Syracuse University Wins IMLS Grant to Train 110 Academic Librarians in AI Literacy

Megan Oakleaf, a professor at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies, has won a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to lead a three-year project training 110 academic librarians nationwide in AI literacy and assessment. The project, SSAAILL, partners Syracuse with the University of Virginia, Colorado State University and the University of Denver, using a three-track, dual-cohort train-the-trainer model in which each participant trains at least five colleagues, aiming to reach more than 550 librarians at 110 institutions. A student advisory group of undergraduates also helps shape the curriculum.

Students increasingly start research with AI-generated answers rather than library resources, while institutions adopt AI-driven learning analytics that often exclude library data, making libraries' contributions to student success invisible in campus decision-making. The project targets academic librarians as an education-system role, seeking to make AI literacy instruction, AI-augmented assessment and AI-era leadership communication core competencies, and uses a train-the-trainer structure to extend reach. Its effect depends on whether the curriculum keeps pace with changing AI tools and whether returning participants actually deliver secondary training; no independent evaluation results are provided. Academic librarians gain structured AI literacy and assessment training, potentially changing their role in student research and campus assessment. If the train-the-trainer model works, AI literacy content could spread through participants to more than 550 librarians at 110 institutions.