that of the parent institution, while creating library-specific policies and guidelines that seek to ensure that all services, collections, processes, and procedures in the library meet the diversity goals of the library and the institution. Diversity collection assessment ensures that the goals of selecting, acquiring, and maintaining a collection that meets the diversity goals and needs of the institution are being met.

Diversity in academic libraries is thus beyond human resources, in a diverse library workforce, library users can find someone to relate to, and get services that are sensitive to their needs and preferences. Diversity also improves staff performance and overall library success.    

References

American Library Association (2006), “Diversity”, ALA Policy Manual, available at: www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/ governance/policymanual/index.cfm (accessed April 9, 2021).

American Library Association. 2006. Diverse Collections: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights [Online]. Available: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/diversecollections [Accessed 21 April 2021].

Ciszek, M.P. and Young, C.L., 2010. Diversity collection assessment in large academic libraries. Collection Building.

Moran, C. 2019. What is diversity in the workplace?(And how to achieve it?) [Online]. Available: https://learn.g2.com/diversity-in-the-workplace [Accessed 09 April 2021].

 

 

Meet the blogging team

by the Bloggers Team

Why blog? After a workshop a few years ago the UKZN library decided that creating a library blog would be a useful addition to the range of communication channels it uses to reach its wide range of users. A set of rules and a code of ethics were established, parameters discussed and a roster drawn up. All subject librarians and heads of departments are on the roster. Two blogs a month are posted.

An editorial team under the leadership of Ms Faith Magwaza, principal librarian for Humanities was set up to guide bloggers, proofread and support the process – and yes we have the T shirt!

The merits of blogging are often listed as including strengthening one’s knowledge, being creative, helping others, sharing with colleagues, building confidence in writing skills, writing about one’s interests and passions, creating awareness, meeting like-minded people or just enjoying this forum and so on. For some UKZN subject librarians writing is a daunting task and blogging is a challenging venture but as time goes by skills are improving and although most of the blogs to date are on quite serious and on work related topics, staff are stepping up to the challenge as they gain confidence.

The editorial committee comprises subject librarians from each campus. The Edgewood rep is Mukesh Kemraj who says this about being on the team: ”I like being part of the team as it showcases the library staff’s talent and broadens an individual’s understanding of the library profession as a whole.”

      Mukesh Kemraj (Edgewood)

Ashika Pramlal (Westville)

Says Ashika Pramlal, the Westville library representative “As a member of the editorial team this has been a “learning curve” for me. Reading the blogs of colleagues has been a most humbling experience and I am touched by the talent and enthusiasm of bloggers thus far. I have learnt a lot being part of the blog team and it has been an enjoyable and enriching experience.”

The Pietermaritzburg contingent of representatives comprises Rose Kuhn, Jillian Viljoen, Renee Damonse and Shorba Harkhu. “We enjoy group work and reading our colleague’s postings!” Rose, Jillian and Renee are based in the main library and Shorba is based at the Life Sciences Library.

Pmb Cecil Renaud: Renee; Jillian and Rose

Pmb Life sciences: Shorba

Howard College has 3 representatives on the editorial team. Nonjabulo Ngcobo, Subject Librarian for Humanities has this to say about being on the team:  “I am a member of the Bloggers Team, and my role is editorial which is basically the checking of the content of the blogs objectively and provide criticism without tearing down the work of the writers/ authors. I am very thankful and blessed for working with a wonderful team as I gain new knowledge every time we meet and by reading other writers blogs.”

Also from EG Malherbe library is Nontobeko Sikhosana who feels that: “being part of the blogging team has been a wonderful experience for me; I have learnt new and interesting things through other colleagues’ write-ups. Blogging is brain opening, it is fun to hear what other people think and feel, and it is an effective way to share ideas with each other.”

Nontobeko Sikhosana (EGM library)

Nonjabulo Ngcobo   (EGM Library)

              

And finally, from Faith Magwaza: “As a part of the blogging team I co-ordinate all the activities of the Blog. My positive experience on the team is seeing the talent and commitment of bloggers in submitting their blogs on time and openly accepting the comments of the editorial team. One of the successes of the team is that Library blogs are now available on the UKZN Facebook page."

To see all the blogs go to: http://libwebteam.blogspot.com/

For a list of subject librarians, their disciplines and contact details go to: http://library.ukzn.ac.za/SubjectLibrarians772.aspx

WhatsApp a Librarian

By: Nontobeko Sikhosana

The developing fame of online life apparatuses has persuaded scientists to investigate the parts such media play in ordinary life and in the public.

What if our users used WhatsApp as a means of communication with us? This will be a direct and user-friendly service for Library users to use WhatsApp to contact librarians, to locate general library information and seek assistance when using the Library. After a session we give students our communication details so that they can contact us if they have any queries or if they need any further assistance but they will often say ‘There is no cell phone number there, don’t worry we won’t send a please call me we will just send a WhatsApp message”. So again, what will happen if our students communicated with us via WhatsApp?

WhatsApp is a mobile instant messaging tool of social media. It make people connect in real time and most people spend a lot of time using this application. This application is free to use and it offers various capabilities for sharing media: text messages, images, audio clips, videos, documents, contacts and even location data.  In some countries such as India, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong to name a few, libraries are already using this App as a means of communication.

 Most of those people who are engaged in mobile instant messaging do so in order to maintain connections and relationships with colleagues, family and friends.

WhatsApp has its own advantages for service delivery in libraries and information centres such as:

• WhatsApp will encourage partnership and advance powerful correspondence between librarians and their users.
• Financially the costs of WhatsApp are perceived to be low, and using WhatsApp requires little training.
• Information about new developments in the library can be easily, quickly and cheaply disseminated.
• WhatsApp can increase the engagement and interactions among Librarians and their users.
• Librarians can create group chats with different disciplines and interact with students regarding new material, assignment help, reviews, new publications, new acquisitions or any useful information that a librarian has posted on Libguides: you will be promoting your Libguide at the same time.

There will also be a few challenges along the way, for example:

• WhatsApp requires considerable time commitment from library staff
• There are limited funds available in libraries to support more advanced social media tools and the training that may be required to enable this.
• Librarians may not post PDFs of electronic books or articles on WhatsApp but may give instructions to users on how to access them via the library website or the Libguide. 
• Students may suffer with data availability when they are not on campus but data for WhatsApp is cheaper than sending an email.

 Information technology has changed the nature of library services. Smartphone is the essential tool for today’s life and we can use WhatsApp on smartphones to provide library services to users.

We at UKZN can be “smart librarians” through WhatsApp.

References

Ansari, M. S. & Tripathi, A. 2017. Use of WhatsApp for effective delivery of library and information services. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 37, 360.

Lingnan University Library. 2018. Service guidelines on WhatsApp a librarian [Online]. Available: http://www.library.ln.edu.hk/research/whatsapp-guidelines [Accessed 5 August 2018].