As artificial intelligence tools become increasingly integrated into library workflows, the ability to craft effective prompts is essential. Develop practical strategies for building, refining, and testing AI prompts tailored to real-world library scenarios. Explore how prompt structure influences responses and learn techniques to improve clarity, relevance, and usefulness. Through guided activities, experiment with prompt variations, compare outputs, and evaluate whether results are appropriate for contexts such as instruction, collection management, communication, and creative projects. No coding or prior AI experience is required, just curiosity and a willingness to explore.
- Identify key components of an effective AI prompt and how they influence results.
- Apply iterative prompting techniques to improve clarity and usefulness of AI outputs.
- Assess AI-generated responses for relevance, clarity, and appropriateness to library contexts.
- Develop and test prompts based on their own library scenarios through guided discussion.
Instructor(s)
Shawna Thorup is NorthWest Arkansas Community College's (NWACC) Library Director. NWACC librarians have been thinking about and using generative AI in their work since 2022 for a variety of tasks from lesson planning to analyzing data. She has an ongoing, co-curricular student workshop series, "Ethical AI," which she develops with her team and various AI tools.