Liz Mann

Presentation given at the Symplectic & Figshare EMEA User Meeting 2025 in London by Thali Bento, Research Services Advisor and Digital Library Advisor, Liz Mann, Digital Library Advisor, and Stuart Morris, REF & Research Policy Manager from Leeds Beckett University on LBU Discovery, an institution-wide project to enhance researcher visibility and collaboration through integrated Symplectic profiles.

Much of today's research on AI in Higher Education focuses on academic integrity, whereas we as a library team receive queries on the use of AI in research just as frequently (for example, academics using AI to conduct systematic reviews, storing data, and generating images to use in their research). Our work at Leeds Beckett will be used as a case study that we will talk through, highlighting some of the concerns relating to AI as they pertain to libraries, before running through our best practice guide for using AI. As an interactive element, we will begin our session by asking the audience to provide us with keywords in response to the question “what makes a good AI prompt?”. At the end of the session, once we've covered the topic of prompt engineering, we will return to these initial ideas, and see what users have learned and how their prompts can be improved. We will also cover the copyright implications of using generative AI, and the questions surrounding ownership of AI generated content. Our aim is for users to come away from this session feeling confident in their use of AI, whilst also being mindful of the ethical implications. At Leeds Beckett, our AI policies have been generated through collaboration with different teams across the library, and this toolkit is the culmination of our shared experience.

Since 2022 and the launch of ChatGPT, Leeds Beckett Library have explored different ways to utilise the new technology. Consideration was needed in the face of new challenges brought by AI, necessitating clear guidance and training. Equally, AI presented opportunities to transform existing patterns of working. This paper discusses Leeds Beckett library’s approach through the lens of two projects: as an approach to addressing copyright and AI and in the creation and enhancement of our online content. Together they represent the cautiously optimistic approach towards AI which the library adopted as a whole.