Journal of Information and Knowledge (Formerly SRELS Journal of Information Management)

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Design and Development of InfoRef Using Dialogflow: A 24/7 Online Reference Service Platform


Affiliations
1 Department of Library and Information Science, School of Mathematics, Computers and Information Science, Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Shahpur – 176206, Himachal Pradesh, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The present study proposes an AI-based conversational agent named InfoRef to provide reference services by creating an interactive interface between library services and users. The application works on the AAA (Anytime, Anywhere, Anyone) model and routes the users to the available information. It provides access to 24/7 information to users. The free version of Dialogflow (a natural language understanding engine by Google) was used for building the InfoRef application. After its development, the InfoRef was integrated with different online platforms like the website, Koha ILS, and Telegram. The integration worked well and generated a similar response on all platforms.

Keywords

AI, Chatbot, InfoRef, Reference Service, Virtual Reference Service.
User
About The Authors

Priya
Department of Library and Information Science, School of Mathematics, Computers and Information Science, Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Shahpur – 176206, Himachal Pradesh
India

K. Shivarama Rao
Department of Library and Information Science, School of Mathematics, Computers and Information Science, Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Shahpur – 176206, Himachal Pradesh
India


Notifications

  • Abdullahi, Z. M. and Mamza, W. P. (2014). Effectiveness of reference services in providing students’ information needs in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Information Impact: Journal of Information and Knowledge Management, 5(2), 17-32.

  • Adamopoulou, E. and Moussiades, L. (2020). Chatbots: History, technology, and applications. Machine Learning with Applications, 2, 100006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mlwa.2020.100006

  • Allison, D. (2012). Chatbots in the Library: Is it time? Library Hi Tech, 30(1), 95-107. https://doi.org/10.1108/07378831211213238

  • Athota, L., Shukla, V. K., Pandey, N. and Rana, A. (2020). Chatbot for healthcare system using artificial intelligence. In 2020 8th International conference on Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (Trends and Future Directions)(ICRITO) IEEE, p. 619-622. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRITO48877.2020.9197833

  • Brixey, J., Hoegen, R., Lan, W., Rusow, J., Singla, K., Yin, X., and Leuski, A. (2017). Shihbot: A facebook chatbot for sexual health information on HIV/AIDS. In Proceedings of the 18th Annual SIGdial Meeting on Discourse and Dialogue. p. 370-373. https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/W17-5544

  • Cambridge University Press. (n.d.). Chatbot. In Cambridge dictionary. Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/chatbot

  • Chung, K. and Park, R. C. (2019). Chatbot-based heathcare service with a knowledge base for cloud computing. Cluster Computing, 22, 1925-1937. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-018-2334-5

  • Chaves, A. P., Egbert, J., Hocking, T., Doerry, E. and Gerosa, M. A. (2022). Chatbots language design: The influence of language variation on user experience with tourist assistant chatbots. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 29(2), 1-38. https://doi.org/10.1145/3487193

  • Colace, F., De Santo, M., Lombardi, M., Pascale, F., Pietrosanto, A. and Lemma, S. (2018). Chatbot for e-learning: A case of study. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, 7(5), 528-533. https://doi.org/10.18178/ijmerr.7.5.528-533

  • Cox, A.M., Pinfield, S., and Rutter, S. (2019), “The intelligent library: Thought leaders’ views on the likely impact of artificial intelligence on academic libraries”, Library Hi Tech, 37(3), 418-435. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-08-2018-0105

  • Ehrenpreis, M. and DeLooper, J. (2022). Implementing a chatbot on a library website. Journal of Web Librarianship, 16(2), 120-142. https://doi.org/10.1080/19322909.2022.2060893

  • Google. (n.d.). Dialogflow documentation. Google cloud. Google. Available at: https://cloud.google.com/dialogflow/docs/editions

  • Gupta, J., Singh, V. and Kumar, I. (2021). Florence-a health care chatbot. In 2021 7th International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communication Systems (ICACCS), 1, 504-508. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICACCS51430.2021.9442006

  • Hussain, A. (2023). Use of artificial intelligence in the library services: prospects and challenges. Library Hi Tech News, 40(2), 15-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-11-2022-0125

  • Jain, N., Jain, P., Kayal, P., Sahit, J., Pachpande, S. and Choudhari, J. (2019). AgriBot: agriculture-specific question answer system. https://doi.org/10.35543/osf.io/3qp98

  • Kane, D. (2019). Creating, managing and analyzing an academic library chatbot. BiD: Textos Universitaris de Biblioteconomia i Documentació, 43.

  • Kane, D. (2017). UCI Libraries’ chatbot files (ANTswers) [Data set]. In Recasting the narrative (Version 11). ACRL 2019, Dryad.

  • Kasinathan, V., Abd Wahab, M. H., Idrus, S. Z. S., Mustapha, A. and Yuen, K. Z. (2020). Aira chatbot for travel: Case study of AirAsia. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1529(2), 022101. IOP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1529/2/022101

  • Madhuravani, K., Nandini, K., Deepthi, M., Akash, J., and Kavya, V. (2022). College enquiry chatbot. Ymer, 21(4), 679-684. https://doi.org/10.37896/YMER21.04/65

  • Mondal, A., Dey, M., Das, D., Nagpal, S., and Garda, K. (2018). Chatbot: An automated conversation system for the educational domain. 2018 International Joint Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing (iSAI-NLP), p. 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1109/iSAI-NLP.2018.8692927

  • Mostaco, G. M., De Souza, I. R. C., Campos, L. B. and Cugnasca, C. E. (2018). AgronomoBot: A smart answering Chatbot applied to agricultural sensor networks. 14th International Conference on Precision Agriculture, 24, 1-13

  • Momaya, M., Khanna, A., Sadavarte, J. and Sankhe, M. (2021). Krushi-the farmer chatbot. 2021 International Conference on Communication Information and Computing Technology (ICCICT), p. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCICT50803.2021.9510040

  • Mentor Public Library and Pandorabots. (2017). Pandorabots. Available at: https://pandorabots.com/static/html/Stories/LibraryStory.html

  • Panda, S. and Chakravarty, R. (2022). Adapting intelligent information services in libraries: A case of smart AI chatbots. Library Hi Tech News, 39(1), 12-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-11-2021-0081

  • Rodriguez, S. and Mune, C. (2021). Library chatbots: Easier than you think. Computers in Libraries, 41(8), 29-32.

  • Rubin, V. L., Chen, Y. and Thorimbert, L. M. (2010). Artificially intelligent conversational agents in libraries. Library Hi Tech, 28(4), 496-522. https://doi.org/10.1108/07378831011096196

  • Singh, M., Singh, R., Pandey, A. and Kasture, P. (2018). Chat-bot for banking industry. International Conference on Communication, Security and Optimization of Decision Support Systems (ICCSOD 2018), p. 247-249.

  • Suebsombut, P., Sureephong, P., Sekhari, A., Chernbumroong, S. and Bouras, A. (2022). Chatbot application to support smart agriculture in Thailand. 2022 Joint International Conference on Digital Arts, Media and Technology with ECTI Northern Section Conference on Electrical, Electronics, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering (ECTI DAMT and NCON), p. 364-367. https://doi.org/10.1109/ECTIDAMTNCON53731.2022.9720318

  • Tella, A. and Ajani, Y. A. (2022). Robots and public libraries. Library Hi Tech News, 39(7), 15-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-05-2022-0072

  • Thomas, P. J. (2017). Use of Koha in India: Problems and prospects. IASLIC Bulletin, 62(4), 243-249.

  • Topal, A. D., Eren, C. D. and Geçer, A. K. (2021). Chatbot application in a 5th grade science course. Education and Information Technologies, 26(5), 6241-6265. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10627-8

  • Yossy E. H. and Budiharto, W. (2021). Knowledge-based chatbot for humanoid robot in restaurant for question and answering system. ICIC Express Letters, Part B: Applications, 13(3), 315-320.


Abstract Views: 301

PDF Views: 4




  • Design and Development of InfoRef Using Dialogflow: A 24/7 Online Reference Service Platform

Abstract Views: 301  |  PDF Views: 4

Authors

Priya
Department of Library and Information Science, School of Mathematics, Computers and Information Science, Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Shahpur – 176206, Himachal Pradesh, India
K. Shivarama Rao
Department of Library and Information Science, School of Mathematics, Computers and Information Science, Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Shahpur – 176206, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract


The present study proposes an AI-based conversational agent named InfoRef to provide reference services by creating an interactive interface between library services and users. The application works on the AAA (Anytime, Anywhere, Anyone) model and routes the users to the available information. It provides access to 24/7 information to users. The free version of Dialogflow (a natural language understanding engine by Google) was used for building the InfoRef application. After its development, the InfoRef was integrated with different online platforms like the website, Koha ILS, and Telegram. The integration worked well and generated a similar response on all platforms.

Keywords


AI, Chatbot, InfoRef, Reference Service, Virtual Reference Service.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.17821/srels%2F2023%2Fv60i3%2F171042