Team 16. Alessandro Costa, Julia Mikoda, Hollie Norbart, Martin Pavelka.
In an era when 90% of students use AI tools like ChatGPT for academic work (Weale, 2025), universities face a challenge in employing the power of GenAI while maintaining trust and academic integrity (Enis, 2024). To respond to this shift, our team developed the Campus Library Intelligence Platform (CLIP), a system designed to enhance the Erasmus University Library by adding an intelligent, conversational research assistant to its existing digital services.
CLIP is a GenAI-powered platform that connects students and faculty directly with the library’s verified academic databases. Unlike generic chatbots that often generate unreliable or fabricated citations, CLIP ensures that every response is grounded in real, citable sources. It combines the efficiency of AI with the credibility of scholarly research, therefore helping users to find, understand, and cite information accurately.
At its core, CLIP uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), a method that allows the AI to search Erasmus’ databases before generating any answer. This guarantees that the content it produces is traceable, transparent, and GDPR-compliant. Users interact through a conversational interface embedded in the library portal, making research as simple as chatting with an informed librarian. The system also includes a “Citation Grounder” that validates every reference and a personalisation module that adapts to each user’s study needs.
Beyond technological innovation, CLIP reinforces the library’s existing business model. It does not replace librarians or traditional services but adds a new layer of personalised, AI-driven research support. Librarians remain central to the process, overseeing accuracy and ethical use while gaining new skills in AI supervision and data governance. The platform’s impact reaches across the university. Students benefit from reliable, time-saving research support. Faculty can quickly locate relevant studies for teaching and research. Also, librarians gain new digital expertise as AI supervisors.
Institutionally, CLIP positions Erasmus University as a frontrunner in responsible AI use in education. The project’s goals include achieving a citation accuracy rate of over 90%, increasing library engagement by 10%, and reducing plagiarism through guided citation support.
Financially, CLIP is both ambitious and realistic. With a one-time investment of about €255,000 and annual operational costs of around €51,000, the initiative represents less than 2% of the library’s annual budget.
Ultimately, CLIP shows that universities don’t have to choose between innovation and reliability. By integrating Generative AI thoughtfully, Erasmus University can lead by example by offering students the best of both worlds: speed and intelligence, backed by trust and transparency.
Weale, S. (2025, February 26). UK universities warned to ‘stress-test’ assessments as 92% of students use AI. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/feb/26/uk-universities-warned-to-stress-test-assessments-as-92-of-students-use-ai
Enis, M. (2024). Majority of Libraries Planning for AI Integration. Library Journal. https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/majority-of-libraries-planning-for-ai-integration
