Libraries are knowledge repositories because they contain books and other knowledge resources, mostly in printed form. However, the library landscape is quickly evolving due to the emergence of digital technologies and Internet connectivity. While presenting the Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasised that a national digital library for children and adolescents would be built to make high-quality literature more accessible. According to her, the digital library will make it easier to access high-quality books across all levels, genres, and languages, as well as across all locations and device types.

Additionally, Artificial intelligence (AI) finds a place in the Budget this year. In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined India's plans to "Make AI in India" and "Make AI work for India." As part of this vision, Sitharaman proposed setting up centers of excellence for AI in the country's top educational institutions. Digital libraries are one setting where AI has significantly changed how we access and use information. AI provides considerable benefits to digital libraries by improving content organisation and classification, which leads to more efficient and accurate search results.

Jagran English spoke to Tarun Arora, founder, and CEO of the Knimbus digital library platform, to understand more about how digitisation and AI are changing the libraries ecosystem in Indian education. According to him, higher education institutions need to keep up with the latest technological advancements. One such advancement is the creation of a digital knowledge ecosystem or a digital library platform. This platform provides numerous benefits to students, faculty members, and the institution as a whole.

While talking about the use of AI in digital libraries Arora explained that it is used to enhance user experience and make it easier for them to find and access material online. By examining users’ search history, AI systems can suggest information that is pertinent to their interests. This feature makes sure that users can easily and quickly locate the content relevant to their needs.

“By analysing user activity, AI algorithms also recommend information that is likely to be interesting to the user. This feature ensures that users are exposed to a diverse range of materials with applicable information. To give users immediate response and assistance, digital knowledge ecosystems use AI-powered virtual assistants to respond to their queries. These assistants can answer user questions, suggest content and provide specific recommendations,” he further said.

The use of AI in digital libraries has expanded significantly due to its many advantages, including better information management, retrieval, and preservation. Information retrieval is now quicker and more accurate because of AI's capacity to analyse and classify enormous amounts of data. Additionally, AI may use user information, such as preferences and behavior, to personalise suggestions, improving user engagement and experience.