Blockchain, artificial intelligence and Internet of things in libraries

Abstract

The digital revolution is both a technological and a cultural revolution and consequently is bound to produce large and growing impact on society. The times of evolution are accelerating and new technologies that impact on the world of libraries are constantly being introduced. Among these, the Internet of things (IoT) is quickly growing with help of other technologies like the blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). The article tracks the main elements of these three technologies, as they were born and developed, defining their features and the general usage and then dwells on applications already available for libraries or potentially available and currently under study. Some available guidelines are also presented. The potential for application of blockchain, artificial intelligence and the Internet of things in huge in the world of knowledge and information and therefore in libraries, so that we should not ask which library activities are involved but rather if and which activities will not be involved. The article considers some realized applications and some projects, in Italy and abroad, in traditional library activities for any kind of library (cataloguing, collection development, information literacy) and in scholarly communication and academic libraries (scholarly publishing, peer review, assessment and evaluation).