[CASL-L] Fwd: The Most Dangerous AI Tool for Libraries Yet
Elaine Shapiro
elaine.shapiro7 at gmail.com
Thu Nov 13 06:22:31 PST 2025
Thank you for sharing this Jenny. Chilling.
On Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 8:15 AM Jenny Lussier via CASL-L <casl-l at mylist.net>
wrote:
>
> 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>
>
>
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> <https://substack.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.GNIKRTlcb_mXJfJPcdu92eWwt2Y-3mq22xI0zkKP9U4?&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email>
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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!*
>
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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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