The librarian at my local branch showed me how AI catalogs books differently than I thought

Last month I was at the public library in Akron looking for a book on home plumbing repairs. The librarian, a guy named Mike probably in his 60s, helped me use their new AI search system. He told me the AI didn't just look at titles and keywords, it read the first chapter of every book to understand the writing style and complexity. That made me realize how much more useful this could be for finding the right level of information compared to just guessing by the cover. Has anyone else noticed these search tools giving better results than the old catalog systems?

3 comments

3 Comments

anthony76314d ago

The librarian at my library in Columbus showed me the same thing when I was looking for woodworking guides. @alice_allen5 is probably right about how it analyzes categories but I saw it give me a beginner book that the old system never would have suggested. Worked way better for finding stuff at my skill level.

simonk9815d agoOG Member

Actually read the first chapter" ... that's what I heard from a librarian on a PBS show too.

alice_allen515d ago

Oh wait, I think it's actually looking at the metadata and subject headings more than reading the whole first chapter! My library has a similar system and the librarian explained it analyzes the book's categories and related terms to figure out reading level and topic depth.