Ahead of the Artificial Intelligence Curve: Changing Roles of Information Professionals in Higher Education

In the digital era technological advancements brought about by AI (artificial intelligence) have extensively altered the manner in which information professionals should offer services and resources to cater for individualised information needs. Technological advances in AI combined with institutional changes, budget constraints, and alternative modes of delivery are affecting the scope and scale of services required of traditional information professionals. Information professionals therefore find themselves in a distorted and surreal world – a world that has changed in a way where AI and technological advancement create a context that is unfamiliar. Within the HE (higher education) sector where the focus is on fostering education, research, and societal development, the importance of information professionals in leading these institutions into the 5IR (fifth industrial revolution) by advancing their own skills and utilising technology towards personalising information services and resources, cannot be overemphasised. More research is required to assess whether the vision proposed by the researchers will prepare information professionals effectively to stay ahead of the AI curve.