University Libraries receives grant to create Generative Artificial Intelligence Incubator Program

University Libraries at Virginia Tech and the University of California, Riverside, received a $115,398 Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to create a generative artificial intelligence incubator program (GenAI) to increase the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the library profession and academic libraries. 

The incubator program aims to train librarians in generative artificial intelligence skills to improve library services.

“Libraries should play a role in demystifying AI and guiding the public in its use,” said Yinlin Chen, assistant director for the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship in the University Libraries at Virginia Tech, who is the principal investigator and grant project director.

Chen will use his expertise in advanced GenAI techniques and multidisciplinary AI research in his collaboration with Edward Fox, co-principal investigator and director of the digital library research laboratory at Virginia Tech and computer science professor, and Zhiwu Xie, co-principal investigator and assistant university librarian for research and technology at the University of California, Riverside, to create the generative artificial intelligence incubator program. They will build training materials, workshops, and projects to assist librarians in becoming AI practitioners.

Fox is a core faculty member at the Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics. Read full story here.