Library Instruction West 2020

“Alexa, can you find research for my paper?” While this question may come across as humorous, or even ludicrous, it is not far off from being a reality. The emergence of virtual assistant devices, powered by artificial intelligence, has been one of the biggest technological disruptions in everyday life over the past five years. Virtual assistants have the power to alter the information seeking landscape by influencing the behaviours and habits of researchers. This workshop is designed to explore how we use AI in our everyday research processes. We will present different models of virtual assistants used in higher education and how library instruction can play a role in teaching users how to be digitally literate in regards to AI. Our current framework for library instruction is centred around information literacy and does not account for the use of assistive devices. Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and the Google Assistant are already being implemented in elementary and high schools across the globe, though not every student is afforded the same opportunities to use this technology. A future generation of researchers is either being taught to interact with these devices, or their colleagues will be doing so, in an academic context. This workshop will address the potential biases and implications of using AI in research. Participants will have a chance to interact with devices, test research questions, and explore their own profile biases in this interactive workshop.