Beyond the Binary: A Librarian's Journey into the AI Revolution
As a university librarian, my world was meant to be about knowledge systems, about helping students navigate the familiar terrain of academic resources. About working with librarians to build support in all its forms.
But something happened over these past two years that transformed not just my thinking, but my understanding of what thinking itself means.
The First Tremors
It started with a simple realisation: The tools we were warning students against were the very ones reshaping the landscape of knowledge itself. Every policy we crafted to restrict AI use felt like building sandcastles against a rising tide. Every attempt to create "AI-proof" assessments seemed increasingly futile.
I was exhausted by the endless discussions about what AI couldn't do. Yes, it gets confused on numbers. Yes, it struggles with linguistic puzzles. Yes, it makes mistakes.
But we were missing the point entirely.
The Deepening Questions
As I ‘delved' deeper into these systems, experimenting daily, watching my own thinking evolve through AI collaboration, something profound began to emerge. The questions kept getting bigger, more unsettling:
When all information is instantly accessible, what does it mean to "know" something? When AI can craft perfect essays, what does "understanding" look like? When algorithms can solve complex problems, what makes human thinking valuable?
These weren't just academic exercises. They were existential questions striking at the heart of education itself.
The Librarian's Paradox
There's a certain irony in my journey. As someone who's dedicated their career to helping others navigate knowledge systems, I now find myself questioning what knowledge itself means. When I built computers from scratch years ago, I thought I understood the relationship between human and machine. Now, as I watch my thoughts blend with AI systems, those clean boundaries blur.
What started as practical exploration - understanding AI to better serve my community - has evolved into a deeper philosophical wrestling match with the nature of knowledge itself.
The Dissolution of Self
Here's what keeps me awake at night: We're not just witnessing a technological revolution. We're experiencing an epistemological reformation. A fundamental shift in:
How we know what we know
How we learn what we learn
How we think what we think
The outputs from my AI collaborations aren't just computer-generated content - they're a kind of digital echo of consciousness. My thoughts, amplified and refracted through an artificial lens.
Is it still me?
When my AI-enhanced self generates insights, I might not have reached alone, are they still my insights? When it extends my thinking in unexpected directions, is it still my journey of discovery?
Beyond the Binary
Most of our current questions about AI in education dance around these deeper existential quandaries. We're asking "how do we use AI?" when perhaps we should be asking "who are we becoming as we merge with AI?"
Because here's the thing, knowledge isn't just changing hands. It's changing form. Changing meaning. Changing essence.
The knower and the known are blurring. The thinker and the thought are merging. The creator and the creation are becoming indistinguishable.
The Path Forward
Perhaps we need to:
Embrace uncertainty as a feature, not a bug
View confusion as a sign of growth, not failure
See complexity as truth, not obstacle
We're not losing our expertise. We're being forced to reimagine it. Not as a static possession. But as a dynamic process. A continuous becoming.
The Librarian's Evolution
My role has transformed from curator of information to navigator of a new cognitive landscape. From building physical computers to exploring the architecture of hybrid thought.
Throughout history, librarians have stood at the crossroads of knowledge transformation:
From oral to written tradition
From manuscript to printing press
From memory to books
From individual to collective knowledge
But this feels different. AI isn't just another tool - it's becoming a part of our extended mind, a collaborator in our cognitive processes, a partner in our intellectual journey.
The Question That Remains
The ground isn't just moving beneath us. The very boundaries of our selves are dissolving.
And perhaps that's exactly where a librarian needs to be in this transformative age - not just organising knowledge but helping chart a course through its evolution.
The question isn't whether it's still 'me' - it's who 'me' is becoming. And more importantly, how we can help others navigate their own becoming.
The future doesn't belong to those who can use AI best. It belongs to those who can think differently enough to use it wisely. To those who can navigate this profound transformation of human consciousness and creativity with wisdom, intention, and courage.
Welcome to the reformation.
