Artificial Intelligence Adoption in IIT and IIM Libraries: A Comparative Analysis of Applications, Service Transformation, and User-Centric Innovation

AI transforms how academic libraries automate. This study investigates the evidence of publicly adopting AI and digital service transformation in five Indian Institutes of Technology and five Indian Institutes of Management. An audit of the libraries’ official web pages, service portals, guides, and library-related institutional documents, as they existed on August 10, 2026, was performed. Remote Access, Institutional Repository, Discovery Service, Research Support, User Training, Automated/Self-Service Circulation, Virtual Help, AI Tools/Services, AI Services, and AI-Related Training were noted as present or absent. The AI Library Adoption and Innovation Index (AILAII; 0-100) positively scores the presence of each of the above services. Due to the small sample size of 10, several methods including exact Mann-Whitney U, Fisher’s exact test, and exploratory Spearman correlation, were utilized. The average AILAII score for IITs was 66.67 (SD=13.61) and for IIMs 73.33 (SD=20.18). The difference was not significant (U=9.50, p=.690, rank-biserial r=-.24). Explicit evidence of AI was found in four of the five IIT libraries and in two of the five IIM libraries. The use of AI in libraries was evidenced by Fisher’s exact test (OR=6.00, p=.524). The positive correlation of user-innovative services (rho=.61, p=.060) and the positive correlation of user-innovative services to the digital infrastructure of the libraries was shown in the positive correlation of rho=.61. The results of the study demonstrated a heterogeneous application of AI, as opposed to a uniform adoption of AI services in libraries. The study suggests a clearer policy and strategy on AI, a systematic staff transformation and/or up-skilling policy and a transparent documentation of AI services, and a Human-in-the-loop approach to the AI services of libraries.