This library research guide is designed to introduce first-year undergraduate students to key concepts in algorithmic and AI literacy.
The following pages tasks students to think critically and build foundational skills around their own information literacy--how they find, interpret, and use information in an algorithm-driven world. Through curated resources and reflective questions, the guide encourages awareness of the systems behind everyday technologies and empowers students to engage more ethically and responsibly with digital tools.
Made in the summer of 2025, the authors recognize new technologies will always outpace any single guide, but hope to equip students with the foundational tools and knowledge to discern, question, and engage thoughtfully with emerging digital systems throughout their academic and civic lives.
As a Sinsinawa Dominican–sponsored institution, Dominican University prepares students to pursue truth, to give compassionate service, and to participate in the creation of a more just and humane world. Given our mission, it is imperative readers start from a place of truth:
"From this perspective, I am convinced that the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning has the potential to contribute in a positive way to the future of humanity; we cannot dismiss it. At the same time, I am certain that this potential will be realized only if there is a constant and consistent commitment on the part of those developing these technologies to act ethically and responsibly."
"In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour."
The authors would like to sincerely thank Persis Driver, the Director of Dominican University's Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE), and Jingfeng Xia, our Dominican University Librarian, for their ongoing support and encouragement. We would also especially like to thank the Siebens' donor family whose generosity made this opportunity possible. Their investment in faculty development and innovation has helped bring this work to life and will continue to impact students for years to come.
The goals of the fellowship, to which this guide is an artifact, are as follows:
