This was the last presentation that Pam attended on day 1 of the ECIL conference. Marina Encheva spoke about a project she undertook with her colleagues ( Marchela Borisova, Ioana Crihana) to understand how libraries help learners identify and deal with misinformation. Libraries are known to be trusted institutions that provide access to credible information on academic databases and on news databases. Librarians integrate fact-checking tools into digital literacy teaching, and have a critical role in teaching students how to assess the credibility of the information they find. They also help academic staff embed this kind of support into the curriculum. The study looked at how mis- and disinformation are addressed by academic libraries in Bulgaria. The questionnaire was distributed, and 47 out of 54 academic libraries in Bulgaria responded. Librarians were asked about the impact of dis- and misinformation in specific areas: news media, social media, librarianship and academic publishing. They were asked about how they used information literacy teaching to address disinformation and the use of AI tools in this space. 48% agreed that misinformation and disinformation are present in the news media, and 57% agree that they are present in social media, but fewer thought that they were present in academic publishing. 48% strongly agreed that mis- and disinformation on social media should be regulated, and saw a need for both AI solutions and human-based fact-checking could be used. Social science departments were the most likely to collaborate with librarians to teach information literacy. The survey revealed different ways that librarians work with academic staff, for example consulting, developing assignments together, assessing work together and creating learning materials. In conclusion, there is a need to work more actively with lecturers to develop curricula that focus on media analysis and information verification
Photo: bicycle lane sign, Bamberg (Pam McKinney)
