Welcome to the Library AI Studio
Beginning this fall, Tar Heels of all skill levels can experiment with generative AI in the new Davis Library space.
Gather, learn, create.
Those are the goals of the Library AI Studio, a brand-new space that will open in Davis Library this fall. It’s envisioned as a place where campus learners can engage with curiosity around what generative artificial intelligence can do — no matter their skill level.
An AI Acceleration Grant from the Office of the Provost is providing start-up funding for the studio. It will be on the 2nd floor, staffed with knowledgeable experts in AI and open to the entire campus. A service desk will welcome visitors and their questions. Users will have access to computers running the latest AI resources and tools beyond ChatGPT, such as Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude. Additional tools will be available virtually.
It’s a landing zone that democratizes access for all learners, particularly students, says Michelle Cawley, associate University librarian for health sciences and one of the studio’s leaders.
“We’re thinking of it as a sandbox, the kind of environment where you can play and test things out,” says Cawley. “If you have an idea for a project, and you don’t know where to start, you can come in and connect with the library’s expertise, access the tooling and get started.”
The Library AI Studio will be a central point for GenAI services at the libraries and on campus, offering workshops, trainings, consultations, visiting experts on topics like sustainability and privacy and the adaptability to add tools as the technology evolves. Above all, it will be a destination for learning and partnership.
“Partnering is in our DNA,” says Cawley, noting that providing services around an emerging information technology has always been a core mission of the University Libraries. “That instruction piece is always important, and it extends to all types of literacy: digital literacy, data and AI literacy, and reading literacy. That’s a natural place for us to come in.”
Tim Shearer, associate University librarian for digital strategies and information technology, calls the University Libraries “The Big Tent” — they’re part of everyone’s Carolina experience. With such a long history of collecting and organizing information and tools, and helping people to understand them, librarians have the cultural competency to lead Carolina through this moment.
“AI is a big, ambiguous term that means about a billion different things,” Shearer says. “I would say that we’re embracing AI holistically. I see the Libraries as where humans and information meet, and AI is where humans and information meet. We’re well positioned in ways that are also thoughtful and grounded. It’s our job to help people understand, master and navigate that world.”
Read more about the ways the University Libraries is engaging with AI.
