Best of Core Forum - Ethics, AI, and Cataloging: A Practical Approach

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to streamline metadata workflows and increase the capacity of cataloging operations. Interest in the promise of AI has accelerated since the release of ChatGPT in 2022. Metadata practitioners have conducted many case studies using AI processes, such as machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP). In addition to underscoring dramatic improvements in the speed and scale of metadata generation, these experiments demonstrate AI's ability to identify and correct inconsistencies in metadata and reveal trends in data sets that are not obvious to researchers. However, these case studies do not systematically address ethical concerns associated with the use of AI, such as data accuracy, algorithmic bias, environmental impacts, and privacy concerns. This webinar will discuss ethical codes and statements of principles related to cataloging and AI, such as the Cataloguing Code of Ethics and the Association of Research Libraries’ “Research Libraries Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence,” and how they may be used to assess the benefits and risks of implementing AI technologies in cataloging workflows. The speakers will guide the participants through a case study to demonstrate how one might perform this ethical analysis.

This webinar was previously presented in-person as a session at the 2025 Core Forum. We are hosting this webinar, with the session adapted and presented live as a virtual event, to extend its reach.

Learning Outcomes: 

At the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

• Articulate the benefits and risks of using AI tools in metadata operations;
• Determine ethical actions to undertake as part of the project; and
• Communicate effectively and support their decisions regarding AI to their administration.

Who Should Attend: Cataloging professionals, metadata workers, or administrators whose institutions are considering the use of AI or have already implemented it in metadata workflows. 

 

Presenters:

Abby Dover (she/they) is the Linked Data Librarian at Northwestern University. She took part in the creation of the Cataloging Code of Ethics (2021) and the Queer Metadata Collective’s Best Practices for Queer Metadata (2024). She currently serves as a member of the PCC SCT Task Group on Linked Data Training and is co-coordinator of the NACO/SACO Comics and Fiction Funnel. She teaches a Library Juice course on Wikidata for Catalogers and has presented at Core Forum, ALA Core Week, the ELUNA Annual Conference, ELUNA Learns, and the Semantic Web in Libraries Annual Conference.

Jessica Grzegorski (she/her) is Rare Materials Metadata Librarian at Northwestern University. As an active member of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS), she has served on the Bibliographic Standards Committee (BSC) and Controlled Vocabularies Editorial Group (CVEG), completed a term as co-chief editor of Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (RDA Edition) (DCRMR) (2021-2023), and regularly presents at the annual RBMS Conference. In addition to her service on RBMS, she is a faculty member of Rare Book School and is currently completing an appointment as RDA Examples Editor on the RDA Steering Committee. She has led rare book cataloging workshops and written and presented on topics related to rare materials cataloging standards, training, ethical use of AI, and inclusive metadata and description practices.

Tech Requirements