The prompt engineering librarian

Abstract

As generative AI tools become embedded in everyday information seeking, a critical question emerges: who teaches people to use them well? This paper argues that librarians — with their deep expertise in information literacy, reference consultation, search strategy, and public education — are uniquely and naturally positioned to fill that role as prompt engineering librarians. Prompt engineering — the practice of crafting optimized inputs to elicit accurate, useful, and responsible outputs from AI language models like ChatGPT — is rapidly emerging as a foundational digital literacy skill. Yet most users interact with AI tools naively, without understanding how query construction shapes output quality. This gap is precisely the kind of literacy challenge librarians have always addressed. This paper conceptualizes the prompt engineering librarian as a natural evolution of existing library roles: reference librarians already teach search strategy; information literacy librarians already teach critical evaluation of sources; digital literacy librarians already teach responsible technology use. Prompt engineering extends each of these competencies into the AI environment rather than replacing them. The paper discusses how libraries and LIS education programs can integrate prompt engineering training into existing services and curricula, positioning the profession at the forefront of AI literacy instruction at a moment when public understanding of generative AI is urgently needed. For LIS educators, library administrators, and AI literacy researchers: this paper offers a practical conceptual framework for expanding library services into one of the most consequential emerging literacy domains of the decade.

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