How to build a Library Research Assistant

TL;DR

A research assistant agent that takes your query, finds academic sources, clusters and summarizes results, generates citations, and delivers a formatted summary with a Google Doc—plus, you can connect it to library databases for even deeper research.

What It Does:

• Accepts a research question or keywords from the user.

• Searches academic and open-access sources for relevant publications.

• Clusters results into themes and highlights emerging research areas.

• Summarizes findings and generates citations in multiple formats.

• Compiles everything into a Google Doc and provides a formatted output.

• Can be extended to connect to library databases (e.g., PubMed, JSTOR, university libraries) via API or file upload.

Who It’s For:

• Students, researchers, and academics needing fast, organized literature reviews.

• Professionals seeking evidence-based insights.

• Anyone who wants to automate research and citation generation.

Time to Value:

• Immediate—just enter your topic and get a structured research summary in minutes.

Output:

• A formatted summary with thematic clusters, citations, and a shareable Google Doc link.

Common Pain Points for Research

• Sifting through large volumes of academic content.

• Manually clustering and summarizing research findings.

• Generating citations in multiple formats.

• Integrating results from multiple sources, including library databases.

• Time-consuming document creation and formatting.

What This Agent Delivers

• Automated academic search and clustering.

• Thematic summaries and emerging area highlights.

• Multi-format citation generation (APA, MLA, Chicago).

• Google Doc creation for easy sharing and editing.

• Ability to connect to library databases for broader or institution-specific research.

• Clean, formatted output ready for use.

Step-by-Step Build (StackAI Nodes)

1) Research Query (Input Node)

What it does:

• Lets the user enter their research topic, question, or keywords.

Goal:

• Capture the user’s research intent for downstream processing.

2) Academic Web Search (Action Node)

What it does:

• Searches academic and open-access sources for relevant publications.

Goal:

• Gather a set of research papers or articles matching the user’s query.

3) Deep Research & Thematic Clustering (Action Node)

What it does:

• Clusters search results into themes and summarizes each, highlighting emerging research areas.

Goal:

• Organize findings for easier understanding and further analysis.

4) Summarizer & Citation Generator (LLM Node)

What it does:

• Summarizes research results, compares key findings, and generates citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago formats.

Goal:

• Provide a concise, referenced summary for the user.

Instructions

You are a research assistant. Summarize the following research results, compare key findings, 
  and generate citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago formats

Prompt

Research Results: {{action-0.results}}



Thematic Clusters: {{action-1.content}}

5) Create Google Doc (Action Node)

What it does:

• Compiles the summary, clusters, and citations into a Google Doc.

Goal:

• Deliver a shareable, editable document.

6) Formatted Output (Template Node)

What it does:

• Formats the research summary, clusters, citations, and Google Doc link for display.

Goal:

• Present results in a user-friendly, readable format.

7) Output (Output Node)

What it does:

• Delivers the final output to the user.

Goal:

• Ensure the user receives all results in one place.

How to Connect a Library Database

• If your library database has a supported connector (e.g., SharePoint, Google Drive, Notion):

  • Add an Action node for that service and use your connection ID (see your available connections above).

  • Configure the node to search or retrieve documents as needed.

• If your library database has an API (e.g., PubMed, JSTOR):

  • Add a “Send HTTP Request” Action node.

  • Set up the node with the API endpoint, authentication, and query parameters.

  • Parse the results and connect them to your clustering/summarization nodes.

• If you have files (PDFs, etc.) from your library:

  • Use the Files node to upload and process documents directly in your workflow.