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Prompt course · 8 lessons · 26 prompts · 1 hour · Beginner

AI for Librarians

Eight short lessons that show librarians how to use ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini for patron research, reader advisory, cataloging, programs, and more. Each prompt is ready to adapt to your library.

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What you'll learn

  • Patron Research: Turn a patron question into a search plan, database strategy, and plain-language summary.
  • Reader Advisory: Suggest read-alikes, talk ideas, and themed lists that match a reader's interests.
  • Cataloging Notes: Draft catalog notes, suggest subject headings, and explain metadata choices while you verify against local rules.
  • Program Planning: Plan library programs, write promotion copy, and build supply or setup checklists.
  • Info Literacy: Build lesson plans, handouts, and practice questions that teach patrons to find and evaluate information.
  • Digital Resources: Explain e-resource access problems, draft database guides, and compare platform features.
  • Collection Work: Draft policy language, summarize inventory data, and create weeding criteria for collection decisions.
  • Interlibrary Loan: Draft ILL requests, explain copyright limits, and build a workflow checklist for borrowing and lending.

What's inside

8 lessons · 26 prompts
  1. Before you start · framework course ICIO and CIDI: Reusable Prompt TemplatesICIO reusable templates let you classify and extract book metadata repeatedly, like sorting new arrivals by genre, pulling title, author, ISBN.
  2. Start here Nadia's Wednesday, Two WaysA day in the life of a Librarian, before and after these prompts.
  3. 01 Lesson 1 · 5 prompts Patron Research Support
  4. 02 Lesson 2 · 3 prompts Reader Advisory Help
  5. 03 Lesson 3 · 3 prompts Cataloging And Metadata
  6. 04 Lesson 4 · 3 prompts Library Program Planning
  7. 05 Lesson 5 · 3 prompts Information Literacy Teaching
  8. 06 Lesson 6 · 3 prompts Digital Resource Support
  9. 07 Lesson 7 · 3 prompts Collection Development Tasks
  10. 08 Lesson 8 · 3 prompts Interlibrary Loan Workflow

About this course

7 topics

Prompts for Librarians: Eight Everyday Tasks

This course gives you eight ready prompts for the work you already do. Each lesson walks through a task, shows a prompt, and explains how to check the result.

You will use ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. The goal is not to hand over your job. It is to get a strong first draft so you can spend more time with patrons.

  1. The lessons
    1. Patron Research Support: Use AI to turn a patron's question into a clear search plan, database strategy, and plain-language article summary.
    2. Reader Advisory Help: Use AI to suggest read-alikes, book talk ideas, and themed lists that match a reader's interests.
    3. Cataloging And Metadata: Use AI to draft catalog notes, suggest subject headings, and explain metadata choices while you verify everything against local rules.
    4. Library Program Planning: Use AI to plan programs, write promotion copy, and build supply or setup checklists for library events.
    5. Information Literacy Teaching: Use AI to build lesson plans, handouts, and practice questions that teach patrons how to find and evaluate information.
    6. Digital Resource Support: Use AI to explain e-resource access problems, draft database guides, and compare platform features for patrons and staff.
    7. Collection Development Tasks: Use AI to draft policy language, summarize inventory data, and create weeding criteria for collection decisions.
    8. Interlibrary Loan Workflow: Use AI to draft ILL requests, explain copyright limits, and build a workflow checklist for borrowing and lending.
  2. What the Course Covers

    The eight lessons follow the order of a librarian's week: patron research, reader advisory, cataloging, programs, information literacy, digital resources, collection work, and interlibrary loan. Each lesson gives you a prompt you can copy and adapt.

  3. How the Lessons Connect

    The lessons build on each other. Research skills help with reader advisory. Cataloging habits carry into collection work. By the end, you have a set of prompts that cover the whole cycle of library service.

  4. Using the Prompts Well

    Always add your local details: your database names, your community, your library's rules. Treat the first answer as a draft. Ask for a shorter version, a simpler explanation, or a checklist if that fits better.

  5. Who This Course Is For

    This course is for librarians in public, school, academic, or special libraries. It is also for library staff who help patrons with research, readers, or digital access. No technical background is needed.

  6. Safety and Privacy

    Do not paste patron names, addresses, or private records into an AI tool. Use general descriptions instead. Follow your library's policy on AI use, and check every answer against trusted sources.

  7. Your Next Step

    Pick one lesson that matches a task on your calendar this week. Try the prompt, then note what you changed. That small habit is how the course becomes useful.