Customer ServiceReplaces Human LaborVerified
Reviewed and published by trentmaziarz, March 23, 2026. Discovered and drafted by our automated research pipeline.
Libby has included an AI-powered help chatbot since 2019 that answers common patron questions instantly, at any hour, without involving library staff. By 2024, OverDrive's CEO estimated it had handled hundreds of millions of support queries.
Details
The chatbot lives in Libby's Help & Support section and handles routine questions such as how to return a title early, renew a loan, adjust a lending period, or troubleshoot account issues. When it launched in March 2019, OverDrive reported that approximately 30% of all user help requests were resolved instantly by the AI without any human involvement. CEO Potash stated in August 2024 that the system had by that point likely resolved hundreds of millions of patron questions that would otherwise have required escalation to library staff or OverDrive's support team. This represents one of the earliest and highest-volume AI deployments in the library technology sector.
Products affected
Libby
Sources & Evidence
News Article
Cite this record
Trace Foundation. (2026). OverDrive, Inc.: Libby has included an AI-powered help chatbot since 2019 that answers common patron questions instantly, at any hour, without involving library staff. By 2024, OverDrive's CEO estimated it had handled hundreds of millions of support queries (data as of 2026-03-23) [Data set record]. AI Trace. https://www.aitrace.org/r/practice/be4fa6b2-8f86-4506-b49b-640d9cc7707a. Accessed October 13, 2026.
- Stable link
- https://www.aitrace.org/r/practice/be4fa6b2-8f86-4506-b49b-640d9cc7707a
- Data as of
- March 23, 2026
- Last verified
- March 23, 2026
Other practices by OverDrive, Inc.
OtherIn March 2026, OverDrive hired Marc DeBevoise as its new president. DeBevoise previously led AI-driven product development at a video technology company, and his appointment signals a continued strategic focus on expanding AI across OverDrive's products.OtherOverDrive filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI in 2025, arguing that OpenAI's use of the name "Sora" for its AI video generator causes harmful confusion with OverDrive's Sora student reading app, which has served K-12 schools since 2018.OtherOverDrive published a formal policy in 2025 laying out how the company intends to use AI responsibly across its products. The policy covers privacy, environmental impact, intellectual property, and what uses of AI the company permits and prohibits.
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