[CASL-L] Fwd: The Most Dangerous AI Tool for Libraries Yet

Jenny Lussier jlussier at rsd13.org
Wed Nov 12 05:14:15 PST 2025
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Good morning! This is an important article to read as we think about
collection development as part of the Freedom to Read law. If you have any
questions, please email me - pastpresident at ctcasl.org.
Jenny

How Class-Shelf Plus v3 quietly turns censorship into an automated workflow
and why every librarian should be alarmed.
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Stay Ahead with AI in Libraries & Education – Insights, Tools, & Trends!
------------------------------
The Most Dangerous AI Tool for Libraries Yet
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=1812431&post_id=178447769&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=1sly3c&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMDg1MTkzODQsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE3ODQ0Nzc2OSwiaWF0IjoxNzYyOTQ4ODY3LCJleHAiOjE3NjU1NDA4NjcsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xODEyNDMxIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.uBKsUeFkNph4JGzQ7UNxw1bvteSz7pcVYZs9CkT0JF4>How
Class-Shelf Plus v3 quietly turns censorship into an automated workflow and
why every librarian should be alarmed.

The Ai School Librarian <https://substack.com/@aischoollibrarian>
Nov 12
<https://substack.com/@aischoollibrarian>

<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=1812431&post_id=178447769&utm_source=substack&isFreemail=false&submitLike=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMDg1MTkzODQsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE3ODQ0Nzc2OSwicmVhY3Rpb24iOiLinaQiLCJpYXQiOjE3NjI5NDg4NjcsImV4cCI6MTc2NTU0MDg2NywiaXNzIjoicHViLTE4MTI0MzEiLCJzdWIiOiJyZWFjdGlvbiJ9.LFR8WdIxG8pXoBoNFrHBcJ0KZKmvgrVS9wH9f6Wu8UI&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-reaction&r=1sly3c>
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READ IN APP
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------------------------------
Special Edition: Every Librarian Needs to Read ThisAI, Censorship, and the
Alarming Rise of Automated Book Flagging
<https://substack.com/redirect/d3304dd9-e7fc-4b1c-8975-ff042e3ddcf4?j=eyJ1IjoiMXNseTNjIn0.S1ejlBp0cbL4TjYlYC8jL_A-r9WnN6CEqQoCzoc50Ow>
Generated
by AI

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how AI is being used in book censorship
<https://substack.com/redirect/8e2d5e08-cc7d-4630-a21f-655532bf6ad7?j=eyJ1IjoiMXNseTNjIn0.S1ejlBp0cbL4TjYlYC8jL_A-r9WnN6CEqQoCzoc50Ow>.
I want to let you know about a new investigation that every librarian,
educator, and district leader needs to read. Jason Koebler’s article, *“AI
Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge”*,
exposes how CLCD’s
<https://substack.com/redirect/92ab2361-f4f5-4bbe-8c95-607936116ba8?j=eyJ1IjoiMXNseTNjIn0.S1ejlBp0cbL4TjYlYC8jL_A-r9WnN6CEqQoCzoc50Ow>
new product, *Class-Shelf Plus v3*, is being positioned as an AI solution
for “managing” classroom and school collections.

Here is the article:
https://www.404media.co/ai-is-supercharging-the-war-on-libraries-education-and-human-knowledge/
<https://substack.com/redirect/3aacb7ab-94a6-4e46-99fb-0ac9dad4c818?j=eyJ1IjoiMXNseTNjIn0.S1ejlBp0cbL4TjYlYC8jL_A-r9WnN6CEqQoCzoc50Ow>

And here is the vendor’s press release:
https://librarytechnology.org/pr/31869
<https://substack.com/redirect/e7459ce9-1614-4ddd-a9a3-feb37e17127c?j=eyJ1IjoiMXNseTNjIn0.S1ejlBp0cbL4TjYlYC8jL_A-r9WnN6CEqQoCzoc50Ow>

As someone who has experienced censorship, has lost a job because of it,
and writes extensively about AI in education and libraries, this trend is
deeply concerning. AI tools are now being built and marketed in ways that
speed up the very processes used to remove books. We need to be clear about
what that means.
When one person’s judgment becomes an algorithm

What is considered “questionable” to one person may not be to another.
Librarians understand this. Our work is grounded in professional review,
community standards, developmentally appropriate practice, and a commitment
to intellectual freedom.

AI systems do not understand nuance.
They follow instructions.
They mirror the criteria they are given.

And right now, those criteria are being shaped by political pressure. When
you tell an algorithm to flag titles for “sensitive content” or
“potentially controversial themes” in today’s climate, it will
overwhelmingly identify books about LGBTQ lives, race, immigration, and
honest history. That is not speculation. It is the predictable outcome of
building a screening tool inside an environment where those topics are
already under attack.

Once the criteria exist, the model applies them at scale with no context
and no understanding of student needs. A book becomes a pattern match. A
life experience becomes a risk signal.
“It’s going to be used to remove books.”

The article includes an interview with Jaime Taylor, discovery and resource
management systems coordinator for the W. E. B. Du Bois Library at UMass
Amherst. Her warning is one that every librarian should take seriously:

“I am seeing a tool that’s going to be used for censorship because this
large language model is ingesting all the titles you have, evaluating them
somehow, and then it might spit out an inaccurate evaluation. Or it might
spit out an accurate evaluation and then a strapped-for-time librarian or
teacher will take whatever it spits out and weed their collections based on
it. It’s going to be used to remove books from collections that are about
queerness or sexuality or race or history. But institutions are going to
buy this product because they have a mandate from state legislatures to do
this, or maybe they want to do this.”

Her point is exactly right. Even if an AI system produces inaccurate
results, the risk is that someone under pressure or short on time will
accept them as legitimate. And if the tool produces accurate results based
on biased criteria, the outcome is simply more efficient censorship.
Why this moment should concern all of us

Class-Shelf Plus v3 is being sold as an efficiency tool, with claims that
it can reduce manual review workloads by “more than 80 percent.” That
framing ignores the bigger issue. When AI provides the list, the burden
shifts to the human to prove why a book should stay. That is the reverse of
how ethical collection development works.

This is especially dangerous for students who already see their identities
challenged in public discourse. When the same stories that are targeted
ideologically also become the ones flagged algorithmically, the result is
not neutrality. It is amplified harm.
My concern, as both a librarian and someone who writes about AI

This work is personal. I have lived through censorship efforts. I have been
the target of organized pressure campaigns. I have lost a job for defending
students’ right to read. And I also spend a great deal of time studying
AI’s role in education.

>From that vantage point, tools like Class-Shelf Plus v3 are not just
concerning. They are a direct threat to the foundational values of our
profession. They turn political anxieties into automated workflows. They
normalize the idea that librarians should follow an algorithm rather than
exercise professional judgment. They frame removal as compliance, not
censorship.

We need to say this plainly. AI systems built to “flag” books are not
neutral.
They replicate the worldview they are built on. And right now, that
worldview is hostile to many of the students we are supposed to serve.
A call to action

Read the article. Share it with colleagues. Ask your district if they are
considering tools like Class-Shelf Plus v3. Push for policy before
procurement, and insist on transparency and safeguards when AI intersects
with collection development.

Above all, do not let automated systems replace the careful, human work
that librarians do every day. Our students deserve better than an algorithm
that decides which stories are safe enough for them to read.

*Thank you so much for subscribing and supporting me!*

*📘 The AI For Educators Series*

Written by Elissa Malespina—now available in eBook and paperback!

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   *AI in the Library: Strategies, Tools, and Ethics for Today’s Schools*
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   *NEW - The Educator’s AI Prompt Book: Copy-and-Paste Prompts for Lesson
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<https://substack.com/redirect/4ef065cf-ff8f-43ed-8abd-4ff51f8c96fc?j=eyJ1IjoiMXNseTNjIn0.S1ejlBp0cbL4TjYlYC8jL_A-r9WnN6CEqQoCzoc50Ow>
<https://substack.com/redirect/d6b702c3-06f9-4d6c-a46b-ac3656e8a3d9?j=eyJ1IjoiMXNseTNjIn0.S1ejlBp0cbL4TjYlYC8jL_A-r9WnN6CEqQoCzoc50Ow>

*Portions of this newsletter are enhanced using AI-powered tools, with
human review ensuring accuracy and quality.*

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South Orange NJ
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-- 
(she/her/hers)
ALA/AASL, ISTE, CASL, CSTA member
CASL Immediate Past-President

FB: @mrslussierslibrary, Twitter: @jluss, Instagram: mrslussierlibrary

-----

Jenny Lussier

Library Media Specialist

Brewster Elementary School

jlussier at rsd13.org

Visit us at: Brewster website <http://brewster.rsd13ct.org>

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