AI and Libraries 2: Enhancing Library Marketing with AI Tools
Welcome to this second blog post leading up to the AI and Libraries: What you need to know seminar in partnership with CONUL T&D taking place here at University of Galway 28 November. This post focuses on Library marketing. It's by Eileen Kennedy, Library Digital Experience Developer here at University of Galway Library. Or is it?
Part of my role on the Learning, User Support, and Engagement team in University of Galway Library is managing our small but mighty marketing team. You could argue the team has become even mightier in recent months since AI has emerged as a hugely popular, if slightly inscrutable, tool in the field. In this blog post, we’ll explore how AI tools can enhance your Library’s marketing efforts. We’ll also provide a quick exercise to test your newfound skills. Full disclosure, this blog was actually written with the aid of ChatGPT 4.0. See if you can identify which portions are written by Eileen Kennedy, and which are written by this guy:
[Open AI generated image of dynamic friendly library marketing professional]
Understanding AI Tools for Marketing
In essence, AI tools use algorithms to recognise patterns, analyse data, automate tasks, and make predictions. Although the term AI is everywhere at the moment, many of the tools under this umbrella have been around for years. The concept of natural language processing is only slightly newer than the Enigma Machine, and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence was founded in 1971. What has changed since the mid 20th century is the average person’s ability to access these tools and put them to use. For marketing, this can mean creating personalised digital assistants, creating engaging content, and gaining insights from complex data to reach and engage our audiences more effectively.
Key AI Tools and Their Applications
1. Chatbots and Virtual Assistants
What They Do: Chatbots and virtual assistants can handle routine inquiries, provide 24/7 support, and guide users through your library’s offerings.
Example Tool: Cara is our university chatbot developed by Galvia AI. Cara can answer student queries any time of the day or night and can refer website users to a real human if it can’t find the answers online. Library websites contain a huge amount of information so it can be extremely useful to allow people to find answers to their questions right away. While we currently do not have Cara embedded on our Library site, you can test it out on the University of Galway Fees site.
Potential Pitfalls: It’s important to remember that Chatbots are only as good as the information they’re given. You may have heard about DPD’s disastrous ChatGPT-powered chatbot that was unable to answer a customer’s question about shipping, but did oblige them with some poetry.
2. Content Creation
What They Do: AI tools can generate content for blogs, social media posts, newsletters, and more. They can help save time and check grammar and spelling. Importantly, they can also help you overcome blank-page paralysis.
Example Tool: Jasper is a popular content generation tool that can help draft engaging posts and articles. For instance, if you need a blog post about upcoming library events, Jasper can quickly produce a draft or outline that you can refine. It can also optimise posts for readability and SEO. While Jasper is a paid tool, there is a free trial available.
Potential Pitfalls: If authors rely too heavily on AI tools for content creation, there is a risk of incorrect information being disseminated. When content generation tools try to fill gaps, they sometimes “hallucinate” or completely invent information. For example, in utilising ChatGPT’s assistance for this post, it recommended a (non-existent) case study on our library’s AI use in blogging and chatbots.
Read more: The Implications of AI-Generated Text: A Closer Look at Wix's New Blog Creation Tools
3. Focus Group Transcription and Analysis
What They Do: Focus groups are an excellent way to gather insights on Library users’ perspectives and requirements. However, typing up transcripts and summarising discussions can be time consuming. AI tools can automatically transcribe a focus group or interview with your service users, summarise the interview, and even suggest actions.
Example Tool: Notta was recently used for a focus group on students’ use and perceptions of AI tools for academic work. The software identified speakers and created handy recommendations which link back to the original audio file for convenient verification.
Potential Pitfalls: Not all transcription tools can understand all accents. In our own experience, “Galway” is sometimes transcribed as “go away “depending on the speaker. While the transcription can be an enormous time-saving tool, as with most AI devices, it still needs to be manually reviewed.
Objective: Gain practical experience with AI tools by outlining a blog post like this one!
Tool: ChatGPT (Free Plan)
Open the free version of ChatGPT
Tell the chat bot a little bit about itself. Is it an expert on finding history resources? Does it write in a formal or colloquial style? Does it like puns?
Tell the chat bot a little about what you want it to create. How detailed should the outline be? How many words long should the post be? Should it provide links to sources? (Hint! The free version of ChatGPT may not be able to provide sources, but you should ALWAYS check the output.)
Ask for changes. If there is something you do not like about the output, ask the AI to refine and change what it has written. You have to put in work in order to get something of value out of the chatbot.
Put the human back in. Edit and fill in the outline with your own personal experiences and expertise. No generative AI can ever replace that!
How This Blog Post Was Written with AI
I hope you enjoyed this blog post. And now for the big reveal – hardly any of the words you read above were actually written with AI! ChatGPT did provide the text within screen grabs, the title, and headings. Chat GPT also found some of the sources for me and finally, I will allow it to provide a closing disclaimer:
This blog post was created with the assistance of AI, specifically using OpenAI's ChatGPT. AI tools can significantly enhance content creation by providing structured information, generating text, and ensuring consistency in tone and style. Here are some best practices for attributing work to AI:
Transparency: Clearly indicate which parts of the content were generated or assisted by AI. This helps maintain credibility and transparency with your audience.
Attribution: Attribute the use of AI tools in a way that respects the tool's terms of service and provides readers with context about how the content was created.
Human Oversight: Always review and edit AI-generated content to ensure accuracy, relevance, and alignment with your goals. AI is a tool to assist, not replace, human creativity and judgment.
By following these practices, you can effectively integrate AI into your content creation process while maintaining transparency and quality.
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