Real-time virtual reference service based on applicable artificial intelligence technologies:The début of the robot Xiaotu at Tsinghua University Library

摘要

The adoption of applicable artificial intelligence technologies to library real-time virtual reference services is an innovative experimentation in one of the key areas of library services.Based on the open source software Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity (A.L.I.C.E.) and a combined application of several other relevant supporting technologies for facilitating the use of the current existing library resources,Tsinghua University Library has recently developed a real-time smart talking robot,named Xiaotu,for the enhancement of its various service functions,such as reference services,book searching,Baidu Baike searching,self-directed learning,etc.The operation of Xiaotu is programmed into Renren website (a social networking website),which adds significantly an innovative feature to the modus operandi of the real-time virtual reference service at Tsinghua University Library.