Introduction
With the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies, libraries are increasingly using social media as a marketing tool to promote library services and events and highlight resources to patrons. Due to the interactive nature of social media, libraries also use social media as a communication tool to engage with patrons. Although social media has brought new opportunities for libraries to improve their services, it also brings new challenges to libraries such as the spread of misinformation in social media. This post explores the nature of misinformation including its causes and consequences. The post also explores the role of libraries and common practices in combating misinformation and examines the problems with the practices and possible solutions.
What is misinformation?
Misinformation is not a new problem and has probably existed for thousands of years since the dawn of human history and therefore has become an inevitable part of our society (Southwell et al., 2017, p. 372; Komendantova et al., 2021, p. 2). Misinformation is defined as untrue or inaccurate information such as unsubstantiated claims, rumors, and conspiracy theories (Wu et al., 2019, p. 81-82; Cotter et al., 2022, p. 2). Misinformation usually refers to when people unintentionally share inaccurate misleading information (Wu et al., 2019, p. 81-82; Rubin, 2019, p. 1013). Misinformation can also be categorized as information that is incomplete, uncertain, vague, or ambiguous (Cooke, 2017, p. 213). However, misinformation can still be accurate, true, and informative depending on the context (Cooke, 2017, p. 213).
Causes of misinformation
There are several reasons making misinformation is so widespread. The first reason is lack of education on information literacy skills (Sullivan, 2019a, p. 93). People are more likely to fall for misinformation due to their inability to assess the credibility of information (Sullivan, 2019a, p. 94). Another reason is loss of trust in expertise, authority and mainstream media, causing people to question facts, journalistic integrity, scholarly methods, and reliable information sources including experts (Sullivan, 2019a, p. 94; Gibson & Jacobson, 2018, p. 191). In this post-truth era, people tend to believe information that appeals to emotions or existing personal beliefs (Cooke, 2017, p. 212). Therefore, combining with post-truth, lack of information literacy education and distrust of expertise and traditional media, it is no wonder that misinformation is so widespread.
Consequences of misinformation
The spread of misinformation on social media has powerful and negative impacts on the society. One major impact is that misinformation might lead people to hold misperceptions, especially when misperceptions occur among large groups of people, that may have negative consequences for health, social harmony, and political life (Southwell et al., 2017, p. 372). For example, anti-vaccine controversies concerning vaccine safety are vigorously circulating on social media, leading upsurge in vaccine hesitancy among community members. The anti-vaccine behaviors among community due to vaccine misinformation might potentially hamper the COVID-19 vaccine program (Ullah et al., 2021, p. 96). That might have serious consequence for the health of citizens, especially the old people and kids.
Role of libraries in combating misinformation
Libraries have the potential to play a role in combating misinformation by providing access to trustworthy information and education about misinformation and digital literacy to the public. American Library Association (ALA) have released resolutions addressing growing concerns of the spread of false information and affirming the role of libraries in providing sources of accurate information, teaching information literacy skills and educating the public about misinformation and its harms (American Library Association, 2005, 2017). Traditionally, libraries play an important role in the provision of quality information and information services. Librarians are engaged in providing information literacy skills training that enable users to locate proven and reliable information (Yerbury & Henninger, 2020, p. 168). Therefore, libraries can play an active role in combating misinformation through providing access to accurate information and community education about misinformation and digital literacy.
Library anti-misinformation practices and its problems and solutions
Over the past several years, libraries have tried to respond to the problem of misinformation by taking a wide range of practices. However, these practices may not be particularly effective in combatting misinformation as there are numerous problems with the practices. Libraries therefore need to re-examine their practices and find solutions to the problems.
One common practice is building websites or online guides which provide information and online resources from the third parties such as fact-checking sites to help the public to recognize fake news and misinformation (Herrero-Diz & López-Rufino, 2021, p. 3). For instance, many library guides include a checklist which provides some tips on spotting fake news. The checklist derives from a 2016 FactCheck.org article called “How to spot fake news”. However, many of the guides look like carbon copies of one another. Although the guides provide some useful information about misinformation, they could include outdated information that overlook major features of contemporary fake news (Sullivan, 2019b, p. 1148). Besides, it is problematic to recommend fact-checking sites as they are not trustworthy and authoritative sources (Sullivan, 2019b, p. 1148). The possible solution to this problem is that librarians should regularly revise their research guides and checklists by removing those outdated recommendations that no longer reflect misinformation (Sullivan, 2019a, p. 105). Besides, librarians should evaluate the content of websites independently, which requires context or some domain knowledge (Sullivan, 2019a, p. 105). Therefore, the development of tools and training is essential for librarians to help them keep up-to-date on relevant misinformation (Young et al., 2021, p. 539).
Another common practice is teaching news, media and information literacy to find, evaluate, and use information effectively (Young et al., 2021, p. 540). Some libraries teach how to detect misinformation, distinguish advertisements, opinions, and reported news, or facts and conspiracies (Sullivan, 2019a, p. 98). However, focusing only on these forms of literacy to build skills to recognize misinformation was insufficient (Young et al., 2021, p. 543). Besides, it is difficult for librarians to tackle the topic of misinformation alone as they are vague about the nature of the problem. Although they can perform scholarly research on misinformation, they lack the time, resources or expertise to determine the best approach to address misinformation (Young et al., 2021, p. 545). The possible solution to this problem is that librarians need collaborations with misinformation scholars who can provide expertise and effective approaches about misinformation programming (Young et al., 2021, p. 545). Besides, it is important to develop effective community education programmes to educate the public about this emerging issue (Herrero-Diz & López-Rufino, 2021, p. 3; Young et al., 2021). Moreover, more research regarding the most effective approaches for misinformation programming is needed to help librarians overcome barriers and design effective misinformation programming (Young et al., 2021, p. 543).
Conclusion
Libraries have potential to play a role in the fight against misinformation but are not at the forefront. Misinformation is a very controversial and complex issue and arise from the erosion of trust in or deficient understanding of expertise and traditional media. Libraries need to build more partnerships with interdisciplinary teams of scholars which can help libraries to explore this complex issue and thus to more effectively combat misinformation.
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Reference
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