Abstract
How do students critically engage with AI tools in their academic lives, and how can librarians respond to their concerns and support their information literacy needs? Studies highlight the need to incorporate students’ voices into HE initiatives on AI (Chan and Hu, 2023; Holland and Ciachir, 2025; Tierney, Peasey and Gould, 2025). This presentation outlines the methods and outcomes of an innovative project that centred the student voice in AI literacy practice.
Advances in Generative AI introduced a new dimension to the information literacy landscape (Lo, 2025). The Russell Group believes students need to be ‘AI-literate’ (2023), but AI literacy holds different meanings. With increasing AI search functionality and its ‘black box’ problem, Archambault (2023) highlights the need for algorithmic literacy while Bali (2023) promotes ‘critical pedagogy’ and ethical discourse around the use of AI. Our research stems from the belief that AI literacy is a crucial part of information literacy, encompassing not only digital skills but a critical understanding of AI in response to environmental and ethical concerns. Students need to develop new knowledge and skills order to choose if or how to use AI tools (Bearman and Ajjawi, 2023).
Our cross-disciplinary team featured librarians, a study skills tutor and educational researchers, including a paid student researcher. We employed an iterative mixed methods approach and surveyed the whole student body to understand their concerns, needs and use of AI. In response to the data, we designed a range of teaching activities that drew on learner-focused and gamification pedagogies (DiNardo and Snyder Broussard, 2019) as a means of developing users’ AI literacy skills. We provided reflective learning opportunities to encourage engagement with the materials (Purcell and Mandall, 2024) and ran workshops with student focus groups. We used this feedback to improve the activities before presenting to another focus group for further evaluation. Modelling inclusive research practice, we paid students for their time, and they valued the environment as a ‘safe space for everyone’.
Attendees of this conference session will gain insights around the library user’s perspective on AI literacy, the value of cross-discipline collaborations and the importance of listening to the student voice. They will preview learning materials developed from the research and receive a zine which can be annotated with reflections on how to use the activities in their own workplaces. The zine signposts to our bank of open access resources which reflect different teaching and learner styles. This adaptability of resources with a fun, learner-led focus aligns with our belief in compassionate pedagogy (Walsh, 2024), the democratisation of information (Buschman, 2023) and punk pedagogy (King, 2025).
References
Archambault, S. (2023) ‘Expanding on the Frames: Making a Case for Algorithmic Literacy’, Communications in Information Literacy, 17(2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2023.17.2.11.
Bali, M. (2023) ‘What I Mean When I Say Critical AI Literacy’, Reflecting Allowed. Available at: https://blog.mahabali.me/educational-technology-2/what-i-mean-when-i-say-critical-ai-literacy/ (Accessed: 22 July 2025).
Bearman, M. and Ajjawi, R. (2023) ‘Learning to work with the black box: Pedagogy for a world with artificial intelligence’, British Journal of Educational Technology, 54(5), pp. 1160–1173. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13337.
Buschman, J. (2023) ‘Democracy and Information Literacy’, in Information Literacy Through Theory. London, UNITED KINGDOM: Facet Publishing, pp. 30–60. Available at: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bristol/detail.action?docID=7264792.
DiNardo, C.O. and Snyder Broussard, M.J. (2019) ‘Commercial tabletop games to teach information literacy’, Reference Services Review, 47(2), pp. 106–117. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-10-2018-0066.
King, M. (2025) ‘Take5 #123 Punk Pedagogy – Are you a punk educator without knowing it?’, ALDinHE, 27 February. Available at: https://aldinhe.ac.uk/take5-123-punk-pedagogy-are-you-a-punk-educator-without-knowing-it/ (Accessed: 22 October 2025).
Lo, L.S. (2025) ‘AI Literacy: A Guide for Academic Libraries’, College & Research Libraries News, 86(3), p. 120. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.86.3.120.
Purcell, S. and Mandall, T. (2024) ‘LILAC 2024: Compassion, authenticity and positive pragmatism’, Journal of Information Literacy, 18(1), pp. 233–236. Available at: https://doi.org/10.11645/18.1.613.
Russell Group (2023) Principles on the use of generative AI tools in education. Available at: https://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/policy/policy-briefings/principles-use-generative-ai-tools-education (Accessed: 24 March 2025).
Walsh, A. (2024) ‘Playful and compassionate approaches for inclusive Information Literacy Instruction’, in LILAC 2024. Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/playful-and-compassionate-approaches-for-inclusive-information-literacy-instruction-andy-walsh/267125105 (Accessed: 22 October 2025).
