Say Library: When Alexa Meets Primo

Abstract

Amazon Alexa is one of the best-known consumer products employing voice-activated AI bot or personal assistant. It acts as an intelligent agent that interacts with users’ voice and responds with answers and support. Alexa for Business, a business version of Alexa, was released in November 2017. It enables businesses to develop customized applications and knowledge base within the organizational context and allows users to query directions, manage devices, organize events in their calendar, and report building or equipment problems.
At the University of Southern California, we have been exploring possible applications with Alexa for Business with the generous funding from the Dean of the Libraries. We have developed Alexa skills or applications to interact with Alma and Primo VE using Alma/Primo API:

USC Libraries Search: patrons can query Primo VE for library holdings by author, title, and keyword through Primo API
USC Libraries Search: patrons can inquire the library hours stored in Alma API and library events
USC Libraries FAQ: patrons can get answers of most commonly asked library questions, such as library policies and locations

Other promising use cases we aim to explore include allowing Alexa to control devices, such as computers, projectors, and monitors in library’s meeting and study rooms.
In this presentation, we will describe our experiences on developing Alexa skills, demonstrate its use, share the lessons we learned, and discuss the security and privacy issues associated with such technology.