Challenges:

Customers and staff found the website challenging to navigate and quickly find information.
AI catalog suggestions might be offensive to some if reference interview isn’t thorough.
Limited scope to VBPL website only during testing limited results.
AI hallucinations in testing jeopardized integrity of the information.

Opportunities:

Search was expanded to the City’s website.
VBPL is considering allowing PAGE to do exact title search in the catalog while factoring concern of sensitive subjects.
2025 City of Virginia Beach Resident Survey Findings Report, a modest 54% of residents say that the City’s website is useful and only 48% said that information about city services and activities is easily available or that City communication to the public is effective.
By leveraging PAGE as a pilot for City sitewide AI chatbot, information about City services will become easier to find.
The model used to research and implement PAGE can be replicated for other departments.

Members of City IT partnered with VBPL staff and customers with the goal to modernize City services by ethically and responsibly leveraging AI-powered search and chat features using MS Copilot Studio while avoiding the redundancy of providing personalized recommendations that existing library tools are designed to do.

Knowledge Base:
Library and city policies, service details, and other key information.
Includes documents or simple PDFs for clarity and consistency.
Greets users with FAQs drawn directly from the website.
Grows and adapts as new documents and topics are added.

User Interaction:
Provides direct email and phone number to library staff if PAGE is unable to answer questions after two attempts.
Implementation Highlights
Library and IT staff jointly tested functions.
Testers included VB residents and active library users to simulate real-world scenarios.
FAQ list created with staff and customer input, and documents added to knowledge base to improve accuracy.

The development of PAGE was a pilot project specific to VBPL’s needs. Currently, PAGE has over 110,000 monthly engagements. The partnership between VBPL and City IT to develop this chatbot tool, has had citywide implications. Members of the test group noted that “customers really appreciate how quick and approachable PAGE feels. Even though it’s still learning, it’s already making a difference in helping users find answers outside of normal library hours or when staff are busy assisting others.” With the successful rollout, the City has green-lit an expansion project to adapt PAGE to a full-fledged AI-chatbot for the entire City website which is scheduled to rollout in 2026. A staff member noted, “it’s not replacing the human connection that makes VBPL special—it’s reinforcing it by freeing staff to focus on the more meaningful, complex interactions that truly require that personal touch.”