Noticed a huge shift in how my local library in Denver handles research requests

Two years ago, you'd wait a week for a librarian to pull books and articles. Now, their online portal uses an AI to summarize and cite relevant sources in under an hour. Do you think this kind of public service automation is the next big wave?

3 comments

3 Comments

josephbutler2mo ago

Wow, that's wild. My county library in Ohio rolled out something similar last year. I needed old local zoning maps for a project, and their new system found digitized versions and pulled key sections in maybe twenty minutes. It felt like magic compared to digging through microfilm. Honestly, this has to be the future for public info. It just makes help so much faster for everyone.

the_parker2mo ago

Yeah but I worry about who picks what gets digitized first... some records might just never make it online if they're not seen as important. That could accidentally hide parts of history from the public. The future's good, but we gotta watch the gaps.

andrew_gonzalez882mo agoMost Upvoted

Totally get that. Had the same thing happen with some old union meeting notes at my library. They scanned the big stuff first and the smaller groups almost got left out.