Embracing our foundations…and AI

Posted by Carolyn Martin on November 4th, 2026 Posted in: Digital Health Literacy, Guest Post, News from Network Members, Technology
Tags: AI, librarian roles, medical librarians

---

Thank you to Andrea Ball, Research & Education Librarian at MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, Washington, for her exploration and insights regarding AI in our medical library profession. 

After another fantastic open PNC meeting last month, I posted a message to HLIB (PNC/MLA listserv) about how our professional core, the foundations of librarianship have not changed despite technological advances/disruptions, the latest being AI. It was a bit of an ‘ah-ha’ moment, truthfully. I’ve been on the fence about AI, mostly due to lack of time to dig into it and did not want to be an AI ‘super user’ in my organization where I’m a solo librarian.

A few days later I was asked to participate in a faculty development retreat…on AI. They wanted me to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of OpenEvidence. I had them revise that to something more general, and then I started learning all I could about AI using a library science lens.

I reviewed meeting notes and CE materials, read articles, LinkedIn posts and LibGuides – and even reached out to a couple humans. After compiling over 90 PowerPoint slides of content (for a 30-minute presentation) I asked CoPilot for some help. My first time doing so. And it worked – together we whittled down the slide deck, built an agenda and made things pretty.

The presentation went well – so well, in fact, that I’ve now been asked to co-teach an AI prompt writing workshop. But I’m excited about this because through all the panicked research and stress I came away more confident in my ‘librarian-ness’ than before and know that I need to be a part of this next chapter.

When I started to write this post, I kept hitting a wall. So, I asked CoPilot to draft a blog post discussing the impact of AI on our profession, including how these issues are the same or different compared to other technological advances. And, I have to say, I was impressed. It wasn’t bad. But all it did was validate what I’d already figured out – that ours is not a static profession, that we thrive on disruption while embracing our foundations, and that we are, again and as always, valuable.

I’m proud to be a part of this amazing community. Thank you.