Support or substitution? Research on the impact of artificial intelligence on librarians’ work engagement

The application scope of artificial intelligence (AI) in libraries is gradually expanding, inevitably exerting certain influences on library professionals, which has significant management and development implications. Based on job demands-resources model and coping theory, using a questionnaire survey of 392 librarians from China, this study investigated librarians’ perceptions of the impact of AI on their work, analyzed factors influencing librarians’ work engagement, and constructed a stress coping mechanism of librarians toward AI application. Descriptive statistical analysis, multiple linear regression method and structural equation model method were used to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that in the context of AI applied in libraries, librarians generally adopt a proactive stress coping mechanism toward AI, perceiving its support effect more than substitution effect. Job demands, organizational support, and librarians’ AI literacy all exert positive influences on their work engagement, with organizational support emerging as the strongest predictor. However, problems of lower support quality of AI, low level of librarians’ AI literacy, insufficient AI-related training resources provided by libraries, and concerns about future employment prospects still exist. Understanding the professional impacts of technological applications is essential for the library industry and its professionals to cope with the career changes in the AI era.