Lightning talk

Universities face urgent pressure to ensure staff, students, and researchers use AI responsibly, effectively, and with confidence. At Deakin, we treated this as an institutional capability challenge. Deakin Library provided leadership on both the university framework and our own practice. We co-led development and early activation of the Deakin GenAI Framework. We embedded AI capability-building into core library services, curated authoritative guidance and tools, ran evaluations and risk assessments, set practical guardrails, supported pilots and service redesign, and strengthened digital and information literacies so people can navigate complex information ecosystems. Sometimes this leadership is institution-wide. Often it is exercised through the design and delivery of Library services and programs that others can adopt and adapt.

Deakin Library again stepped into enterprise-wide strategic AI work, leading the university-wide GenAI Framework Activation Project (GAP) to operationalise Deakin’s GenAI Framework through iterative practice change at scale. GAP stood up the enabling machinery that turns principles into delivery: the Deakin GenAI Hub (foundational platform) and a weekly capability program.

The Deakin GenAI Hub is a single, open destination that unifies previously dispersed AI initiatives and gives the community a clear front door to explore, learn, and apply AI with confidence. It consolidates Framework-mapped literacy resources, signposts endorsed tools and guidance, and showcases practice from researchers, educators, and professional staff through workshops and exemplars. By amplifying colleague expertise, GAP is bringing coherence to a fragmented ecosystem. Our intent is for the Hub to mature into the university’s central connector and trusted enabler—the place the Deakin community finds good practice, learns from peers, and accesses consistent, reliable guidance.

This presentation reflects on:

• why the Library is best placed to lead on AI enablement, and how that has shaped our role within the university
• what it took to coordinate a cross-university initiative in a fast-moving field
• what we’ve learned about turning abstract principles into accessible programs and guidance
• early signals of impact on AI capability and confidence.

Libraries are uniquely positioned to lead AI enablement. We are trusted builders of digital and information literacies, cross-institution convenors, curators of reliable knowledge and metadata, and guides to complex information ecosystems. Taking the lead in navigating AI impacts on our university communities is a natural extension of that remit, shaping how our people engage with emergent technologies like AI. Our goal is to support people in ethical, inclusive AI engagement, building durable capabilities and confidence.