Reskilling for the AI Era

Abstract

This poster presents preliminary findings from an exploratory study on how academic library staff at the National Library of Technology (NTK) in the Czech Republic are reskilling and adapting to the challenges presented by AI. As AI technologies become more prevalent in information services provision, this poster sheds light on the ways NTK academic library staff are navigating the multifaceted challenges and opportunities associated with integrating AI into their professional practices while understanding how our patrons use emerging tools and how this changes research practices more generally. The objective of our research, in the form of qualitative semi-structured interviews, was to understand the reskilling needs and processes of our user support staff as they were adapting to the integration of AI technologies in our workflows. A diverse sample of interviewees was ensured by interviewing staff with different genders, levels of experience, and lengths of service. This methodological approach gave us an in-depth probe of evolving individual experiences, motivations, barriers, and mechanisms of knowledge transfer that are pivotal in the reskilling process.