Document Type

Workshop

Version

Other: (please specify below)

Publication Date

6-3-2026

Disciplines

Library and Information Science

Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement

This librarian-led immersive session seeks to set the human at the center of Generative AI use, beginning by exploring the themes and connections between the foundations of Catholic higher education and the integration of emerging technologies, and then moving to a practical exploration of how the tools can be primed to give outputs that reflect those values.

Librarians are uniquely positioned in AI discussions because of our background in information literacy, and our training in the evaluation of data including provenance of data, reducing misinformation, and bias awareness. Librarians are also interdisciplinary mediators with cross-curricular reach, and connections with student and faculty researchers. If we, as educators, view education as the development of the whole person, our engagement with GenAI tools must move beyond mere skill acquisition. GenAI can be primed to produce outputs that reflect and consider these core values, specifically outlining practical strategies for crafting system instructions and personal knowledge bases that preserve truth-seeking and discernment as central intellectual activities.

We will also cover steps that you can take to slow down the GenAI interaction, and get the tool to ask clarifying questions before jumping to a response designed primarily to extend engagement. Personalizing a GenAI tool is an opportunity to prioritize human dignity. When the tool is tuned to reflect a user’s specific pedagogical voice, the professor is constructing a resource that respects the inherent worth of both the researcher and the student. This intentional tuning ensures that the technology does not reduce learning to rote productivity but instead fosters a synthesis of knowledge and meaning. By approaching these advancements with curiosity and setting safe boundaries through personalization, GenAI outputs can be created while still protecting marginalized voices, promoting critical thinking, and strengthening the building of community.

Learning happens in relationship; therefore, GenAI must be configured to support, rather than replace, the genuine human connections that define learning at Catholic institutions. We will discuss how a commitment to the common good allows us to use these talents and technologies for the benefit of learning and for the growth and protection of others, particularly those who are vulnerable. By integrating reason with reflection, we can engage with complex digital questions while remaining committed to our foundational principles. Ultimately, this personalization process acts as a form of stewardship, ensuring that our technical practices are sustainable, ethical, and always directed toward the pursuit of objective truth and wise judgment. This session will include brief lectures interspersed with hands-on activities including group discussions, individual reflection, and GenAI tool use.

This session engages all the Catholic educational values and principles, but most especially:

  • Human dignity: We center the human learner. Efficiency is subordinate to human dignity. Students and faculty are the central actors, not reduced to data points or "users" in a machine-learning loop. In a secular context, AI is often viewed as a way to automate the "burden" of thinking, but this session treats thinking as sacred activity.

  • Integral formation: We focus on formation and discernment over productivity, and center the learner’s values and objectives. Rather than employing GenAI to find the "easiest" answer, we encourage participants to find the "deepest" one.

  • Community and solidarity: We learn together and support one another in the endeavor. We choose AI integration that doesn't just benefit those who already have power, but can equip and empower all. By configuring GenAI to support rather than replace human connections, technology doesn't isolate the learner but instead prepares them for better engagement with their peers and mentors.

  • Truth-seeking and discernment: By emphasizing objective truth over rapid results, we counter profit-driven motives of big tech with mission-driven imperatives of higher education, teaching participants to analyze AI outputs with academic rigor and a socially conscious lens.

Additional Files
Values Driven Priming - Handout.docx (19 kB)
handout to accompany the workshop
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