Stephen Tsekea ^* Edward Mandoga

• Zimbabwe Open University, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionised higher education teaching and learning. AI has the power to analyse large amounts of data and make intelligent predictions thus changing the whole teaching and learning processes. However, such a rise has led to institutions questioning the morality of these applications. The changes have left librarians and educators worried about the major ethical questions surrounding privacy, equality of information, protection of intellectual property, cheating, misinformation and job security. Libraries have always been concerned about ethics and many go out of their way to make sure communities are educated about the ethical question. However, the emergence of artificial intelligence has caught them unaware. This research investigates the preparedness of higher education librarians to support the ethical use of information within the higher and tertiary education fraternity. A qualitative approach was used for this study. Interviews were done with thirty purposively selected librarians and academics from universities in Zimbabwe. Findings indicated that many university libraries in Zimbabwe are still at the adoption stage of artificial intelligence. It was also found that institutions and libraries are still crafting policies on the use of AI. Libraries seem prepared to offer training on how to protect intellectual property but have serious challenges in issues of transparency, data security, and plagiarism detection and some are worried about job losses.