What Students Think About the Primo Research Assistant: Implications for Library Discovery

AI research assistants are rapidly reshaping how users discover and interact with library resources, raising questions about their trustworthiness and effectiveness in library discovery. Rather than relying on assumptions, librarians and discovery practitioners should draw on direct evidence to better understand how users perceive these tools. To address this, two librarians at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln conducted student focus groups to evaluate the Primo Research Assistant. In these sessions, students shared their perspectives on its trustworthiness, usefulness, and how it compares to non-AI search experiences. Focus group transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns in perceived benefits, concerns, and opportunities for improvement. This session will describe the focus group methodology and analysis process, highlight key themes from the findings, and show how student feedback can inform institutional strategies for deploying AI research assistants in library discovery systems.