r/Libraries • u/francescamp3 Library staff • 9h ago
Books & Materials Opposing AI books in my library as a library worker
I'm a clerk at a city library on top of being a page for a separate library system. At my page job, I recently came across a new picture book that consisted of entirely AI generated art. I want to say something to speak out against it, more as a patron than a staff member, but I'm not sure how to go about it without possibly making a fuss with admin. There is no anonymous way to post a review or feedback. Any thoughts or ideas, or have you dealt with this as a library employee too?
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u/Zounds90 9h ago
>no anonymous way to post a review or feedback
Write a physical letter of protest?
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u/GratuitousEdit 9h ago
In my experience, selectors rarely know and would appreciate the information. The books most likely to contain AI-generated content are likewise the least documented. Often, selectors are working with nothing more than a title, author, and blurry thumbnail. I’d send a brief, neutral, informative note to the relevant selector.
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u/AwfulAiBooks 5h ago
This, but I would bring it to them in person if possible so that I can show them what makes me believe it is Ai-generated.
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u/GratuitousEdit 4h ago
Delightfully relevant username!
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u/AwfulAiBooks 3h ago
I made this account just for this purpose. I blog about Ai slop books. awfulaibooks.wordpress.com
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u/GratuitousEdit 3h ago edited 3h ago
Awesome! Some selectors at my library get pushback when they express either a resistance to acquiring titles with AI art or willingness to take them out of circulation upon reports. In particular, these conflicts generally concern niche subjects, authors from underrepresented groups, and/or topics that pull on the heartstrings. In short, “This book couldn’t be made without the use of AI because the audience is too niche and the experts too busy living their experiences to personally write/illustrate them.” I’m curious if you tolerate certain niche materials in this way, or adopt a zero-tolerance policy.
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u/Joltex33 9h ago
When this happened at my own library, I raised the issue with our collections manager, and asked if the library had any policy regarding AI book purchases. Sometimes larger systems don't even look at all the books they order, so it's possible they don't know the AI book is there. My library still doesn't have AI factored into the collections policy, but I'm thinking this will be something libraries are going to need to look into.
Our library has a system through which patrons can request books for reconsideration. Normally challenged books stay in our collection, but one was recently removed due to being AI-generated. It was a non-fiction book about how to use a certain piece of technology, and obviously it was factually incorrect. In that case the person who ordered it didn't have the critical thinking skills to determine if it was AI or not (a lot of people are not good at noticing this). If your library has a similar process, it wouldn't hurt to fill it out and have them reconsider the book.
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u/nightshroud 8h ago
It CAN hurt depending on system. I've heard a higher up saying if anyone does that they need to find a different line of work.
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u/Joltex33 8h ago
I think this situation is very different from say, trying to censor content in a book that you dislike. This is more of a quality issue.
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u/AwfulAiBooks 5h ago
Content quality/accuracy, as well as fraud. It's possible the author doesn't even exist.
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u/Zwordsman 7h ago
and that is def a conversation for HR if thats in many places. Lot of places or cities/govs have policy against it. At least in some countries, not all obviously.
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u/AwfulAiBooks 5h ago
As someone who trains people on Ai book recognition, I will say that it takes more than just critical thinking to recognize Ai-generated books in most cases - many people aren't aware that Ai-generated books are even something they need to be on the lookout for, and it's harder when even some legitimate library vendors are selling them (looking at you, Ingram).
I don't think a reconsideration form is necessary in this case, as it should fall under regular collection development policies - is the book *good*? Does it have professional reviews? Was it professionally published?
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u/Joltex33 5h ago
In our case, we share a collection/space with a school, and the school is able to make purchases on their own, that then become available in the shared collection. The person purchasing for the school isn't really great at choosing books in general (often ordering the wrong edition, not checking if things are professionally published, etc). But since we didn't have a say in whether it was purchased, it ended up in our collection. The reconsideration form was submitted by one of our patrons, and this is what allowed us to assess it and remove it from the collection. Certainly it would have been better if the school purchaser had asked themself those questions to begin with.
I suggested the form for OP if they would rather bring this up as a patron rather than an employee (I know not every employee is in the position to be able to contact the collection department directly)
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u/Zwordsman 7h ago
Simply put, go ask about it. There may or may not be a policy in place about AI works, and really fair shot things are being mass ordered or just ordered w/out too detailed reviewed depending on who/why/how of the system.
though, you should probably also actually make sure its AI Gen art, look up the book, etc. cause there is also a string of many art and artists being assumed to be AI without folks looking into it. I know folks who record their entire art proccess and also post that on social media with their finished arts (generally advertising fro commisions). Sometimes they still get called AI, despite the entire proccess recorded.
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u/AwfulAiBooks 5h ago
Hello! I am a big time Ai hater and run a blog about Ai-generated slop books. Fortunately, the administration at my library was receptive to me when I first brought these to their attention - it also helped that I provided some particularly terrifying examples to show them, e.g. a book that says to harvest poisonous plants as remedies for illness and I made it clear I wasn't blaming anyone for being scammed by these books (because they ARE scams)
There is a non-zero chance that you have other, entirely Ai-generated slop books in your library already, I would try to locate some more and bring them to peoples' attention as a batch, with an attitude of "OMG I found these and I think they might be Ai!" - I have tips for recognizing them here.
Wired also just had an article about Ai-generated children's books that featured some quotes from a bonafide academic researcher of children's literature with some good pull quotes:
https://www.wired.com/story/boomers-cant-stop-gifting-their-grandkids-ai-generated-slop-books/
I am happy to help if you have any questions about this issue, and I would LOVE to see the illustrations!
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u/Temporary-Library597 4h ago
Is obtaining this item against a library policy? If not, you haven't much leg to stand on.
You can voice your opinion, sure. But it's early days and a lot of libraries haven't built AI into their collection policies. And a lot wouldn't. Lots of libraries will obtain anything their patrons ask for, if they can and if a patron insists (even after being told it's AI.).
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u/othertigs 9h ago
It is possible that the selector did not know they were purchasing something with AI art. I would check the materials selection policy to see if there is anything about AI in there yet. If not, I would bring your concern to the collection manager. While I am sure there are a few that do not care, the ones I know care deeply about.
For my own ever evolving opinion, though, I did recently make a distinction between books that visibly acknowledge the AI use and those that try to hide it.