Our Foundation

Libraries and universities are fundamentally humanist institutions. We use technology in support of study and teaching, research and scholarship, information literacy, critical thinking, and cultural understanding. All of these endeavors are practiced by and for human beings. AI brings a new set of tools to help us, but does not replace the core principles of librarianship or Pro Humanitate.

New generations of tools have not changed libraries' core values in the past and should not do so now. We remain committed to access to information, equity, intellectual freedom and privacy, the public good, and sustainability. This statement articulates how we will uphold these enduring values as we engage with artificial intelligence.

Defining AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is technology that simulates abilities commonly associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning, learning, problem solving, decision making, and creativity.

Machine Learning is a type of artificial intelligence that builds statistical algorithms capable of analyzing data sets and performing tasks based on that data without explicit instructions. Machine learning is often used to detect patterns in data, to make data-based predictions and decisions, typically improving its performance over time as it studies further data.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are a type of artificial intelligence that are trained with vast amounts of text to develop human-like abilities to understand and generate natural language. LLMs learn patterns in their training data that allow them to quickly predict the next word in a sequence, making them adept at tasks like summarization and conversation.

Generative AI (Gen AI) is a type of artificial intelligence that generates new content—including text, code, images, video, and audio—based on large data sets used for training.

Agentic AI refers to autonomous systems that plan and carry out multi-step tasks with minimal human supervision. Agentic AI may employ other software tools, set goals, evaluate their own progress, and revise plans for those evaluations.

AI in a Liberal Arts Context

A liberal arts education cultivates the capacities that make us most human: critical inquiry, ethical reasoning, creative expression, and the ability to engage thoughtfully with complexity and ambiguity. These are precisely the capacities that AI cannot replicate. Our role is to help our community develop these distinctly human skills while using AI tools wisely and critically.

Pro Humanitate is at the center of our work. AI offers genuine opportunities to advance that mission by expanding access, removing barriers, and freeing time for deeper engagement. But technology serves Pro Humanitate only when guided by human judgment, deployed equitably, and held accountable to human values. We commit to using AI in ways that enhance rather than diminish human connection, learning, and agency.

The Evolving Role of Library Work

Throughout history, each advance in information access—from the printing press to digital databases to open access publishing—has not diminished the librarian's role but transformed and deepened it. As the proliferation of information produced exponentially increases, the work of evaluating, contextualizing, and teaching others to engage critically with that information grows more complex and essential.

AI continues this pattern. The question before us is not whether our work will matter, but how it will evolve.

We approach AI with curiosity rather than fear, and with critical discernment rather than uncritical adoption. We will experiment, learn, and adapt, as those who work in libraries always have.

ZSR's History of Technology Leadership

Wake Forest has historically been a leader in academic technology. The university's initiative to provide laptop computers to the incoming class of 2000 was nationally recognized, and ZSR was a campus leader in that effort: training students and faculty in using this new tool for research and learning.

That pattern of pragmatic technology leadership has continued. ZSR was the first campus unit to host blogs and wikis for any campus user, extending new platforms for scholarly communication and collaboration. The library taught the university's first online course. And we have been navigating AI in library and information systems for years: in recommendation algorithms, discovery interfaces, and cataloging tools long before the current wave of generative AI captured public attention.

This history matters. It tells us that ZSR knows how to approach new technologies thoughtfully: neither rushing to adopt nor refusing to engage, but learning, experimenting, and helping our community do the same. We are committed to continuing to lead in helping Wake Forest navigate a quickly changing information landscape.

Our Commitments

Keeping academic integrity and equity in mind, we seek to explore AI with curiosity and critical thinking, integrating human agency and transparently communicating our usage.

Transparency

We will be clear about when and how AI tools are used in library services, honest about their limitations, and open about our own learning process.

Critical Thinking

We will evaluate AI tools and outputs with the same rigor we bring to all information sources, and we will help our community do the same through consultations, workshops, and courses.

Curiosity

We will explore AI's potential thoughtfully, remaining open to critiques as well as new possibilities while grounded in our values.

Equity

We will pay careful attention to how AI may create or reinforce barriers, and work to ensure its benefits are accessible to all members of our community.

Human Agency

We will maintain human agency and judgment and oversight at the center of our work. AI assists our expertise; it does not replace it.

Academic Integrity

We will help our community navigate AI's implications for scholarly work, attribution, and ethical inquiry.

Privacy

Libraries have a long commitment to privacy, and we remain vigilant about this value now. We will not enter confidential or protected information into AI systems, and we will help our community think critically about privacy in their own use of AI tools.

Collaborative Learning

We will partner with faculty, staff, and students to explore AI's role in research, scholarship, and information literacy.

Framework developed by the ZSR AI Task Force, March 17, 2026. Initial concepts were informed by surveying staff, followed by the use of Claude to produce a baseline draft. The Task Force substantially revised this draft, incorporating iterative feedback from library staff across departments into the final version.