TCDL 2026

How Libraries can Leverage AI to Help Researchers Find Joy in Research Again
By: Joshua Been & Millicent Weber

While research should focus on exploration and discovery, the joy of inquiry is often lost amidst a sea of tedious tasks and technical friction. In this presentation, we will demonstrate how academic libraries are uniquely positioned to reverse this trend by acting as the bridge between complex AI capabilities and daily researcher workflows. We propose that academic libraries should bolster AI literacy to demystify how AI works, teach the art of effective prompting, and design robust workflows that help to automate the tedious parts of research.

We will showcase this model through practical examples across the social sciences, humanities, and STEM. Case studies will include automating the tedious data extraction process for evidence synthesis projects and leveraging AI to handle complex OCR tasks, such as messy handwritten ledgers. We will also show how AI supports data analysis by suggesting methods, generating Python or R code, and interpreting results.

This session will demonstrate how empowering users with AI literacy allows them to offload the boring work. It helps them return to the creative and joyful heart of scholarship.

Integrating scholarly communication concepts into liaison librarianship
By: Colleen Lyon & Casey Ruegger

In the course of their work with departments, liaison librarians may be asked to speak or answer questions about scholarly communication related topics like open access, repositories, copyright, and OER. While many liaisons are familiar with scholarly communication issues, they may be unsure of good resources to point their researchers to or how to engage their researchers in these discussions. Many library resources are focused on “skilling up” liaison librarians on scholarly communication topics, but there seem to be a lack of resources that discuss examples of integrating scholarly communication into liaison work. The presenters will try to fill this gap by talking about the ways they’ve integrated scholarly communication concepts into their liaison work, and about resources they’ve created to make it easier for others to integrate scholarly communication into their work.