NNLM Region 7 to launch AI community of practice for hospital librarians

The Network of the National Library of Medicine’s (NNLM) Region 7 hosted a virtual meeting on Dec. 12 to introduce a planned community of practice on artificial intelligence aimed at hospital librarians across the region, NNLM staff said.

Region 7 Education and Outreach Coordinator Margot Malachowski told attendees the initiative will focus on practical uses of AI in hospital library settings — including literature searching, clinical queries, patient education and collection management — and will be limited to hospital librarians from the seven states in Region 7. "The COI will be limited to hospital librarians from Region 7 and will focus on the practical uses of artificial intelligence in a hospital library setting," Malachowski said.

Organizers framed the effort as an active, peer-driven program distinct from standard webinars. Participants will be able to volunteer as peer-exchange contributors for brief round-robin sharing, formal presenters for 20-minute demonstrations, resource-guide contributors and guest bloggers whose posts could appear in the weekly NNLM newsletter. Malachowski said a Qualtrics sign-up form will be sent to registrants and will request name, email, hospital and location and ask volunteers to rank role preferences.

A live poll during the meeting showed about 57% of respondents currently use AI for literature searches, Malachowski said, with roughly 21% not yet using AI and patient-education uses reported least often. Chat comments and participant examples cited Copilot and other tools for presentation outlines, syllabus formatting, citation sorting and data-extraction templates for systematic reviews.

Malachowski outlined a tentative schedule that begins with a peer exchange in February, a presentation session in April (one or two 20-minute demos), and repeats in July and August; she said May and June are typically conference-heavy months. She also said the program will pause in October to assess progress. "We're planning meetings through August 2026," she added, and noted NNLM’s current funding year runs through April 30, 2026, with an extension application pending.

On instruction and training, participant Dina asked whether the community would cover "train-the-trainer" approaches for supporting colleagues; Malachowski said yes and noted that instruction in hospital libraries can differ from academic settings. Malachowski described prior training activities such as grand rounds and emphasized ethical considerations and practical guidance: "Reminding them not to put patient information or privileged business information into any AI platforms or tools," she said.

Region 7 plans to record the formal 20-minute presentations and share those recordings and a highlights summary via the Region 7 listserv and the NNLM newsletter; the informal peer exchanges will not be recorded. Malachowski said the informational meeting recording and the Qualtrics sign-up will be sent to registrants the following week.

The community organizers said Region 7 is currently the first NNLM region to pilot this specific community model, though other regions have expressed interest. The meeting ended after a short Q&A and an invitation to complete the forthcoming signup form.

Next steps: registrants should expect a Qualtrics sign-up link and a recording; the community will begin convening peer exchanges in February with progress reviewed after an October pause.