NotebookLM

NotebookLM NotebookLM

Learn more about NotebookLM, Google's research and thinking partner built with the latest Gemini models—available for use at the University of Miami.

Quick Links: Overview - Features and Capabilities - How-To Guides and Resources - Limitations and Advisories - Technical Support

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NotebookLM

NotebookLM

Google's AI-powered research and thinking partner

Available for: UM faculty, staff, and students (ages 18+)

Login: notebooklm.google.com

Sign in with your University of Miami credentials (view example)

Overview

NotebookLM is your personal AI-powered research and thinking partner. Students, faculty, and staff can use NotebookLM to enhance research, accelerate learning and knowledge sharing, and streamline administrative tasks.

NotebookLM is a generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool that is grounded only in the information you provide. Upload your course materials and generate summaries, lesson plans, study guides and quizzes—all with in-line citations to ensure accuracy.

NotebookLM is available to all University of Miami faculty, staff, and students as part of the institution's Google Workspace for Education Plus license. When you use NotebookLM with your UM account, your data (e.g., uploads, queries, and model responses) is protected under the Google Workspace for Education Privacy Notice. This data is not reviewed by human reviewers and is not used to train Google's general AI models. Review the "Limitations and Advisories" section for more details.

To access NotebookLM, visit notebooklm.google.com. Be sure to sign in with your UM Login ID, password, and MFA (view example).

Once signed in, you will be taken to your NotebookLM dashboard where you can begin creating new notebooks and uploading sources. NotebookLM usage is limited to 50 queries per user per day.

Explore What You Can Do with NotebookLM

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Turn Your Content into Podcasts

Listen and Learn on the Go with Audio Overviews

Create a podcast-like audio summary where two AI hosts discuss, debate, and summarize your class materials.

Create Explainer Videos

Turn Your Content into Engaging Video Overviews

Create explainer videos that pull in images, diagrams, and quotes from your documents to help make abstract concepts more tangible and easier to understand.

Create Infographics and Slide Decks

Communicate Visually with Infographics and Slide Decks

Recap lessons, illustrate topics and explain concepts visually with AI-generated infographics and PDF presentations.

Make Connections between Sources

Make Connections Between Sources with Mind Maps

Visually summarize your uploaded sources, showing main topics and related ideas as a branching diagram.

Get Answers with Citations

Chat with Citations

Ask questions about your sources and trust your answers with verifiable, inline citations that link directly back to the original passage in your source documents.

Test Your Knowledge

Test Your Knowledge with Quizzes and Flashcards

Instantly generate flashcards and interactive practice quizzes based exclusively on the sources you upload.

Create Study Guides

Create Instant Study Guides

Create study guides with key terms, sample quizzes (with answer keys), or a list of essay questions.

Go Beyond Quick Answers

Go Beyond Quick Answers with Guided Learning

Study and learn in a new mode that helps you build a deep understanding of your sources instead of just giving quick answers.

Features and Capabilities

NotebookLM's primary strength is its ability to ground its responses exclusively in your uploaded content, minimizing the risk of "hallucinations" or inaccuracies by always providing citations.

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Source Management:
  • Supported Sources: Upload a wide variety of materials, including:
    • Word Docs, PowerPoint Slides, Excel Sheets
    • Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets
    • PDF and text files
    • Web URLs
    • YouTube Video links (transcripts are analyzed)
    • Audio files (MP3/WAV)
    • Copied or pasted text
  • Source-Grounded Chat: Chat directly with your notebook to ask questions, summarize complex topics, and get insights based only on the documents you provided.
  • In-line Citations: Every AI-generated response includes links back to the exact passage(s) in your original sources, ensuring accuracy and transparency.
Content Generation and Study Aids:

Transform your source material into structured, usable formats:

  • Study Guides & Flashcards: Instantly generate interactive study aids, quizzes, and flashcards to help you memorize key terms and test comprehension.
  • Reports and Outlines: Generate professional documents like briefing docs, polished reports, blog posts, FAQs, or presentation outlines complete with talking points and supporting evidence.
  • Mind Maps & Infographics: Create visual representations to map concepts and connections across your documents.
  • Audio Overviews: Turn your sources into engaging "Deep Dive" audio discussions with a single click. New formats include Brief, Critique, and Debate to explore material from different perspectives.
  • Video Overviews: Create AI-generated video summaries that provide a visual companion to your research, helping you consume and share complex information in a high-engagement format.

How-To Guides and Resources

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Recommended Use Cases

To get the most value from NotebookLM while adhering to University policies, focus on these academic and administrative applications:

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Personalized Study Guides

Students can upload their class notes, lecture recordings, and required readings to generate flashcards and customized study guides for exams.

Recommended Sources:

  • Personal notes, lecture recordings (MP3/WAV), study handouts.
Academic Research

Quickly synthesize large volumes of scholarly articles, literature reviews, or case studies to find connections, identify opposing viewpoints, or draft an initial thesis statement.

Recommended Sources:

  • Downloaded PDFs of journal articles, personal notes (Google Docs), book chapters.
Committee and Meeting Summaries

Upload months of committee meeting minutes (Google Docs) or audio recordings to get a quick summary of decisions made, action items, and outstanding issues.

Recommended Sources:

  • Meeting transcripts, audio recordings, prior agendas.

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Curriculum Planning

Compare and contrast different textbooks, pull out key learning objectives, or quickly generate sample quiz questions from syllabus readings.

Recommended Sources:

  • Syllabi, lecture notes, textbook chapters (in PDF or Doc format).
Grant Proposal Drafting

Generate an outline, key summary points, or FAQs for a funding proposal based on previous successful grants, research documentation, and internal policy documents.

Recommended Sources:

  • Previous grant proposals, internal research memos, budget spreadsheets.

Limitations and Advisories

While NotebookLM offers enterprise-grade data protection through the Google Workspace for Education Plus license, users must be aware of its operational limitations and specific compliance boundaries, especially concerning sensitive data.

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  • Compliance Boundaries: HIPAA and FERPA

    Your use of NotebookLM with your University of Miami account is governed by the Google Workspace for Education Terms of Service, which includes strong privacy protections.

    Compliance Area
    NotebookLM Status (UM Account)
    Action Required by User
    Data Training

    Not used: Your uploaded files, chat history, and model outputs are not reviewed by human reviewers and are not used to train Google's generative AI models.

    No action needed. This protection is automatic.
    FERPA

    Supports compliance: As a Google Workspace for Education Core Service, NotebookLM is designed to support the University's compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

    Use caution: Do not upload large files containing sensitive student identifiers just for analysis.
    HIPAA

    Not covered by BAA: NotebookLM is not covered by Google's Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for HIPAA compliance.

    		 Do not upload Protected Health Information (PHI): Do not use NotebookLM for research or clinical documentation that contains patient identifiers.

  • Operational Limitations

    NotebookLM has established limits to ensure stable performance, which can affect how you organize large research projects.

    • Notebook Limit: Up to 100 total notebooks per account.
    • Sources Per Notebook: Up to 50 sources per notebook.
    • Source Size Limit: Each individual source document is limited to 500,000 words or a file size of 200MB.
    • Daily Query Limit (Chat): Up to 50 chat queries per day.
    • Audio Generation Limit: Up to 3 Audio Overviews per day.
    • Video Generation Limit: Up to 3 Video Overviews per day.
    • Reports/Quizzes/Flashcards: Up to 10 of each per day.

      Note: These limits are subject to change by Google and are generally high enough for most academic or administrative tasks.

  • Generative AI Limitations

    NotebookLM has established limits to ensure stable performance, which can affect how you organize large research projects.

    • Source-Grounded Only: NotebookLM only answers questions based on the sources you provide. It cannot search the internet for external information.
    • Accuracy Check: The tool is a powerful assistant, but it is not infallible. Always cross-reference critical information with the cited source material (using the in-line citations it provides) to verify accuracy, especially for key facts, numbers, or complex arguments.
    • Data Quality: The quality of the output is dependent on the quality of your input ("Garbage in, garbage out"). Poorly scanned PDFs, fragmented notes, or poorly transcribed audio will lead to less accurate or insightful results.

Technical Support

For general support, visit the NotebookLM Help site: support.google.com/notebooklm

For general inquiries, contact the IT Service Desk.

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