(4 Aug 2025) Librarians are all looking for ways to prepare for how generative artificial intelligence (GAI) might change our jobs and our users’ research habits. However, the number of new GAI tools can be overwhelming. Happily, ITHAKA, the nonprofit behind JSTOR, has put together a GAI “Product Tracker.” It lists tools that are either widely used in higher ed or intended for a higher ed audience and tracks tools under development. The Tracker is formatted as a table, and it includes basic information about each tool, including fields for Purchasing Model, Description, Key Features, Pros, Limitations, and Comments. The Tracker can be accessed as a web page or through a Google document. The size of the list might still feel overwhelming, but by providing clear categories and real examples of GAI tools, the Tracker helps give structure to the chaos.
In this post, Christine McEvilly, Electronic Resources Librarian (Associate Professor) at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York, suggests a list of simple, active ways that librarians can use the Product Tracker to help better prepare for the growth of GAI.
