Blog posts tagged with training

In our Library AI workshops, we mention the potential of AI-based tools like ChatGPT to assist with library services like Readers Advisory ("RA"). However, until recently, we only had anecdotal examples of how ChatGPT performed at this task.

So, we've spent some time lately figuring out how to methodically explore ChatGPT's capability as an RA tool.  It's slow going -- we've just dipped our toe in the water, so to speak -- but we see some great potential!

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Hey, everyone! So let's chat about ChatGPT. It's a handy little tool, right? But it does have a couple of quirks that can be annoying. First off, you may have heard of the "training cutoff". In simple terms, it means ChatGPT knows a bunch of stuff...up until the autumn of 2021. After that? It's kinda like it slept through the past year and a half and missed everything post-2021. Another big bummer: it can't browse the web either, so it's stuck with its 2021 knowledge.

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ChatGPT and other AI systems are becoming more popular, but they have drawbacks such as outdated knowledge and a tendency to provide false information, or "hallucinate" in AI terms. Using the "retrieval" technique in AI-based apps can give you the benefits of a chat interface along with more relevant and timely information.

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Have you seen one or two articles about Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the news lately? Or maybe one or two thousand? AI is already changing how people work, and that includes library staff. That's why we're kicking off our summer 2023 training season with a deep dive on AI in the library. continue reading

The Galecia Group is excited to sponsor PLAID3, a free virtual summit dedicated to exploring the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in public libraries. This groundbreaking event, taking place on March 28th, aims to bring library leaders together to discuss and discover how AI can enhance library services, collections, and operations.

As a leader in library technology and innovation, The Galecia Group's mission has always been to empower public libraries with the tools and knowledge needed to adapt and thrive in an ever-evolving landscape. PLAID3 is a natural extension of this vision, as it provides an opportunity for library professionals to learn about AI, its applications, and its ethical implications in a supportive and interactive environment.

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Followers of our blog know that we're big fans of the Institute for Museum and Library Science (IMLS) library survey data releases -- these are the most comprehensive sources of data about public libraries in the United States.  So we were very excited this week to see that the FY2017 survey results have been released on the IMLS.gov website!

Not sure how to get started analyzing PLS data?  Check out this video where we introduce the data included in the survey and associated documentation.

 

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"Peer analysis" is a tool used in finance, management, and even sports -- and you do it unconsciously all the time.  We're simply finding the similar items in a large dataset by one or more dimensions, and then seeing how they compare in other dimensions.  In other words, if you're the director of a small library in Ruraltown, Nebraska, you don't want to compare your library's collection numbers to those larger library systems in Omaha and Nebraska.

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Our last blog post about accessibility focused on making sure that your website was easy to access by people that use assistive technologies, such as screen readers, which read aloud what's on a computer screen to users with low or no vision.  I recently attended a fantastic webinar on actual screen reader software itself by Kelsey Flynn of the White Oak Public Library District in Illinois, presented through the LITA webinar series.  Kelsey covered some of the basics of accessibility software, including deep dives into the five most popular screen reader titles.

Some of my key takeaways:

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As someone who has worked on community technology projects for nearly twenty years, it was always conventional wisdom that we had to reach people offline to bring them online.  In other words, we couldn't solely do outreach via the Internet when we were targeting people that were, often by definition, completely offline.  As librarians in an increasingly digital world approaching 2020, it can be frustrating to see low uptake of digital services or low participation rates in online programs, like summer reading. When studies show that Americans of all ages and economic groups go online in increasing numbers, why is the online use rate of our digital services not skyrocketing?

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Remember earlier this summer when your email inbox and the headers of your favorite websites were chock full of notices about "Updated Privacy Policies?"  You may also remember that this flurry of privacy policy updates was due to a new European Union law going into effect that controlled how companies could collect data about European citizens.  Since many Internet services are global by nature, some Americans also benefit from these new data policies, although American companies serving American citizens obviously don't need to abide by the EU regulations.

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