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Monday, April 21, 2025

Beyond the Book - AI for Librarians

I recently put together a new professional development training on the topic of AI for librarians, and have had the chance to present it several times so far.

As with all AI resources, I am sure I will continue to develop this session over time, adding many more tools and ideas. But for now I wanted to share what I pulled together so far.

Here is a description of the session:

Beyond the Book: AI for Librarians
Artificial intelligence in education isn’t just for the classroom. Librarians can harness AI for reader’s advisory, collection development, book promotions, community outreach, and more. In this session we explore practical applications of AI to expand and enrich your library program, including prompts tailored for librarians, tools to generate read-alike lists, multimedia book trailers, AI chatbots, verifying AI-generated information, and educating students about responsible AI use. Whether you serve K–5, 6–8, or high school, you’ll leave with dozens of ideas to spark innovation and engagement in your library.

See below to access the resource document, slideshow, and selected content from the session. And please feel free to share your ideas, tools, resources, and suggestions to add to this!

🧰 Session Resources

💬 AI Prompts for Librarians

In this section we explore a wide range of example prompts that librarians can use with AI chatbots.

Full list of prompts - Google Docs link

📚 Collection Development & Reader Advisory
  • Themed Book Lists: Give me a list of 10 middle grade books for Earth Day that promote environmental awareness. Include a one-sentence description of each.
  • Read-Alike Suggestions: What are some read-alike books for students who enjoyed Wonder by R.J. Palacio? Include title, author, and why it's a good match.
  • Personalized Book Recommendations for Students: A 6th-grade student loves fantasy books with strong female characters and animals that talk. What are 5 book recommendations that would match their interests?
  • Book Lists by Curriculum Topic: Create a list of 8 historical fiction books for middle schoolers that connect to World War II. Include title, author, and one-sentence summary.
  • Book Suggestions for Struggling Readers: Recommend 6 high-interest, lower-reading-level books for 4th and 5th graders who are working on fluency but still want exciting stories.
  • Multilingual Book List: Give me a list of picture books available in both English and Spanish that celebrate diverse cultures or family traditions.
  • Generate Book Labels by Genre: Create a list of genre label text for middle grade books (e.g., “Spine-Tingling Mysteries,” “Magical Realms,” “Realistic Reads”) for library shelving signage.

📖 Book Promotion & Engagement
  • Shelf Talkers or Signage Blurbs: Write a short, engaging shelf talker (50 words or fewer) to encourage 5th graders to check out The Wild Robot by Peter Brown.
  • Book Trivia Questions: Write 5 trivia questions (with answers) for a library game based on Charlotte’s Web. Aim for 3rd–5th grade reading level.
  • Book Club Discussion Questions: Create 6 open-ended book club discussion questions for Ghost by Jason Reynolds that would work for middle school students.
  • Library Scavenger Hunt Clues: Create 5 rhyming clues for a library scavenger hunt that help students practice locating nonfiction books using the Dewey Decimal System.
  • Student Reading Challenges: Create a month-long reading challenge for upper elementary students with 10 fun tasks (e.g., read under a blanket fort, read a book with a blue cover).
  • Reading Bingo Card: Make a 5x5 reading bingo card with creative categories that encourage students to explore different types of books (genres, formats, themes).
  • Promotional Materials (Slogan): Write a catchy slogan for our middle school library's summer reading program.
  • Reading Quotes for Bulletin Boards: Give me 10 kid-friendly inspirational quotes about reading or libraries that I can use for a hallway display.
  • Interactive Bulletin Board Prompts: Suggest 5 questions I can post on a bulletin board to spark student interaction (e.g., “What’s your favorite book villain?” or “If you could jump into any story, which one?”).
  • Book Review Template for Students: Write a simple book review template for upper elementary students to help them reflect on and share what they read.

🧑‍🏫 Instructional Support & Lesson Planning
  • Lesson Plan Ideas (Media Literacy, Research, etc.): Suggest 3 lesson ideas for teaching 6th graders about how to evaluate websites for credibility as part of a media literacy unit.
  • Mini-Tutorial Script: Write a script for a short video or slideshow that explains how to use the online library catalog to find books by genre.
  • Fake News Lesson Starter: Create an engaging opening scenario to introduce middle school students to the concept of misinformation and fake news. Include 2 discussion questions.
  • Plagiarism Mini-Game or Activity: Create a short, interactive classroom activity where students have to decide whether examples are plagiarism or not. Include explanations for the answers.
  • Historical Context for Literature: Provide a short explanation of the historical context behind Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry that 6th-grade students can easily understand.
  • Digital Citizenship Poster Text: Write student-friendly text for a poster that reminds elementary students how to stay safe, kind, and responsible online.
  • Citation Practice Worksheet: Create a short worksheet with 3 citation examples and 3 citation errors. Ask students to identify what’s wrong and how to fix it (MLA format, grades 6–8).
  • Primary vs. Secondary Sources Sort Activity: Create a simple activity where students sort 10 examples into primary or secondary sources. Include an answer key and brief explanations.
  • Collaborate with Classroom Teachers: Suggest 3 ways I can collaborate with 4th-grade teachers during their animal research unit using library resources and technology tools.
  • Makerspace Projects Tied to a Book: Suggest 3 makerspace activities inspired by The Invention of Hugo Cabret that connect art, storytelling, and mechanics.

📣 Family & Community Engagement
  • Parent Newsletter or Blog Post: Write a short article for a school newsletter with 5 tips for families to encourage reading at home with children in grades 3–5.
  • Social Media Captions: Write three fun social media captions to promote a library pajama read-aloud night for elementary students and families.
  • Library Open House Invitation: Write a friendly invitation email to families for a library open house event that highlights new books, student projects, and digital tools.
  • Book Fair Reminder Announcement: Write a fun morning announcement script to remind students about the upcoming book fair and how they can shop responsibly.

🏫 Library Management & Organization
  • Signage or Student Guide: Write a friendly, student-facing guide titled “How to Use the School Library” with tips on checking out books, finding what you need, and being a respectful library user.
  • Student Library Job Descriptions: Write short, age-appropriate descriptions of 3 student helper roles in the library (e.g., Shelf Organizer, Checkout Assistant, Tech Helper).
  • Library Mission Statement: Help me write a short, inspiring mission statement for my K–8 school library that emphasizes student voice, access, and lifelong learning.
  • Calendar of Library Celebrations: Make a calendar of monthly library or literacy-related celebrations/events I can promote (e.g., Banned Books Week, National Poetry Month). Include theme ideas for each.
  • Weeding Justification Email: Write a professional email I can send to my principal explaining the importance of weeding outdated library materials and how it improves student access.
  • Grant Proposal Blurb or Justification Statement: Write a short paragraph that justifies the need for a diverse classroom library collection to include in a grant proposal for new books.

Bonus: Prompt Engineering

🛠️ AI Tools for Librarians

In this section we explore AI tools that can be useful for librarians in their work.

Diffit for Novels and Chapter Books
  • app.diffit.me - Blog post - Demo video (7 minutes)
  • Diffit is a popular AI tool that creates leveled content and resources for a wide range of materials including website articles, YouTube videos, PDFs, and more.
  • Diffit has added a new feature to create leveled resources based on novels and chapter books.
  • Simply click on the "Books" tab and search for a book out of the hundreds available.
  • If you want to focus on specific chapters in the book, you can select the "Start Chapter" and "End Chapter".
  • As usual you can also select standards, reading level, and language.
  • Finally click "Generate Resources" to get a long-form summary, bullet-point summary, key vocabulary words, multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and open-ended prompts.



Talpa Search
  • talpasearch.com
  • Uses AI to search for books and other media
  • Search Books - Use natural language to find items by plot details, genre, descriptions, and much more.
  • Search Covers - Search for items by the visual components of the cover, including the color and what's on it.
  • Free version - 50 searches per day
  • Paid version - Unlimited searches integrated with the library catalog
  • See talpasearch.com/about for examples and details



📗 Tools for Book Trailers

In this section we explore tools that can be used to create multimedia book trailers to help promote books.

Illuminate
  • https://illuminate.google.com/
  • Create AI-generated educational podcasts on any topic.
  • Provide link for the content to draw from.
  • Choose Casual, Formal, Guided, or Freeform dialogue.
  • Adjust the audience, length, and tone.
  • Generate and use the audio overview.

Illuminate for Book Trailers
  • "Free Form" Prompt - Create a "book trailer" conversation promoting this book. Do not give away any spoilers for the story. Just provide a teaser of information to help a student decide if they might be interested in reading the book. Tailor the conversation to high school students with a quick duration. The tone should be positive and engaging.



Brisk Teaching

For an audio book trailer:
  • Access the website, video, PDF, or document about the book.
  • Click the Brisk tool, then "Create", then "Podcast".
  • Chose the length (Note: the free version limits length to 1-2 minutes)
  • Choose the target grade level.
  • Edit the prompt with something like the following:
    Create an educational podcast about this web page promoting this book. Do not give away any spoilers for the story. Just provide a teaser of information to help a student decide if they might be interested in reading the book. Tailor the conversation to elementary school students. The tone should be positive and engaging.
  • Click the "Brisk It" button to generate the audio.
  • When done you can copy the share link to allow anyone to listen to the book trailer.



Examples

Music Tools
  • Udio - udio.com
  • Suno - suno.com
    • ChatGPT prompt for lyrics - Write the lyrics for a song about the book Holes by Louis Sachar in the style of a "book trailer" promoting this book. Do not give away any spoilers for the story. Just provide a teaser of information to help a student decide if they might be interested in reading the book. Tailor the song to middle school students.
    • Book Trailer for Holes - YouTube link



🤖 Custom AI Chatbots

In this section we explore how custom AI chatbots can be used to create interactive learning experiences for students.

SchoolAI
  • schoolai.com - Blog post - Demo video (12 minutes)
  • School AI is a free tool that allows your students to have safe, monitored interactions with AI learning activities.
  • As an educator you set up a free account for yourself.
  • Next you select a premade AI experience or create one of your own.
  • Experiences include Bell Ringer, Exit Ticket, Topic Explorer, Historic Figures, Book Explorer, Career Exploration, Sidekick, Tutoring Session, and more.
  • You then share the invite link with the students so they can participate in the AI activity.
  • Note: Students do not sign in or get an account.
  • While the students engage in the activity, you can monitor their interactions.
  • At the end of the activity the AI summarizes the students' interactions so you can identify learning, needs, interests, and more.

SchoolAI Book Explorer
  • In this interactive activity, students will dive into the world of the book of your choosing. They will use AI to discuss themes of the book, learn about the author, and engage in knowledgeable discussions.
  • Custom Instructions - You may give the Al a specific agenda or instructions for exploring the book. Be creative! You can have the Al act like a certain character, or run a text-based RPG adventure in the context the book, or run specific review game.
  • Class Description - Describe your students. Give as much detail as you'd like the Al to know to adapt tone, language, length of message, personality, etc.
  • Examples



SchoolAI Historic Figure Chatbot

SchoolAI Custom Chatbots
  • You can also build a chatbot from scratch and customize it to your specific needs.
  • Simply provide a title and an AI prompt to tell the chatbot how to behave and what to do.
  • Additionally you can upload files for the AI to reference.
  • Example



Other Custom AI Chatbot tools:


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