The News: Arapahoe Libraries in Colorado recently adopted Copilot for Microsoft 365 to save time on administrative tasks, facilitate collaboration, and protect patrons’ privacy. Using the AI-powered assistant, Arapahoe Libraries employees have been able to find creative solutions to serve their patrons today and in the future. This is an example of generative AI delivering real ROI today.
You can read a blog post about the case study on Microsoft’s website.
Case Study: Arapahoe Libraries Leveraging Copilot for Microsoft 365
Analyst Take: Microsoft recently released a case study featuring Arapahoe Libraries in Colorado. The library has adopted Copilot for Microsoft 365 to save time on administrative tasks, facilitate collaboration, and protect patrons’ privacy. The case study is notable as it serves as an example of how generative AI can deliver real benefits today to organizations that are not necessarily considered technologically advanced.
Arapahoe Libraries serves 655,000 residents and operates eight community libraries, a bookmobile, and a library in the Arapahoe County Detention Center. It offers various services and programs, including bilingual tutoring, children’s story times, community exercise groups, digital literacy training, job interview prep, and free meeting space.
The Library System’s Key Challenges: Data Availability and Usability
Like many organizations, Arapahoe Libraries has amassed a significant number of single-use platforms over the years, as well as a vast amount of documentation. However, these single-use platforms create information silos, making it more challenging to support seamless collaboration among employees located in different locations or departments. Furthermore, the district’s 350 employees must constantly switch back and forth between applications to access and use information held in these disparate locations.
According to the organization, Arapahoe Libraries uses Copilot for Microsoft 365 to enable employees to quickly surface answers to questions across its entire Microsoft tech stack, including SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, and other applications. The AI assistant then surfaces the answer, along with a link to the relevant section of the right document, saving employees the time and frustration that often accompanies manual document searches.
Another example is the organization’s use of M365 Chat to locate files in Microsoft 365 apps that may have included patron identifying information (PII). According to Arapahoe Libraries, Copilot for Microsoft 365 surfaced the files in minutes, a task that would’ve taken months if undertaken manually. Similarly, the Arapahoe Libraries HR team used M365 Chat to find documents with incorrectly applied permissions.
In addition, Arapahoe Libraries is using the Answers Intelligent Importer in Microsoft Viva Engage, which uses AI to transform lengthy documents into an easy-to-search Q&A format. This also helps staff answer patron questions in seconds, again without needing to manually comb through documents individually. Staff also use Copilot for Microsoft 365 to rewrite emails in Outlook, helping them craft concise, helpful, and friendly messages to colleagues and external partners while ensuring that all communications reflect the organization’s values of collaboration, equity, and innovation.
Copilot is also being applied to Microsoft Teams, which the Arapahoe staff uses to create virtual bulletin boards for location- and department-specific information, from birthdays to branch closures to visitor alerts. The staff can ask Copilot to locate a conversation or summarize content that may have been overlooked or missed without being overwhelming.
Arapahoe Libraries is also experimenting with Copilot Studio to streamline its Microsoft Power Automate-based ticketing system. In the future, the library system will likely use AI to triage the most important work requests and direct users to internal documentation to fix other issues automatically, such as printer malfunctions, resulting in smoother operations for staff and library patrons.
Additionally, Arapahoe Libraries plans to use Copilot for Microsoft 365 to analyze post-event surveys, emails, requests for new materials, and more. Currently, patron feedback is not easily shared between departments and branches, but Copilot can pull insights from across the organization. This data will empower leadership to make data-backed decisions to address gaps that otherwise may have remained hidden. Furthermore, using and interacting with AI also enables library staff to help patrons understand new technology. Staff field questions, address concerns, and demonstrate use cases for AI.
Deriving Real Value from Generative AI
This Microsoft case study is interesting for several reasons. First, the use of AI is designed to address friction that exists between humans (patrons and workers), as well as the friction that can exist between workers and data or the systems that hold or act upon the data. Leveraging AI to address both types of friction allows the organization to derive even more ROI, as often times (as is the case in this scenario), the friction points are intertwined, and solving the issue can result in the accrual of organization-wide benefits.
Another interesting aspect of this case study is that it illustrates that generative AI can and is being deployed within organizations that would not necessarily be viewed as being technologically advanced. While the case study does not address the actual implementation process or any challenges therein, it is clear that Arapahoe Libraries is generally happy with the results, given their willingness to serve as a public case study, as well as publicize their AI goals for the future.
Most importantly, it is interesting to see AI deployed across multiple use cases, which signals a holistic, organization-wide approach to integrating new technology. This is a solid approach because it ensures buy-in from the top down and provides multiple opportunities to acquire and demonstrate viable use cases for AI. It also illustrates the compounding ROI and value that can be derived by using AI, automation, and a data-management strategy that incorporates both front- and back-end use cases of AI and the use of AI to link workflows together, resulting in greater efficiency and productivity.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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Author Information
Keith Kirkpatrick is VP & Research Director, Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows for The Futurum Group. Keith has over 25 years of experience in research, marketing, and consulting-based fields.
He has authored in-depth reports and market forecast studies covering artificial intelligence, biometrics, data analytics, robotics, high performance computing, and quantum computing, with a specific focus on the use of these technologies within large enterprise organizations and SMBs. He has also established strong working relationships with the international technology vendor community and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events.
In his career as a financial and technology journalist he has written for national and trade publications, including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, Investment Dealers’ Digest, The Red Herring, The Communications of the ACM, and Mobile Computing & Communications, among others.
He is a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP).
Keith holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Magazine Journalism and Sociology from Syracuse University.
