Ethical considerations for Librarians Using GenAI

Generative AI can help librarians draft materials, explore ideas, and support everyday work. But deciding whether to use a tool involves more than asking whether it saves time. Libraries also have commitments to intellectual freedom, patron privacy, equitable access, and responsible stewardship. Viewing GenAI use through the lens of those commitments is a critical starting point for evaluating ethical GenAI use in libraries.

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Ethical Considerations for Librarians Using GenAI

Bias and Discrimination in GenAI

GenAI systems learn from large collections of data that reflect existing inequalities. As a result, their outputs can repeat stereotypes, favor dominant cultures and languages, or overlook the experiences of communities that libraries have historically underserved. These biases are not always obvious, especially when a response sounds confident or polished.

For librarians, the concern extends beyond an occasional inaccurate answer. If a biased tool helps generate recommendations, descriptions, or instructional materials, it may shape what patrons can find and how they are represented. Librarians should examine GenAI outputs critically, seek perspectives missing from the results, and understand that an AI response is not a neutral source.

Privacy and Surveillance Concerns

People may enter sensitive details into a GenAI tool: a research question, a draft document, a personal concern, or details about someone else. Depending on the tool and its settings, these inputs may be logged, retained, reviewed, or used to improve the service. Gen AI tool privacy practices may not align with a library’s commitment to protecting patron confidentiality.

Before adopting a tool, librarians should ask where inputs go, how long they are kept, who can access them, and whether they are used for training. Extra care is needed with sensitive research topics (e.g. health, legal, and immigration research) and with services used by children as children’s data protections (COPPA) may not be addressed adequately. Institutional pressure to adopt AI quickly should not take precedence over a careful review of privacy risks.

The Labor and Economic Impact of Artificial Intelligence

GenAI may appear to produce results automatically, but people contribute substantial labor to its development. Workers label data, moderate harmful content, and perform other tasks that can be underpaid or difficult to see. Training data may also include creative work used without its creators’ consent or compensation.

The effects of GenAI in libraries deserve scrutiny, too. Claims that it can “replace” professional tasks may be used to justify staffing cuts while overlooking the expertise involved in reference, instruction, and curation. Libraries should consider who benefits financially from a tool, whose labor makes it possible, and whether adopting it supports or undermines the people who provide library services.

AI’s Environmental Impact

Training and operating large AI models requires electricity, computing equipment, and, in many cases, water for data-center cooling. The impact varies by model, provider, infrastructure, and type of use, so a simple figure rarely tells the whole story. Still, routine use across many people and institutions can add to a substantial resource demand.

Environmental costs may also fall unevenly on communities near data centers or energy infrastructure. A library with sustainability goals should weigh a tool’s benefits against its resource use and ask providers for meaningful information about their environmental practices.

Questions to Ask Before Adopting an AI Tool

Start an ethical with a few practical questions:

Who built this tool? Who profits from its use?
What data was it trained on? Was consent obtained?
Where do patron inputs go? Who can access them?
What are the documented environmental costs?
Are there alternatives that better align with library values?
Most importantly, who in the community benefits? Who might be harmed?

GenAI tools will continue to change, and no single checklist can settle every question. By asking these questions before adoption, librarians can make decisions grounded in their profession’s values rather than using a new technology simply because it is available.

This portion of the site is funded by the 2025-26 SIG-IEP & ASIS&T student research grant on AI governance. Learn more.

Ethical considerations for Librarians Using GenAI