Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy (2025)

At Penn Hills Library, we encourage our patrons to pursue life-long learning by facilitating programs and services that promote the development of print and digital literacy skills. This involves equipping our patrons with the skills to identify accurate information and investigate sources to draw their own conclusions.

As the prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) tools continues to rapidly grow, we believe our role as information professionals is to facilitate patrons’ understanding of what AI is and how to identify AI. The Penn Hills Library does not permit its staff or Board of Directors to use AI tools in their work or for library programs to teach or advocate for the use of AI tools.

Our goal is for the library to be an active and responsive institution. We will review this policy annually so that it is as up-to-date as possible and takes into consideration all developments in the AI field.

Definitions

Artificial intelligence (AI) – “The capacity of computers or other machines to exhibit or simulate intelligent behaviour” (Oxford English Dictionary)

Generative AI – “Generative artificial intelligence; artificial intelligence designed to produce output, esp. text or images, previously thought to require human intelligence, typically by using machine learning to extrapolate from large collections of data” (Oxford English Dictionary)

Large language model (LLM) – “A complex model trained on vast amounts of data that generates language that resembles human-generated language. GPT, PaLM, Jurassic, and Claude are examples of LLMs” (Stanford Teaching Commons; “Defining AI and chatbots”)

Chatbot – “A computer program that uses an LLM to simulate a conversation with human users, typically through typed text in a software application” (Stanford Teaching Commons; “Defining AI and chatbots”)