Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, Heidi Julien, Michael Seadle, and Alex Kasprak. 2017. "Digital Literacy in the Era of Fake News: Key Roles for Information Professionals." Panel presented at ASIS&T 2017, 80th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Washington, DC, October 30.

1. Value
of Academic Libraries
Silver Springs • 30 Oct. 2017
Digital Literacy in the Era of Fake News:
Key Roles for Information Professionals
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, PhD
ASIS&T President
Senior Research Scientist & Director of User Research, OCLC

2. Value
of Academic Libraries

3. Value
of Academic Libraries
Post-truth Use Frequency
Oxforddictionaries.com

4. Value
of Academic Libraries
The EU referendum in the UK and the
presidential election in the US highlighted the
importance of
• identifying fake news
• determining credibility, trustworthiness,
and integrity of information
• fact checking
(Domonoske 2016; Maheshwari 2016; McCoy 2016)

5. Value
of Academic Libraries
“…the whole kind of conversation around fake
news is this really important example of how
important it is in our daily life and civic health in
order to bring critical skills to bear on
understanding information and being able to
critically evaluate the source of that.”
(Advisory Member LM03, Research University, Secular, Private)

6. Value
of Academic Libraries
“People [are] talking about the problems of educating
people to be citizens more, with this election being
indicative of that. This is a hard thing to confront right
now because we are going to have an administration that
doesn't think that's important at all.”
(Provost Interviewee PP02, Research University, Non-Secular, Private)

7. Value
of Academic Libraries
Determining
trustworthy sources
of information is
even harder online

8. Value
of Academic Libraries
Millennials and Post-Millennials, although at ease with
information technology, struggle with the evaluation
of online sources.
(Connaway, Lanclos, & Hood, 2013;
Connaway, White, Lanclos, & Le Cornu, 2013;
Stanford History Education Group, 2016)

9. Value
of Academic Libraries
“It depends. It depends who’s made the website or
what I have been told about the website or whether I
know about it at all. But — it sounds silly — but
sometimes you can just tell whether a website looks
reliable or not depending on how professional [it]
looks and who’s written it.”
(Digital Visitors and Residents, UKU6, Female, Age 19, Emerging)

10. Value
of Academic Libraries
“I always stick with the first thing that
comes up on Google because I think
that’s the most popular site which means
that’s the most correct”
(Digital Visitors and Residents, USS1, Female, Age 17, High
School Student)

11. Value
of Academic Libraries
In information seeking,
convenience is key…
But it depends on context
and situation.

12. Value
of Academic Libraries
Critical thinking skills are a primary
concern of university administrators
and are crucial for developing an
informed citizenry
(Connaway et al., 2017; Najmabadi, 2017a)

13. Value
of Academic Libraries
Critical literacy skills also have been
identified as one of the top trends in
higher education in a 2017 Chronicle
of Higher Education Special Report
(Chronicle of Higher Education 2017; Najmabadi 2017b, 2017c)

14. Value
of Academic Libraries
“I do not think the learning stops after [students
graduate]. How do we set our students up for
success? How do they reach the outcomes that we
want for them? How do we have them thinking
about, and in particular for libraries, how do they
think about that down the road as, using public
libraries and the resources we have there as well?”
(Provost Interviewee PP06, Research University, Secular, Public)

15. Value
of Academic Libraries
“We should be helping people learn how to
think, learn how to be skeptical, learn how to
use critical thinking skills, learn how to be self-
reflective. I think because those things are so
much harder to assess and to demonstrate we
have not done as good a job telling that story.”
(Provost Interviewee PP10, College, Non-
secular, Private)

16. Value
of Academic Libraries
Libraries have an opportunity
to align themselves with
institutional priorities and
contribute to the development
of critical thinking skills

17. Value
of Academic Libraries
“I see that [libraries] play a role as a
partner, facilitating both learning and
doing in new and different ways, both
helping all of us to embrace information
in critical and yet meaningful ways.”
(Provost Interviewee PP03, Research
University, Secular, Private)

18. Value
of Academic Libraries
Recommendation
“To identify how and why people get
information, it is necessary first to
listen.”
(Connaway, 2017)

19. Value
of Academic Libraries
Recommendation
Take the lead in collaborating with other
educators to incorporate critical literacy into
the curriculum and promote information
professionals’ expertise.

20. Value
of Academic Libraries
“Access to a quality education will
prepare children to become
responsible and engaged citizens,
ready for life in a changing world.”
(Association for Childhood Education International)

21. Value
of Academic Libraries
“critical thinking and active
citizenship...are key drivers of all
forms of development, but
particularly of the development of a
vibrant civil society that is ready to
protect and defend democratic
values” (EUROCLIO)

22. Value
of Academic Libraries
I thank the following people for their contributions to
this project:
Vanessa Kitzie, Rutgers University
Stephanie Mikitish, Rutgers University
William Harvey, OCLC
Erin M. Hood, OCLC
Brittany Brannon, OCLC
Marie L. Radford, Rutgers University
ACRL Board
ACRL VAL Committee
Advisory Group Members

23. Value
of Academic Libraries
Discussion & Questions

24. Value
of Academic Libraries
• What role/s can information professionals play in helping the
public to become better informed consumers of information?
• Are we educating information professionals to play a role in
helping the public to become better informed consumers of
information?
• If so, what exemplars should be considered? If not, what
types of teaching and learning for information
professionals should be implemented?
• How will the outcomes of these educational offerings be
measured in terms of effectiveness?

25. Value
of Academic Libraries
• What types of research and dissemination of the research
would provide a means for the library and information science
(LIS) discipline to become leaders in the global initiative to help
the public become better informed consumers of information?
• How are we, as LIS educators, researchers, and professionals,
able to utilize the various tools and algorithmic solutions that
detect and flag fake stories in preparing other information
professionals to help the public to become better informed
consumers of information?

26. Value
of Academic Libraries
References
Chronicle of Higher Education, The. 2017. “The Trends Report.” The Chronicle of Higher
Education, Special Report, March 3. www.chronicle.com/specialreport/The-2017-Trends-
Report/95.
Connaway, L. S. (2016). “#Librariesinlife: The Convenience Imperative.” Next, March 7,
http://www.oclc.org/blog/main/librariesinlife-the-convenience-imperative/.
Connaway, L. S. (2016). “Is Anything More Important than Convenience?” Next, May 24,
http://www.oclc.org/blog/main/is-anything-more-important-than-convenience/.
Connaway, L. S. (2017, August 25). Can you believe it? How to determine credibility in the era of
fake news. Inside ASIS&T President’s Column, August 2017. https://www.asist.org/presidents-
column-inside-asist-august-2017/#_edn1
Connaway, L. S. (2017, June 19). Putting the library in the life of the user: Listen, then lead, to
promote a unique and compelling role for academic libraries. Guest of Choice, Choice360 blog.
Retrieved from http://www.choice360.org/blog/putting-the-library-in-the-life-of-the-user.

27. Value
of Academic Libraries
References
Connaway, L. S., & Dickey, T. J. (2010). “The Digital Information Seeker: Report of Findings from
Selected OCLC, RIN, and JISC User Behavior Projects.”
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/reports/2010/digitalinformationseekerreport.pdf
Connaway, L. S., Dickey, T. J., and Radford, M. L. (2011). “’If it is too inconvenient I’m not going after
it:’ Convenience as a Critical Factor in Information-Seeking Behaviors.” Library & Information
Science Research 33, no. 3: 179-190.
Connaway, L. S., Harvey, H., Kitzie, V., and Mikitish, S. (2017). Action-Oriented Research Agenda on
Library Contributions to Student Learning and Success. January 10, 2017.
http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/themes/acrl-research-agenda-jan-2017.pdf.
Connaway, L. S., Lanclos, D. M., & Hood, E. M. (2013, December 6). “I always stick with the first thing
that comes up on Google…” Where people go for information, what they use, and why. EDUCAUSE
Review Online. Retrieved from http://er.educause.edu/articles/2013/12/i-always-stick-with-the-first-
thing-that-comes-up-on-google---where-people-go-for-information-what-they-use-and-why

28. Value
of Academic Libraries
References
Connaway, L. S., Seadle, M., Julien, H., & Kasprak, A. (2017). Digital literacy in the era of fake news:
Key roles for information professionals. ASIS&T President’s Invited Panel.
Connaway, L. S., White, D., Lanclos, D., & Le Cornu, A. (2013). Visitors and Residents: What
motivates engagement with the digital information environment? Information Research, 18(1).
Retrieved from http://informationr.net/ir/18-1/infres181.html
Domonoske, C. (2016). “Students Have ‘Dismaying’ Inability to Tell Fake News from Real, Study
Finds.” NPR, November 23, http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/23/503129818/study-
finds-students-have-dismaying-inability-to-tell-fake-news-from-real.
English Oxford Living Dictionaries. (2016). “Word of the Year 2016 Is…” Accessed August
23. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/word-of-the-year-2016.
EUROCLIO: European Association of History Educators. (2012). [Partner] ePACT: Education
partnership for advocacy, capacity-building and transformation. Retrieved from
http://euroclio.eu/projects/epact-education-partnership-advocacy-capacity-building-transformation/.

29. Value
of Academic Libraries
References
Maheshwari, S. (2016). “How Fake News Goes Viral: A Case Study.” The New York Times, November
20, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/business/media/how-fake-news-spreads.html.
McCoy, T. (2016). “For the ‘New Yellow Journalists,’ Opportunity Comes in Clicks and Bucks.” The
Washington Post, November 20, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/for-the-new-yellow-
journalists-opportunity-comes-in-clicks-and-bucks/2016/11/20/d58d036c-adbf-11e6-8b45-
f8e493f06fcd_story.html.
Najmabadi, Shannon. (2017a). “How Colleges Can Teach Students to Be Good Citizens.” The
Chronicle of Higher Education, January 13. http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Colleges-Can-
Teach/238891.
Najmabadi, Shannon. (2017b). “How One College Put Information Literacy into Its Curriculum.” The
Chronicle of Higher Education, February 26, http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-One-College-
Put/239293.

30. Value
of Academic Libraries
References
Najmabadi, Shannon. (2017c). “Information Literacy: It’s Become a Priority in an Era of Fake
News.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 26.
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Information-Literacy/239264.
Stanford History Education Group. (2016). Evaluating information: The cornerstone of civic online
reasoning. Retrieved from https://sheg.stanford.edu/upload/V3LessonPlans/Executive Summary
11.21.16.pdf
Steiner, P. (1993, July 5) On the internet. [Cartoon] The New Yorker. Retrieved from
https://condenaststore.com/featured/on-the-internet-peter-steiner.html

31. Value
of Academic Libraries
Image Attributions
Slide 2: Image: Oxford Dictionaries, November 15, 2016, 9:00PM,
https://twitter.com/oxfordwords/status/798752580872437760?lang=en.
Slide 3: Image: Oxford Dictionaries, “Word of the Year 2016 is...,” English Oxford Living Dictionaries,
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/word-of-the-year-2016.
Slide 4: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/96310508@N06/10390540955 by Se Re / CC BY-ND 2.0
Slide 6: Image: http://bit.ly/2lPFoNi by Clemens V. Vogelsang / CC BY 2.0
Slide 8: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/142500385@N08/27577398941/ by Rodney Gomez / CC BY 2.0
Slide 9: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobx-nc/14056106583/ by Bob Muller / CC BY-NC 2.0
Slide 10: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/skinnylawyer/6337956175/ by InSapphoWeTrust / CC BY-SA 2.0
Slide 11: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/matoff/9319864689/ by Matoff / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Slide 12: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/australianshepherds/4515927995/ by carterse / CC BY-SA 2.0
Slide 13: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/28500561@N03/5507077908/ by Mitchel / CC BY-NC 2.0

32. Value
of Academic Libraries
Image Attributions
Slide 14: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/benhosg/32627578042 by Benjamin Ho / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Slide 15: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/deia/6461457 by Andréia Bohner / CC BY 2.0
Slide 16: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/27518426@N03/3617723004 by Patrick Dalton / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Slide 17: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thyagohills/5009884654/ by Thyago - SORG|FX / CC BY 2.0
Slide 18: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pjotr_savitski/2701378287 by Pjotr Savitski / CC BY 2.0
Slide 19: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/midori_iko/2599635309 by midori_iko / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Slide 20: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shilad/3547637363 by Shilad Sen / CC BY 2.0
Slide 21: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertdouglass/15417655065 by Robert Douglass / CC BY-SA 2.0
Slide 22: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/epicfireworks/8058678846/ by Epic Fireworks / CC BY 2.0
Slide 23: Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/noarau/5540659743/ by Thomas Rusling / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0