The Closer

When the University of Oklahoma (OU) welcomed a new data-driven president to campus, interim Dean of Libraries Carl Grant knew "we were going to need metrics that showed strong community engagement" for the library’s exhibit services. Tim Smith, OU’s head of web services and artificial intelligence (AI), was just the curious expert to rethink the library’s exhibit engagement metrics.

Using Jason Griffey’s (a 2009 Mover & Shaker) Measure the Future open source base code and 3-D printing, Smith created a solution that measured much more than the number of library visitors. Now, the library can find out how long a visitor lingers at a specific portion of an exhibit, proving that many prefer to look inside nooks and spend more time on timelines and graphics-based content than text-based content. Based on this evidence, OU Libraries are now rethinking their spaces, finding niches in walkways, nooks, and on unused walls to display exhibits and communicate about library collections and services. That’s only one example of what Smith, nicknamed "the Closer’’ for his ability to quickly finish projects, has achieved at OU.

"I am very motivated by things that fascinate me but I don’t yet understand," says Smith. When OU installed Amazon Echoes in about 600 dorm rooms, Smith imagined how they could be used to provide library services to students. He built a demo of a library chatbot that, using search APIs, can answer basic library questions and search the catalog, the website, and research guides.

According to Grant, Smith’s "unique abilities are his agility in analyzing and utilizing new technology while leveraging core infrastructure in innovative ways to develop a comprehensive solution to a problem."

Smith’s interest in AI and natural language processing didn’t end with the library chatbot demo. Realizing that many universities didn’t have the time or resources to fully explore AI independently, Smith conceived and developed PAIR—the Projects in Artificial Intelligence Registry for Higher Education.

"If we join together," Smith says, "we can build something collaboratively that would otherwise get left undone." PAIR enables institutions to register their AI development and research projects and also provides a forum for those who register to engage in cross-institutional collaborations and grant opportunities.

Beyond his current initiatives, Smith says, "I’m eager to take on [challenges like] unlocking the potential of a new technology such as voice search but doing it in a way that is ethical, responsible, and safe.… I want to solve real problems…and [help] improve society."