{"id":25251,"date":"2025-08-26T22:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T22:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/25251\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T22:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T22:30:09","slug":"libbys-library-app-adds-an-ai-discovery-feature-and-not-everyone-is-thrilled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/25251\/","title":{"rendered":"Libby’s library app adds an AI discovery feature, and not everyone is thrilled"},"content":{"rendered":"

Library e-book and audiobook app Libby<\/a> is adding AI, much to the disappointment of some<\/a> readers<\/a> and<\/a> librarians<\/a>, who would prefer not to have AI inserted into their favorite apps. The new feature, \u201cInspire Me,\u201d allows users to get book recommendations by using prompts or from their previously saved titles in Libby.<\/p>\n

To use the feature, readers tap on the \u201cInspire Me\u201d options on Libby\u2019s home page, where they can ask for fiction or nonfiction, then narrow down the suggestions by other factors, like age range, type of content, and more. For instance, you might tap on suggestions like \u201cspine-tingling\u201d or \u201camusing,\u201d then on particular scenarios, such as \u201cdark humor about modern family dysfunction\u201d or \u201ctime travelers rescue dragons from medieval knights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Image Credits:<\/strong>Overdrive\/Libby (screenshot)<\/p>\n

The app will then display five relevant titles that match the requested inspiration. <\/p>\n

Overdrive, the company that makes the Libby app, says the feature relies on each library\u2019s digital collection, so it will point to books the library offers. It also prioritizes titles that are immediately available to borrow.<\/p>\n

While a fairly basic use case for AI, some Libby users and librarians are pushing back at the addition via posts on social<\/a> media<\/a> sites, saying they\u2019d prefer to get book recommendations without the use of AI technology. Others are worried about the potential privacy issues that come with some AI experiences.<\/p>\n

Overdrive, however, clarifies in a policy document about Libby\u2019s use of AI<\/a> that it avoids collecting \u201cinessential personal information,\u201d and when it does use your personal information, it\u2019s not shared with third parties or artificial intelligence models. The company also says that users\u2019 details and activity aren\u2019t shared with the AI model.<\/p>\n

Plus, if you share one of your saved tags with the AI to get suggestions, it doesn\u2019t receive any details about you, your device, or the name or description of your tag \u2014 it only gets the titles to use for recommendations. <\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Perhaps expecting some pushback against the new addition, Overdrive stressed in its announcement that its goal was not to replace \u201chuman insight\u201d with a generative AI feature. Rather, it says the feature could be used to \u201ccomplement\u201d librarian-led discovery. <\/p>\n

\u201cInspire Me uses responsible AI integration to help patrons dive deeper into the incredible catalogs their local libraries have curated,\u201d Jen Leitman, OverDrive\u2019s chief marketing officer, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cBy surfacing titles that align with what readers are searching for, Inspire Me helps patrons discover more of the books their libraries have already invested in. It\u2019s not about replacing human insight, it\u2019s about making discovery easier, smarter, and more intuitive,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

The company soft-launched the feature earlier<\/a> this month, allowing users to search for \u201c#InspireMe\u201d in Libby\u2019s app to gain access. Now officially announced<\/a> and rolling out, all Libby users should expect to gain access to the feature in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Library e-book and audiobook app Libby is adding AI, much to the disappointment of some readers and librarians,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[291,289,290,359,18,19,17,21019,21018,2459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-25251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-books","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-libby","16":"tag-overdrive","17":"tag-reading","18":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}