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AI has hit Mifflin County Library.
We are very careful about the books we purchase because we want to be good stewards of the funds that we have. So far, we have avoided AI-generated fiction books. Although an author who presented at our Creative Minds Workshop shared that one of her books was "stolen" by an AI bot and rewritten. This work was then sold under another name and it was basically her work.
It's terrible that creative people are having their thoughts stolen in this way.
Currently, we are in the process of replacing some of our well-loved craft
books. Shelly purchased additional crochet books. I love to crochet. It's very relaxing. I was really looking forward to reading and flipping through these books. I asked if I could be on hold to read one of them first. But Shelly was a little bit leery. She said there was something off about the covers. I remember thinking, "I'm sure the books are fine. Maybe a little bit photoshopped to make the cover more attractive?" I agreed to read the book first before we cataloged it as the original record of the book was no longer available in any of our databases. The record gives the title, author, subject, as well as publisher and publication date, and a description of the book.
The book was "The Adorable Amigurumi Bible." The cover claimed to have "150+ step by step crochet animals and plushies" written by Margaret Ellison. It was odd that on the cover was written "2027 edition."
Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting toys. Like I said, it's very relaxing and I will sometimes enter my amigurumi in the 4H Fair. Anyway, I was asked to look at the patterns and be sure the pattern matched the photo. The book started off well, with clear instructions on how to hold the crochet hook, identifying parts of the crochet hook, and the different hook sizes. The stitch abbreviations were listed in this chapter. There were even left-handed instructions. This part of the book was well-written but nothing I haven't read before in other crochet books.
Then the book was divided by patterns; a bear, a deer, even a lion, but not more than "150 projects" as was claimed. So the title was misleading. In reading the pattern, I realized that the math was wrong. Another issue was the photos on the cover did not match the photo shown with the pattern instructions.
Being a librarian, I did a little research. AI can be used with legitimate patterns to make the project more visually appealing. However, unedited AI patterns will have lots of fakes and errors. AI is not the same as a real person and in crochet and knitting there is a lot of counting repeats and a basic knowledge of math is needed. Of course, since these patterns are fake, no one has tested them. There is an extensive testing process for legitimate pattern designers because I have participated in several test projects for designers.
It's just very irritating. If you are a crafter, a new design book can be very exciting to read. If you like to purchase craft books, be sure to purchase from designers you already know, especially if you purchase digital patterns, because you probably will not receive a refund.
To conclude the story, this book was not cataloged and the library received a full refund. It's unfortunate that the company did not notify us that the book was pulled after the initial publication but customer service apologized profusely.
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Susan Miriello is the Executive Director of the Mifflin County Library. You can call the library at (717) 242-2391. Kish Library's phone number is (717) 935-2880. Visit the library website at www.mifflincountylibrary.org.