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Library Visibility

TL;DR; A library's visibility controls who can browse it and — if it has an AI agent — whose questions the agent will answer. Most libraries default to "everyone in the department," which is usually what you want. Tighten it only when you have a real reason.

Visibility is one of those settings that sounds boring until you get it wrong. This page walks through what the options mean and when to change them.

The default: department-wide

When you create a library, it's visible to everyone in the department by default. That means any person who has access to the department can open the library, browse its folders, and read its content items.

For most libraries, this is the right setting. Knowledge bases work best when they're easy to find and use — putting barriers in front of reference content usually just encourages people to ask each other the same questions over and over instead of checking the library.

When to tighten visibility

There are a few legitimate reasons to make a library more restrictive than the department default:

  • Sensitive content. HR policy drafts, legal templates, pre-announcement product details, compensation bands — content that shouldn't be visible to everyone even inside the department.
  • Role-specific content. A library of manager-only material (hiring rubrics, performance review guides, budget templates) that's genuinely not useful to individual contributors and that you'd rather not have them browsing.
  • Internal vs. external audiences. If your department supports both employees and an external group — contractors, partners, customers — each audience usually gets its own library with its own visibility rules.

If none of those apply, leave the visibility open. Restricted libraries that shouldn't be restricted are a silent source of frustration.

Changing visibility

From a library's page, open its settings and look for a Visibility or Access section. You'll typically see:

  • Department — anyone in the department (default).
  • Specific people — a manually curated list.
  • Restricted — hidden from the normal browse view entirely, accessible only through direct links or API.

Pick the option that matches the library's actual audience, not the most conservative option "just in case." Over-restriction defeats the point of a knowledge base.

Visibility and the AI agent

If the library has an AI agent enabled, visibility matters in a second way: the agent only answers questions for people who can see the library. If a learner doesn't have access to the library, the agent won't surface answers from it for them — the content effectively doesn't exist from their point of view.

This is important to know when you're designing a multi-library department. A user who's talking to the AI agent on Library A won't get answers that come from Library B, even if Library B has the perfect answer, unless they have access to both.

In practice: put content where the people who need it can actually reach it. Don't hide useful material in a restricted library just because a small slice of it is sensitive — split the sensitive part into its own library and leave the rest open.

Who can change visibility

Library visibility is controlled by people with administrative permissions in the department. Instructors and content authors can usually upload content and manage folders, but changing who-sees-what is an admin-level action.

If you're a content author and you think a library's visibility is wrong, flag it to the department admin rather than trying to work around it.

Where to go next