Libraries panel demos Google’s NotebookLM, warns of access and accuracy limits

Eunice Reesberg, consultant for the Northeast District and a continuing-education presenter, demonstrated Google’s NotebookLM at a virtual Friday Tech Focus session hosted by Sam Bowers, consultant for continuing education, describing it as an AI-powered research and note-taking tool that summarizes uploaded documents and creates audio overviews, timelines and quizzes.

Reesberg said, "Google dubs this as your personalized AI research assistant" and that NotebookLM is built on Gemini 2 and can "generate summaries, explanations, and answers based on content that has been uploaded by those users." She also noted the product's small-print warning: "NotebookLM can make mistakes, so double check it."

The demonstration showed how users add sources by URL, Google Drive or direct paste; how NotebookLM lists added sources and generates a center chat summary; and how the studio pane can produce an audio overview, study guide, FAQ or timeline from the notebook's sources. Reesberg played an audio overview and described it as "like having your own custom podcast" while cautioning that generation can take time and may continue processing in the cloud after the user closes their computer.

Why it matters: Reesberg and attendees flagged ways libraries and instructors might use NotebookLM — collecting research, preparing for meetings, or generating study guides and quizzes — while also noting risks around accuracy, source permissions and institutional access. Sam Bowers highlighted account limits for state staff: "For those of us listening here who are state employees, this is not part of our system. I had to do this on my personal Gmail account," he said, underscoring that institutional deployment was not available to the group at the time of the presentation.

Details from the session: Reesberg explained availability tiers: NotebookLM Plus is offered through Google Workspace as an add-on with a paid Gemini for Workspace add-in; an enterprise version is available through Google Cloud with additional privacy and security features; and Google had recently added access through a Google AI premium subscription priced at $19.99 per month. She said the interface presently lacks a dedicated app ("There is no app for NotebookLM, at least at this time") and that a mobile browser view is supported but not optimized, recommending use on a computer for full functionality. Participants noted that some sources cannot be imported because of permissions, that PDFs will work when openly accessible on the web, and that users must monitor outputs for hallucinations and errors.

Discussion vs. decisions: The session was a demonstration and conversation; there were no formal votes or policy actions. Speakers discussed potential library uses (policy review, program planning, compiling research) and practical limits (processing time, required manual source curation, mobile interface). Reesberg and attendees repeatedly emphasized "garbage in, garbage out" — the tool’s usefulness depends on the quality of sources users supply.

Context and next steps: Panelists compared NotebookLM to reference-management tools (one participant likened it to a next-generation Zotero) and suggested it could help librarians synthesize or package materials for colleagues or patrons, with the caveat that institutional adoption would require review of account, privacy and permission issues. Reesberg encouraged caution and recommended that users verify generated summaries before repurposing them.

Ending: The session closed with no formal recommendation to adopt NotebookLM systemwide; presenters said the tool had interesting potential for research, instruction and program planning but that libraries should weigh accuracy, permissions and account-access limitations before relying on it.