WSU Libraries Conducts Usability Study of Two AI Search Tools

WSU Libraries are conducting a usability study of university students, faculty, and staff to help the libraries determine whether to incorporate two artificial intelligence (AI) tools—Primo Research Assistant (PRA) and Ask Anything—into the Search It discovery website.

The usability study builds off research conducted by the WSU Libraries’ Blake Galbreath, Erica England, Corey Johnson, and Jen Saulnier Lange and documented in a December 2025 academic article, “AI-Infused Discovery Environments: Information Retrieval Boon or Overpromised Hype?”

The researchers addressed two central questions in their paper: how AI-generated PRA results’ relevance compares to that of librarian-created search queries, and how useful PRA’s overview statements were.

The librarians found no appreciable differences in the numbers of topic-relevant sources between the AI and non-AI search products. They also determined that the overview summaries are helpful to learn more details about recommended sources but sometimes misrepresent connections between sources and the research topic.

England said she hopes the usability study will reveal which tool helps library users the most, as well as the ways they conduct research. As first-year experience librarian, England is specifically interested in how incoming students will use the tools.

“We will be able to create a product that is better for the end user,” she said. “The tools only support research; they don’t replace Search It.”

For more information about the usability study, please contact Galbreath, blake.galbreath@wsu.edu, 509-335-9624.