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<p><a href="https://library.virginia.edu/news/2026/joining-forces-introducing-statement-shared-practice">https://library.virginia.edu/news/2026/joining-forces-introducing-statement-shared-practice</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="font-size:24.0pt">Joining Forces: Introducing the Statement of Shared Practice
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">By
<a href="https://library.virginia.edu/user/uva-library-editorial">UVA Library</a> | April 3, 2026
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">When Leo S. Lo <a href="https://library.virginia.edu/news/2025/leo-lo-named-uva-librarian-and-dean-libraries">began his tenure</a> as University Librarian and Dean of Libraries
at UVA in 2025, he learned that artificial intelligence (AI) companies were already running out of “training data” — open material across the internet (books, webpages, articles, spreadsheets, and more) to absorb into their generative models for content creation.
AI companies had begun approaching research libraries asking for access to archival collections to train their systems.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">“What struck me was that the materials being requested are irreplaceable,” Lo said. “Unpublished letters, photographic archives, oral histories, manuscript drafts. In many cases
they exist in only one place. With current AI training methods, once those materials are used, the connection between the AI system’s answers and the original source disappears. ... That felt like something the archival community needed to address together,
not one library at a time.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">This shift in the landscape of archives, higher education, and information itself led UVA Library to launch a <a href="https://library.virginia.edu/ai/shared-practice">Statement
of Shared Practice</a> regarding AI training requests. This new framework, open to all libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions that preserve cultural heritage, is designed to protect the integrity of unique cultural heritage materials as AI developers
increasingly seek to access them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Coordinated by Lo, this voluntary professional commitment establishes a unified “floor” for responsible institutional practice. The initiative addresses a critical gap: most institutions
have been evaluating these requests without shared language or a common framework to understand what they might be giving up. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">“No institution should have to evaluate these requests in isolation, without shared definitions, without a professional standard to point to, and without a community of peers navigating
the same challenges,” Lo said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<h2><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">A Community-Driven Network</span></strong><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p>The Shared Practice was developed following an Association of Research Libraries (ARL) peer-to-peer session attended by representatives from more than 42 institutions. It was carefully refined based on feedback from a founding cohort, institutional counsel,
and colleagues across the profession.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The founding cohort of signatories includes:<o:p></o:p></p>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">University of Virginia Library (Coordinating Institution)<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">Duke University Libraries<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">Florida State University Libraries<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">Northwestern University Libraries<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">Oklahoma State University Library<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">Rice University, Fondren Library<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">Tulane University Libraries<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">University of Rochester, River Campus Libraries<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">Washington University in St. Louis Libraries<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3">Wayne State University Libraries<o:p></o:p></li></ul>
<p><a href="https://library.virginia.edu/ai/shared-practice/sign">Endorsement of the Shared Practice is open to any institution</a> that stewards unique cultural collections — academic and public libraries, national archives, and museums. “We welcome memory
institutions of all kinds to sign on, as we work together to proactively shape the future of archives,” Lo said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<h2><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">Scope </span></strong><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p>The Shared Practice is a voluntary, 12-month commitment beginning April 3, 2026. It specifically focuses on archival and special collections and does not cover widely held published works. While it establishes rigorous standards, it is not a moratorium on
AI; each institution retains full independent authority over its own access decisions. The Statement addresses how institutions evaluate new uses of entrusted materials, a question of disposition rather than access.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>A key element of Shared Practice is the community. Signatories to the Statement of Shared Practice will have access to a shared, anonymized ledger of AI training requests participating institutions are receiving, along with general terms, giving insight
into how peers are approaching similar requests.<o:p></o:p></p>
<h2><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">Protecting Provenance and Donor Trust</span></strong><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p>Libraries and archives steward materials that often exist nowhere else — items entrusted to them by donors and communities for long-term preservation. A primary concern of the founding cohort is that current AI training methods “absorb” these materials into
their systems irreversibly. This process severs the provenance connecting knowledge to its origins, making it impossible to trace which specific archival materials informed an AI’s response.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>“Libraries hold materials that exist nowhere else,” Lo said. “When a company asks to use those materials to train an AI system, we owe it to the people who entrusted them to us to ask hard questions before saying yes.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The Shared Practice is built on the <a href="https://libraopen.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/2n49t189s">UVA Archival AI Protocol</a>, UVA Library’s institutional framework for <a href="https://library.virginia.edu/news/2026/protecting-what-remains-introducing-uva-archival-ai-protocol">evaluating
AI training requests</a>. The Shared Practice translates the Protocol’s principles into a collective commitment any institution can endorse.<o:p></o:p></p>
<h2><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">The Six Shared Commitments</span></strong><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p>Participating institutions agree to commit to six shared principles when evaluating new AI training requests:<o:p></o:p></p>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo6"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif">Shared Definitions:</span></strong> Classify requests as retrieval, fine-tuning, general model training, or evaluation to ensure developers maintain clear
boundaries.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo6"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif">Separate Digitization from AI Use:</span></strong> Evaluate digitization funding and AI training rights as distinct agreements with independent terms.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo6"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif">Require Provenance and Transparency:</span></strong> Determine if a proposed system can maintain traceable connections to source materials and if materials
can be removed.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo6"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif">Prefer Retrieval-Based Approaches:</span></strong> Favor methods where source materials remain under institutional control.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo6"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif">Apply Heightened Scrutiny to Broad Training:</span></strong> Maintain a presumption against broad commercial training where meaningful control and provenance
are not realistic.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="li-0" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo6"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif">Share Information:</span></strong> Contribute to a confidential shared ledger to track request types and general terms, helping the profession move away from
siloed decision-making.<o:p></o:p></li></ul>
<h2><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">Available Resources</span></strong><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p>The full text of the Shared Practice is available on the <a href="https://library.virginia.edu/ai/shared-practice">UVA Library website</a>. Endorsement requires the signature of an institution’s senior leader (dean, director, university librarian, state
archivist, or equivalent). Institutions may join at any time during the 12-month period. Withdrawal is permitted at any time by written notice.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><a href="https://libraopen.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/2n49t189s">The UVA Archival AI Protocol</a> and its <a href="https://doi.org/10.18130/jbeg-a995">adoption guide and implementation toolkit</a> are available as open implementation resources under CC
BY 4.0 for any institution to adapt.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Leo Lo’s essay, <a href="https://libraopen.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/sf2685382">“Memory Without Origin: Why Research Libraries and Archives Need Governance Infrastructure for the AI Training Era,”</a> presents the rationale for the development of the
UVA Archival AI Protocol.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>For more information, contact Elyse Girard, Executive Director of Assessment, Communications & User Experience, at <a href="mailto:erg5q@virginia.edu">erg5q@virginia.edu</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
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