When AI Comes Knocking: A Decision Framework for Archival Collections

Recorded on 07/14/2026

Posted in Library Technology and IT, Primary Sources and Special Collections

Learn how to reframe AI training access for archival collections to help evaluate risk, obligation, and community trust.

Access the presentation slides.

The Statement of Shared Practice on AI Training Requests and Unique Cultural Collections, discussed in this webinar, is a voluntary commitment by libraries, archives, and museums to evaluate AI training requests using shared definitions and professional standards. It is open to any memory institution: library.virginia.edu/ai/shared-practice

Access the UVA Archival AI Protocol and its free adoption kit.

Summary:

Tech companies are approaching libraries and archives seeking access to unique collections for AI training. These requests force a question most institutions have never had to answer: under what conditions, if any, should we allow our holdings to train commercial AI systems?

This webinar introduces the UVA Archival AI Protocol, a decision framework downloaded over 6,000 times since its release, and the Statement of Shared Practice, a coalition commitment now signed by 17 institutions and growing. Together, they reframe AI training access as a disposition decision rather than an access decision, a distinction that changes how libraries evaluate risk, obligation, and community trust.

By the end of this session, you will:

  1. Know how to distinguish disposition decisions from access decisions, and why that distinction determines everything that follows.
  2. Have a step-by-step method for classifying AI-related requests, from vendor contract clauses to direct training partnerships.
  3. Understand how the Statement of Shared Practice translates individual institutional decisions into collective action, and how your institution can join.

Whether your institution has already received an AI training request or expects to, this session provides a structured approach you can bring back and apply immediately.

Speakers:

  • Image of Leo S. Lo

    Leo S. Lo

    University Librarian and Dean of LibrariesUniversity of Virginia

    Leo S. Lo is University Librarian and Dean of Libraries at the University of Virginia and Special Advisor to the Provost on AI Literacy. He founded UVA’s Artificial Intelligence Literacy and Action Lab (AILA) and developed the Archival AI Protocol and Statement of Shared Practice, now signed by 17 institutions.

    His CLEAR Framework for AI prompting has been featured in over 200 LibGuides across academic libraries worldwide, and his Universal AI Literacy Framework has been adopted and adapted at multiple universities and libraries. As ACRL President (2024–2025), he led the development of the ACRL AI Competencies for Library Workers.

    His current research focuses on the AI answer economy – how AI systems are transforming the way people find, evaluate, and trust information. His writing has appeared in the Journal of Academic Librarianship, College & Research Libraries, The Guardian, and The Conversation. He holds an EdD from the University of Pennsylvania and a Postgraduate Diploma in AI from Oxford’s Saïd Business School.

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