On April 17, 2026, the Library and the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences announced the creation of the AI Literacy and Action Lab, a program meant to consider the complexities of AI in higher education head-on.
With two pilot projects already underway this spring, one launching this summer, and two more confirmed for fall 2026, the lab is already off and running. Pilot projects focus on a variety of topics, such as the future of work, critical and ethical thinking, and AI-integrated lesson planning for humanities and STEM courses. Each project involves a librarian facilitator — an expert who is also trained to work as a coach for the team through the entirety of the project.
One such facilitator is Meridith Wolnick, Director of Teaching & Learning at the Library. “I’m excited about the opportunity to help students navigate AI tools in ways that are thoughtful, critical, and grounded in the kinds of literacies the Library has always supported,” Wolnick remarked. “It’s energizing to see students, through case-based discussions, surface the deeper ethical implications of AI themselves and use those conversations to push their thinking further.”
The challenge we’re facing
With the speed of AI development and adoption, higher education is facing new challenges — for one, AI capacity and training is developing unevenly across departments and schools. Another challenge is the speed of change: rapid growth can lead to both uncritical reliance and overly cautious skepticism. Finally, AI experimentation is inconsistent and often unstructured, which can harm scientific test–retest reliability and accurate evidence-gathering.
The lab seeks to meet these challenges by finding ways to level the playing field across differing schools and departments; facilitating appropriate judgment associated with AI engagement; and working toward structured, evidence-producing outcomes to support experimentation and research.
Mira Waller, Associate University Librarian for Research & Learning Services, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, is working with teams across the University to help bring the vision together: “People come to AI with enthusiasm, fear, and everything in between. What excites me is that our role isn’t to tell people what to do, but to help them develop the judgment to navigate a technology moving faster than our institutions. This work builds directly on the Library’s long tradition of helping people evaluate information and think critically.”
The coalition we’re building
Two University leaders joined forces to make the AI Literacy and Action Lab a reality. Leo S. Lo, UVA University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, and Christa Acampora, Dean of the College, have collaborated to shape the first semesters of the lab, and build its momentum for the future.
In a recent interview with UVA Today, Dean Lo commented on the partnerships across Grounds:
“The library is one of the few places in a university built to convene across disciplines, and AI literacy requires exactly that: technical knowledge, ethics, critical thinking, practical skill, and societal impact all at once. No single department owns that combination.
“A library can hold it together. That is why we are launching the AI Literacy and Action Lab here. Dean Acampora and I share the conviction that AI is an opportunity for the liberal arts, not a threat to them. The lab is built on that shared premise: AI literacy is a liberal arts problem as much as a technical one, and a university that treats it only as technical will get the answer wrong.”
Reflecting on the constructive role of the Library in this work, Waller noted that the lab creates a scalable model where the University can “… support critically aware communities and generate evidence that helps higher education move from good intentions to proven practice." Wolnick echoed a similar theme, remarking that the Library intends to help students learn to use AI tools but also, “to think critically about their capabilities and interrogate the output. The lab is about building that capacity now, so students leave UVA not just fluent in AI, but intentional in how they use it.”
As Lo noted in his recent interview, “A research library has always done two things: help people find information, and help them judge it. AI changes the tools, not the mission. If anything, the mission gets sharper.”
Read more about the AI Literacy and Action Lab at the University of Virginia:
- AI Literacy and Action Lab
- “Q&A: In the age of AI, what is a library for?” – UVA Today interview with Leo S. Lo, UVA University Librarian and Dean of Libraries