AI coffee morning

SCONUL’s Sustainability and Climate Change Task and Finish Group will be hosting the next AI coffee morning on 30 October at 10am. The session will provide an opportunity to explore some of the key tensions between the opportunities presented by AI and the questions it raises around sustainability at both a local and institutional level.

There will be brief presentations from Tim Leonard (University of Lancaster) and Jon Ray (University of Oxford), highlighting initiatives at their institutions, followed by an open-floor discussion exploring the roles that individuals, departments and universities can play in this often-polarised space.

Our speakers are:

• Tim Leonard, Associate Director: Space, Experience and Innovation at Lancaster University. Tim will speak about their implementation of the Primo Research Assistant, how sustainability was considered as part of the decision making process and how they have communicated with students around this.
• Jon Ray, GLAM Environmental Sustainability Manager at Oxford University. Jon will explore how the University of Oxford’s gardens, Bodleian Libraries and museums (GLAM) is responding to the opportunities and environmental challenges presented by artificial intelligence. He will cover their emerging work to understand and measure the environmental footprint of AI use, partnerships, AI policy and practical guidance for staff; and he'll reflect on the role of digital sustainability more broadly, including insights from their Digital Sustainability Conference, and consider how libraries can make thoughtful and responsible choices about AI as its use continues to grow.

Join us to explore the relationship between AI and sustainability, and what this might mean for us within our institutions and across the sector. Please email sconul@sconul.ac.uk for registration details.

SCONUL’s AI coffee mornings bring together those with an interest in AI developments within libraries on the last Friday of every month. SCONUL members can register for future AI coffee mornings here and access recordings and resources here.