In conversation with the library community: The Pulse of the Library report

New Clarivate report assesses current and expected trends and investigates the impact of technologies, including AI, on librarians and their communities through a global survey of academic, national and public libraries.

Advanced technologies, in particular Artificial Intelligence (AI), are reshaping the world of education and research, offering new possibilities for enhancing learning outcomes, accelerating discovery and improving content accessibility. It is no longer a question of whether to embrace AI but how to do so safely and responsibly.

But how are libraries approaching AI and other mission-driven topics? What are their key concerns and challenges? What are the implications for the future role of librarians and library users - students, researchers and patrons? To answer these questions, Clarivate^TM conducted a global survey of over 1,500 librarians from academic, public and national libraries and shared the results in the Pulse of the Library^TM report. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the current trends, opportunities and challenges related to AI and other key topics in the library community.

Explore the survey findings through dynamic, interactive visualizations

The Pulse of the Library report is accompanied by a microsite, where you can explore the interactive data visualizations. These visualizations provide a deeper understanding of the survey results and allow users to draw additional insights, such as differences across geographies and library types.

For example, for Figure 5: Primary concerns or challenges libraries face in adopting or scaling AI technologies, you will note significant differences among Asia, Europe and North America in relation to privacy and security concerns, bias, copyrights and research integrity.

The figure below shows the chart data filtered according to library type.

Click on the Library type button. Choose from Academic, National or Public Library.

The figure below shows the chart data filtered according to geography.

Click on the Geography button. Choose from Asia, Europe, North America, Mainland China, the U.K., the U.S. Mainland China, or Rest of the World.

You can also download the data and charts for your own analysis and reporting here.

Pulse of the Library report key findings

Our report combines feedback from a survey and qualitative interviews with more than 1,500 respondents from across the world, covering academic, national and public libraries. See the Pulse of the Library microsite for more details on our survey methodology.

The survey revealed several key findings:

• Libraries are engaging with AI: Over 60% of respondents are evaluating or planning for AI integration, with academic libraries leading the way. In addition, AI is helping to advance library missions, with key goals for those evaluating or implementing AI include supporting student learning (52%), research excellence (47%) and content discoverability (45%).
• Regional priorities differ: Librarians' views on other key topics such as sustainability, diversity, open access and open science show notable regional diversity.
• Public libraries snapshot: Our survey revealed that 34% of public librarian respondents see content discovery as the area where AI could have the most significant impact on library services. However, they (42%) were more concerned about AI resulting in job displacement than their academic counterparts (31%).

Explore the full survey findings on the Pulse of the Library microsite.

"AI encapsulates the cumulative knowledge of humanity, like a mind vastly surpassing the intellectual capacity of any individual human. Researchers should have the opportunity to harness the benefits of artificial intelligence."

Joanna Starzak, PhD, The Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice Library, Poland

How Clarivate is listening to the library community

We are deeply invested in the future of libraries. Through this survey and report, we observe that we are at an early stage of AI implementation. Continuously monitoring the impact of AI on library operations and services will be key.

This is why, in early 2024, we launched our Academia AI Advisory Council which features library and faculty leaders from institutions across the globe. Their collective insights will help guide the responsible and innovative use of AI in academia. This new council complements our active and independent user groups, such as the Ex Libris Users of North America (ELUNA), IUG (Innovative Users Group) and IGeLU (International Group of Ex Libris Users) and our Idea Exchange forums - collaborative spaces for customers to contribute ideas to and share feedback with our product teams.

We are also developing AI-powered solutions to help libraries enhance their services and operations, including the newly released Web of Science^TM Research Assistant, which helps researchers get more out of the world's most trusted citation database, Web of Science Core Collection^TM, and multiple other Academia AI solutions.

Harnessing the transformative power of AI for a better tomorrow

Our global survey marks our ongoing dialogue with the library community. We continue to listen to their concerns, gain a deeper understanding of their challenges and work in partnership to navigate a world of increasing complexity. We envision a future where libraries - academic, national and public - harness the transformative power of AI to deliver a forward-thinking and inspiring experience, advancing the knowledge frontier.

Learn more about the Pulse of the Library^TM.

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