2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Artificial Intelligence in the Academic Library: A National Study of STEM Librarians’ Practices and Perceptions

Presented at Engineering Libraries Division (ELD) Technical Session 1

Artificial intelligence (AI) has swiftly transitioned from a speculative concept to a pervasive force, reshaping various sectors, including higher education. The advent of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Microsoft Co-Pilot, have introduced significant disruptions to traditional academic practices, prompting critical discussions around credibility, accessibility, and ethical considerations. Other AI tools such as scite.ai, elicit.com, and Research Rabbit which uncover seminal resources promptly provide alternatives to researchers in lieu of typical academic databases.
The authors surveyed academic librarians (n=289) nationally to uncover their response to the evolving AI landscape. The first part of the survey addressed the individual’s familiarity with AI tools, the perspective of their college/university, and the perspective of their library. Further questions unveiled how the librarian integrated AI tools in their instruction and research consultations. Analyzing the survey results uncovered varied AI use from the enthusiastic adoption to the unequivocal refusal. In this paper, the authors focus on the responses of the STEM librarians (n=71) to glean insights and recommendations for STEM librarians.

Authors

Ms. J Denice Lewis http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-4786-8400 Wake Forest University [biography]

Denice started at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library in March 2019. She received her BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and graduated with her MLIS from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in 2019. In between Electrical Engineering and Library Science, Denice picked up an Associates in Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu Scottsdale. She is a member of the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of College & Research Libraries (ARCL), the North Carolina Library Association (NCLA), and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).Denice’s research interests are the digital information literacy skills of incoming freshmen, mentoring for BIPOC early career librarians, as well as the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), data science, and information literacy.
Ellen Cline Belk Library, Elon University [biography]

Ellen is the Engineering and Physical Sciences Librarian at Elon University. She works with students, faculty, and staff in five STEM departments and supports research initiatives across campus.
Jesse Akman Elon University [biography]

Jesse Akman is the Health & Life Sciences Librarian and Associate Librarian at Elon University. His interests and duties include STEM librarianship, scholarly communications, and secondary research methods.
Alison Van Norman Elon University
Katherine Howell University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [biography]

Katherine Howell is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She supports research activities, provides instruction, and conducts in-depth consultations and expert literature searches across a variety of health science disciplines. Prior to joining UNC, she was an Assistant Professor and Research and Instruction Librarian at N.C. A&T State University, where she supported students and faculty in the College of Health and Human Sciences.

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