AI and Information Access: Benefits, Challenges and Lessons - Softcover

Chowdhury, G. G.; Chowdhury, Sudatta

This title will be released on October 17, 2025

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1783307722 ISBN 13: 9781783307722

Publisher: Facet Publishing, 2025

Synopsis

Libraries and information services are constantly evolving and adapting to the capacity and capabilities offered by emerging technologies. With the emergence of Generative AI, the information sector wonders how it will impact information users and professionals. The book examines this vital question by first raising evidence-based questions around user interactions with AI and its efficacy in providing responses that are relevant and suitable for specific user needs and contexts. Through the critical analysis of these case studies, the book discusses whether and how the conventional models of information search process, information seeking and retrieval, are applicable to explain the user interactions with the Gen AI tools for information access. This approach to AI and information explores

• the impact of AI tools on information by changing user behavior, shifting the gap in user access and impending users to find the best data and being critical;
• how libraries and database search services adapt these tools to improve access to information and data;
• the ways in which the use of these tools could generate new knowledge in information science, seeking and retrieval research, and education; and
• how these tools can be trained to best fulfil the user's needs and context.

While exploring the implications of AI for the overall library and database services, the book will aim to portray the overall picture of applications of Generative AI in the information science field.

About this title

About the Author

G. G. Chowdhury is a Professor of Information Science in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Strathclyde, UK. Previously, he had held several senior academic positions including Professor and Head of Mathematics and Information Sciences, as the Head of iSchool at Northumbria University and as a Professor and Director of Information and Knowledge Management at the University of Technology Sydney. Professor Chowdhury is a world-leading expert in digital libraries, cultural information management and sustainable information systems and services. He has published 16 books and over 160 research papers and has previously served as the European and Global Chair of the iSchools organization.

Sudatta Chowdhury is a Research Associate in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Strathclyde. Previously, she had held several academic and research positions at universities in the UK, Singapore and Australia. Her research focuses on information-seeking behavior and human-centered challenges for access to information, including digital divide and digital and information skills. She has co-authored five books, several journal and conference papers, and book chapters.

Edition details

• Publisher: Facet Publishing
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1783307722
• ISBN 13: 9781783307722
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264