Bot Building: Enhancing Customer Service Using Artificial Intelligence at the Calgary Public Library

As artificial intelligence seeps into people’s everyday experiences online, people now expect to be able to ask simple questions and receive immediate answers, rather than search through FAQs on a website. Calgary Public Library patrons were coming to expect AI, and library staff saw the opportunity to deploy such technology to improve the ease and convenience of using the library.

Additionally, AI was a way for Calgary Public Library to expand library services and multiply impact. Calgary is a sprawling and fast-growing city, home to over 1.2 million people. To better serve communities across the city, innovative service models are required. By using new technology to answer simple queries, employee time once spent answering these questions can be used differently. Ultimately, AI helps bring the library into more people’s lives.