Beyond "If We Use It Wisely": Character Ethics, the Virtue of Wisdom, and GenAI in Libraries

Abstract: Decisions about the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) within the field of library and information science (LIS) will have serious impacts on our patrons, our colleagues, and ourselves. This paper asserts the importance of LIS practitioners and educators for modeling wisdom, especially regarding the use of GenAI. I amplify perspectives from historically marginalized and equity-deserving groups as a much-needed counterbalance to majority opinions on GenAI and ethics by introducing diverse concepts of "wisdom" and ethical guidelines on the use of AI, then briefly discussing how these perspectives might inform the use of GenAI within librarianship. I next survey and discuss examples in the current literature of how libraries (and librarians) have begun using GenAI. I analyze the extent to which these examples consider either wisdom or ethics in their use of this technology. I then propose the use of character ethics (sometimes referred to as virtue ethics) as an approach to both embodying and modeling the virtue of wisdom within the field of LIS. Finally, I conclude with recommendations for the field on how to use a framework of character ethics so that we hold ourselves and others accountable to upholding wisdom as a virtue of the field.