Digital Futures Webinar: Student AI use for discovery and its implications for libraries

Users’ deployment of AI tools has changed the way that they are engaging with academic sources. Traditional conceptions of discovery behaviour no longer fit the reality in which many students are using AI tools to guide their search for appropriate resources - including those who starting with AI generated explanations and working back to the original sources. This has significant implications for many aspects of libraries’ work: AI and information literacy training; how we assess the value of our content spend; our investment in tech and platforms; and the positioning and description of our services – the how and why of the library.

This webinar will explore these questions with two sets of contributors.

We will hear from Meg McMahon (User Experience Researcher) and Amy Deschenes (Interim Director of UX & Discovery) both at UX and Discovery, Harvard Library. They have conducted fascinating research on how users are using library discovery services differently, including looking at how students are using AI to build their understanding. They argue that this changed behaviour presents an opportunity for libraries to redesign their services to support verification and provide the training in using AI that students are seeking.

We will also hear from Leo S Lo, Dean of Libraries and University Librarian at the University of Virginia where he is also Special Advisor to the Provost on AI Literacy and Professor of Education by courtesy. He has written about the development of an “answer first” behaviour by students and has developed the CARE approach (Classify, Assess, Review, Enhance), which articulates a critical way of engaging those answers with users. He argues that librarians need an answer first mindset that recognizes AI responses as texts that require interpretation.

The webinar will take place on 15 October 2026 from 2pm - 3.30pm, to join us please email sconul@sconul.ac.uk for registration details. 

This webinar is part of a SCONUL project, Digital Futures, which is exploring the library community’s technology needs 5-10 years in the future, grounded in an exploration of users’ needs and behaviours.  A further session exploring these issues will be held at the SCONUL Autumn Conference when we will hear from Dr Stephen Gow, Leverhulme Fellow, Department for Learning and Teaching Enhancement at Edinburgh Napier University, who will be reporting on his recent extensive study looking at student experiences of navigating the generative AI landscape in UK higher education. Please email sconul@sconul.ac.uk for the conference registration details. More information about the conference can be found here.