The grand LIS challenge: the adoption of AI for scholarly output by astronomers in South Africa

Disruptive innovations such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Large Language Models (LLM) have emerged to become prominent agents of change across all disciplines. Such innovations have transformed the work of scientific research in astronomy. Astronomers use these tools in many ways, such as to mine the literature and write scientific papers. This has implications for digital information literacy and awakens the need to consider ethical considerations for both the astronomy and librarian professions. Librarians face the grand challenge to adapt their services in order to remain relevant in an environment where technological innovations transform the way in which astronomers interact with information. It is therefore pressing that library staff understand the extent to which astronomers use and perceive AI and LLMS as well as their attitudes towards the use of these tools in mining the literature and writing scientific papers. This research paper is based on an institutional study that aimed to identify the factors surrounding astronomers' use of disruptive innovations such as AI and LLMs in the astronomy facilities of the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa. Quantitative data was collected via an online questionnaire was distributed to 250 researchers and astronomers randomly selected. The responses were received and analysed leading to recommendations for possible measures that can be implemented to empower the two astronomy libraries in the NRF.