Navigating Generative AI: The Teacher Librarian's Role in Cultivating Ethical and Critical Practices

ABSTRACT

The recent evolution of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) has already made a tangible impact within the realm of education. Positioned at the forefront of information and digital literacies, teacher librarians (TLs) can be leaders in exploring the potential for AI platforms to transform learning and teaching. This research is based on an exploratory methodology, to investigate how TLs might teach with and about GAI by applying the CATWOE analysis technique [Checkland, P., & Poulter, J. (2006). Learning for action: A short definitive account of soft systems methodology, and its use for practitioners, teachers and students. Wiley.] within the context of three specific GAI platforms. Findings highlight the multifaceted role that TLs can assume, extending beyond the pedagogical integration of GAI to encompass a broader educational mandate: to scaffold students’ capabilities as critical and ethical users of these tools in the creation and use of information.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher librarians
• generative artificial intelligence
• AI in education
• ethical information use
• CATWOE

Acknowledgements

The authors of this article would like to acknowledge The 26th International Forum on Research on School Librarianship, held in Rome, Italy 15–22 July 2023 where findings from this paper were shared.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In Australia, the term teacher librarian is used to describe someone working in the library who has dual qualifications in education and library and information studies. These two qualifications are an important point of difference from other roles in the school library. In other countries, like the United States, this role is often called school librarian.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kay Oddone

Kay Oddone is a lecturer and the course director for the Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship). She has more than 25 years of experience as an educator, having taught at all levels, ranging from Prep to Post-Graduate with experience as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, teacher librarian and learning designer. Her research interests focus on information and digital literacies, cultivated through networked and connected learning, personal learning networks as well as school libraries and teacher librarianship.

Kasey Garrison

Kasey Garrison is a Senior Lecturer in Teacher Librarianship and coordinator of the Children's Librarianship Specialisation at Charles Sturt University. Before becoming an academic, she taught in early childhood and primary schools in the Spanish and special education classroom as well as the school library. Her research interests center around various topics in school libraries including information literacy, collaboration with public libraries, and social justice and diversity issues in youth literature.

Krystal Gagen-Spriggs

Krystal Gagen-Spriggs is a lecturer and PhD candidate with the School of Information and Communication Studies at Charles Sturt University. She is passionate about teacher librarianship and enjoys working with teacher librarians and researchers from all around the world. Krystal's research is in reading motivation, reading identity, and reading cultures. She has presented on this topic at national and international conferences and is excited about sharing findings from her research in the future.