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. | AI Trace
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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.
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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.
