A growing number of libraries are exploring or implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in 2025 (67 percent, compared with 63 percent in 2024), although the majority are in the earliest evaluation stages, according to Clarivate’s second annual “Pulse of the Library” report, based on a global survey of 2,032 librarians from 109 countries representing academic, public, and national libraries. The report notes that there is a wide variation between academic and public libraries with AI adoption—53 percent of respondents from public libraries said that their institution was not pursuing AI or had no specific plans, only four percent described “moderate deployment,” and one percent described “active implementation.”

Librarians from the United States and the United Kingdom expressed the lowest optimism about AI’s potential benefits, with only seven percent in each region rating themselves highly optimistic on a scale of one to five, compared with high optimism responses ranging from 14 to 31 percent in the rest of the world (40 percent of U.S. respondents rated themselves as a three on the optimism scale, while 36 percent rated themselves as a one or two).

This low optimism could be at least partly due to a relative lack of institutional support. Survey responses indicated that more libraries in Asian and European countries had formal AI skills development programs in place for their librarians than in the United States. For example—although this was based on a small sample size—65 percent of respondents in mainland China said their library was at least in the early stages of implementing AI, up from 46 percent in the 2024 survey, and 54 percent of those librarians rated themselves as a four or five when asked about how positive they felt about the potential benefits of AI for libraries. The 351 respondents from other Asian countries were even more optimistic, with 67 percent rating themselves a four or five.

Similarly, 37 percent of respondents from U.S. libraries said their institution currently had no plans to explore or implement AI technology, or that they were not actively exploring potential uses for AI technology, and an additional 40 percent said that AI is a topic of discussion among staff or leadership, but their institution had not yet moved toward organized implementation. By comparison, 37 percent of European respondents said their libraries were either in the early stages of AI implementation or were experimenting with AI in pilot projects, or that they already had at least moderate deployment of AI across several library areas. An additional four percent of European respondents said that their library had a strategic plan in place with deployment of AI in multiple use cases.

Budget pressures continued to be a challenge for all types of libraries, as noted by 47 percent of respondents. “As such, it isn’t surprising to see budget referenced heavily in considerations of AI adoption, open science, collection development, and mission,” the report states. “We observed a shift in the primary mission for academic libraries, compared to 2024, prioritizing student engagement and retention (40 percent) over research support (35 percent), potentially reflecting the continued decline in funding from student fees, with respondents from the U.S. and the U.K. most focused on this (54 percent and 78 percent respectively).”

And the scope of the digital divide remains an issue for public librarians looking to address issues such as AI literacy. “We’re helping people learn how to use AI, and in the same day we’re helping people learn how to type on a computer,” wrote respondent Olivia Bowers, adult services and programming supervisor, Berkshire Athenaeum Public Library, MA. “There’s such a wide gap between information and knowledge, and in today’s society, librarians have to be that bridge.”

The full Pulse of the Library 2025 report is available for free from Clarivate. The survey was conducted online from June to July 2025 in partnership with Library Journal. Respondents were reached via email, listservs, website pop-ups, and social media, with 77 percent of respondents representing academic libraries, and 46 percent of respondents representing U.S. libraries. “To ensure accessibility, the survey was available to complete in English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese languages. Data analysis was conducted in partnership with an external agency, TBI Communications, with additional qualitative interviews led by Clarivate,” according to the company.