AI and the Library – Week One. Our New Guide and Blog Post Series

Your Subject Librarian team have been hard at work over the “summer” (seriously, did it ever stop raining?) to bring you a newly updated AI Guide which outlines how you can use AI to get the best out of the library’s resources.

AI and the Library

Screenshot from the new AI and the Library LibGuide

The Guide offers advice on:

  • How you might use AI.
  • Some of the AI tools that might be useful for you.
  • The benefits of using AI over traditional search engines.
  • The appropriate and ethical use of AI tools.
  • Effective prompt building.
  • Some of the potential risks of using AI (including issues around copyright infringement, bias, and data protection).
  • The impact of AI on academic integrity.

Links to the Guide can be found here:

As a companion to the Guide, we are going to offer a series of blog posts which will look at the advice given in the guide in more detail and offer some practical tips for using AI.

Here’s a sneak peek of what you can expect in the coming weeks:

  • Reviews of AI tools.
  • Practical advice on effective prompt building.
  • Developing smart keyword searches.
  • Discovering resources related to your area of study.
  • Evaluating AI outputs by applying the CRAAP test.
  • The risks of using AI.

We hope that you will find our Guide and the series of blog posts useful. It is important to stress that you must follow the guidelines on the use of AI issued by your department (where available).

Get to know your librarians

Subject Librarians provide information skills training, look after your reading lists and subject guides and offer support and advice on using the libraries, finding resources for your assignments and referencing.

Aberystwyth University Libraries has 7 Subject Librarians, each with their own areas of expertise.  

You are very welcome to arrange a MS Teams meeting with your Subject Librarian if you have any questions about using the Library or would like advice – you can do this online here, or by e-mail. Or just drop them a message to say hello!  

Simone Anthony – sia1@aber.ac.uk

Simone is our Subject Librarian for Healthcare Education.

When I was fourteen, I volunteered at my local library to gain work experience. I honestly enjoyed spending hours alphabetically sorting the cardboard library cards into the beautiful oak drawers. The desire to travel later drove me to pursue a career in dance. I returned to libraries by graduating with an Education and Information & Library studies degree, at the age of thirty-three, having studied part-time around a full-time job as a dance instructor at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

I’ve been employed at the Hugh Owen Library since 2017, and I consider it an honour to be Aberystwyth’s first subject librarian for Healthcare Education.

Joy Cadwallader – jrc@aber.ac.uk  

Joy is the Subject Librarian for Theatre, Film and Television Studies, Modern Languages and English and Creative Writing.  

I was a school librarian and worked at the Aberystwyth public library in the 1980s as part of a job creation scheme. Since then I have had roles at the University as computer operator and IT help desk advisor before becoming a subject librarian. In my spare time I love visiting local wildlife projects, listening to e-audiobooks, keeping fit and watching professional road cycling on TV. 

Simon French sif4 Simon French – sif4@aber.ac.uk 

Computer ScienceGeography and Earth SciencesInternational Politics, Maths and Physics are Simon’s areas of expertise.  

As a child, I was a keen reader and collector of books. As an adult, I worked for many, many unhappy years in the second-hand and rare book trade before becoming a librarian here at Aberystwyth University. All of this might lead you to think that I’m a bit of a one-trick-pony, but I want to make it abundantly clear that I do enjoy things other than books, like…um…! 

Anita Saycell aiv Anita Saycell – aiv@aber.ac.uk 

Anita looks after Business, Sport and Exercise Science and Information Studies.

I started volunteering in libraries at the age of 14, then secured my first paid Saturday library job at 16 and everything has come from there.  When I’m not out cycling on the rolling Ceredigion hills, I really enjoy teaching and being able to help, so please do get in touch with any question however big or small! 

Sarah Gwenlan ssg Sarah Gwenlan – ssg@aber.ac.uk  

Sarah is our Subject Librarian for Education, the International English Centre and Psychology

Prior to working at Aberystwyth University I taught English Language in Spain, the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland. I’ve also worked in the Careers Services at SOAS and Newport, so you could say I’m familiar with working with students! Please get in touch if you need help, that’s why I’m here!

Lloyd Roderick glr9 Lloyd Roderick – glr9@aber.ac.uk  

Lloyd is responsible for Art and Art History, Law and Criminology, Welsh and Celtic Studies and History and Welsh History 

I wanted to work in libraries after spending a lot of time hanging around the music collection in Llanelli public library after realising they had Sonic Youth’s back catalogue available to loan. After university I worked at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library, University of London, then studied an MSc in Information and Library Science.  I later worked at Newport public libraries and the Courtauld Institute of Art library.  Later I produced a PhD studying art collections at the National Library of Wales…. all of which has given me a good background for supporting students and staff in the departments I work with as a Subject Librarian at Aberystwyth University. 

In my spare time I’m an assessor on the Professional Registration Panel of CILIP (Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals) and have curated exhibitions on modernism and contemporary art in Wales.  

Non Jones nrb Non Jones – nrb@aber.ac.uk 

Non’s subject areas are ASVS: Aberystwyth School of Veterinary Science, Life Sciences, and Lifelong Learning.  

Ever since I got work experience at my local public library here in Aberystwyth when I was a pupil in secondary school (… and I’m going back several years now!), I knew I wanted to be a librarian.  I joined Information Services in 2001 and a few years later received a postgraduate degree in Information and Library Studies here at the University as a distance learner.  In my spare time – in between looking after the family, cats, chickens and hamsters – I enjoy reading and being creative with art, craft and calligraphy.

Protecting your research: avoiding publication scams 

Journal hijacking and fraudulent journal sites are becoming an increasing problem for journal authors, publishers and readers. Publishing scams aim to exploit researchers, promising quick publication but charging excessive publication fees. These sites can often be a clone of an established journal, set up to extract fees from unsuspecting authors. 

Publishers are becoming more increasingly aware of the problem and have taken steps to combat this new trend. Scopus academic database had 67 hijacked journals on its database by 2023 (Challenges posed by hijacked journals in Scopus – Abalkina – 2024 – Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology – Wiley Online Library ) To help alleviate this problem, Scopus removed URLs to all journal homepages that it indexes, although the problem persists (Retraction Watch, 2023 Elsevier’s Scopus deletes journal links following revelations of hijacked indexed journals – Retraction Watch

Many authors and readers are unaware of this practice and the following resources might be useful to consider. 

Evaluating journals: 

 
Support from your library: 

 
Contact us: librarians@aber.ac.uk