Libraries Fight Disinformation: An Analysis of Online Practices to Help Users’ Generations in Spotting Fake News
The work of libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, as facilitators of reliable information on health issues, has shown that these entities can play an active role as verification agents in the fight against disinformation (false information that is intended to mislead), focusing on media and inform...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Societies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/4/133 |
| _version_ | 1797500570533101568 |
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| author | Paula Herrero-Diz Clara López-Rufino |
| author_facet | Paula Herrero-Diz Clara López-Rufino |
| author_sort | Paula Herrero-Diz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The work of libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, as facilitators of reliable information on health issues, has shown that these entities can play an active role as verification agents in the fight against disinformation (false information that is intended to mislead), focusing on media and informational literacy. To help citizens, these entities have developed a wide range of actions that range from online seminars, to learning how to evaluate the quality of a source, to video tutorials or the creation of repositories with resources of various natures. To identify the most common media literacy practices in the face of fake news (news that conveys or incorporates false, fabricated, or deliberately misleading information), this exploratory study designed an ad hoc analysis sheet, validated by the inter-judge method, which allowed one to classify the practices of N = 216 libraries from all over the world. The results reveal that the libraries most involved in this task are those belonging to public universities. Among the actions carried out to counteract misinformation, open-access materials that favor self-learning stand out. These resources, aimed primarily at university students and adults in general, are aimed at acquiring skills related to fact-checking and critical thinking. Therefore, libraries vindicate their role as components of the literacy triad, together with professors and communication professionals. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:05:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5ca36879de79483ba4dc7f5b7ff544fc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4698 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:05:43Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Societies |
| spelling | doaj.art-5ca36879de79483ba4dc7f5b7ff544fc2023-11-23T10:33:41ZengMDPI AGSocieties2075-46982021-11-0111413310.3390/soc11040133Libraries Fight Disinformation: An Analysis of Online Practices to Help Users’ Generations in Spotting Fake NewsPaula Herrero-Diz0Clara López-Rufino1Communication and Education Department, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, 41704 Dos Hermanas, SpainLibrary Coordination, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, 41704 Dos Hermanas, SpainThe work of libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, as facilitators of reliable information on health issues, has shown that these entities can play an active role as verification agents in the fight against disinformation (false information that is intended to mislead), focusing on media and informational literacy. To help citizens, these entities have developed a wide range of actions that range from online seminars, to learning how to evaluate the quality of a source, to video tutorials or the creation of repositories with resources of various natures. To identify the most common media literacy practices in the face of fake news (news that conveys or incorporates false, fabricated, or deliberately misleading information), this exploratory study designed an ad hoc analysis sheet, validated by the inter-judge method, which allowed one to classify the practices of N = 216 libraries from all over the world. The results reveal that the libraries most involved in this task are those belonging to public universities. Among the actions carried out to counteract misinformation, open-access materials that favor self-learning stand out. These resources, aimed primarily at university students and adults in general, are aimed at acquiring skills related to fact-checking and critical thinking. Therefore, libraries vindicate their role as components of the literacy triad, together with professors and communication professionals.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/4/133librarieslibrariansdisinformationfake newsliteracy practicesopen-access resources |
| spellingShingle | Paula Herrero-Diz Clara López-Rufino Libraries Fight Disinformation: An Analysis of Online Practices to Help Users’ Generations in Spotting Fake News Societies libraries librarians disinformation fake news literacy practices open-access resources |
| title | Libraries Fight Disinformation: An Analysis of Online Practices to Help Users’ Generations in Spotting Fake News |
| title_full | Libraries Fight Disinformation: An Analysis of Online Practices to Help Users’ Generations in Spotting Fake News |
| title_fullStr | Libraries Fight Disinformation: An Analysis of Online Practices to Help Users’ Generations in Spotting Fake News |
| title_full_unstemmed | Libraries Fight Disinformation: An Analysis of Online Practices to Help Users’ Generations in Spotting Fake News |
| title_short | Libraries Fight Disinformation: An Analysis of Online Practices to Help Users’ Generations in Spotting Fake News |
| title_sort | libraries fight disinformation an analysis of online practices to help users generations in spotting fake news |
| topic | libraries librarians disinformation fake news literacy practices open-access resources |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/4/133 |
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