The growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots into Nigerian academic libraries raises pressing questions about the balance between data-driven personalization and the protection of user privacy. This paper examines, through secondary sources, the ethical tensions generated when AI tools collect behavioural data from library users in a context where formal governance frameworks are largely absent. A gap analysis of privacy policies across Nigerian academic libraries reveals that existing frameworks are inadequate for regulating AI-specific data practices. Drawing on Privacy-by-Design principles, Nigerian data protection legislation, and international library ethics standards, the paper proposes a context-sensitive model for ethical AI deployment in Nigerian academic libraries. The study contends that personalization and privacy are not inherently incompatible, but that deliberate institutional design and transparent data governance are necessary conditions for reconciling them.
Keywords: AI chatbots, Academic Libraries, Data Privacy, Nigeria, Personalization, Privacy-by-Design, data governance, intellectual freedom, library ethics
