In the same spaces where scholars have learned to evaluate sources and enhance knowledge for decades, University of Georgia students will now engage in thinking critically about information in the age of artificial intelligence with the launch of the AI & Data Studio at the Main Library.
Located on the library's third floor, the Studio reimagines a learning space previously dedicated as a hub for research-focused data analysis and visualization. In partnership with the UGA Office of Instruction and EITS, UGA Libraries will launch additional services and programming devised to help students develop judgment and understanding of AI and how to use it in ethical and responsible ways, when appropriate.
“Librarians bring a long tradition of critical thinking around information — asking where information comes from, how it was produced, and how far it can be trusted. Guided by our professional commitment to intellectual freedom, privacy, and equitable access, we approach AI with the goal of helping our community use these tools thoughtfully while remaining the authors of their own ideas,” said University Librarian P. Toby Graham. “Our AI literacy programs are built around one core principle: the harder problem today isn't finding information; it's being discerning enough to know how and when to use that information.”
Sara Wright, associate university librarian for learning services and academic engagement, said that the goal of the services is not to promote AI tools but to support analytical skills for modern information challenges.
“The AI & Data Studio is an acknowledgment that the rigor we have long brought to helping people work with data and information is exactly what's needed to help people work with AI,” Wright said. “A library has never just handed people information — it has always helped them ask whether it holds up. AI hasn't changed that job. It's made it more urgent and given us a new reason to do it well, together, with everyone on this campus who has a stake in getting it right.”
Thanks to a UGA Foundation grant, the AI & Data Studio programming brings together several efforts already under way across the Libraries as well as other parts of campus:
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AI and data literacy workshops, open to the campus community, teaching not just how AI and data tools work but how to evaluate their output, recognize their limits, and use them without losing the productive struggle that meaningful learning and research requires.
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Student ambassador team, working alongside librarians and the studio Coordinator, to test-drive and help design discipline-specific AI learning content and opportunities.
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Data and open scholarship support, continuing to meet researcher needs around data management, data visualization, open publishing, and other topics.
Additionally, applications will open soon for an upcoming Faculty Partners program with a shared central theme but offered in two connected tracks:
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AI Research Exchange, curated sessions for faculty and graduate students to think together about how AI is changing research practice in their fields.
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Faculty Partners Program, offering peer-to-peer faculty mentorship and guidance around integrating AI into the curriculum.