No matter where you look, information is everywhere. So much so, that it can quickly become overwhelming.
According to UNESCO, 79% of people aged 15-24 got the majority of their information online in 2023. The rise of social media has played a huge part in this. Combined with AI-generated information, it becomes very difficult – particularly for young people – to determine the difference between credible sources and false information.
Librarians have a duty to provide students with information that is truthful, unbiased, and accurate.
In this blog, we’ll cover some of the ways academic libraries can address misinformation.
Promote critical thinking skills
One of the key skills that students need to develop is an ability to spot false information created by AI models.
While the method of doing this will continue to evolve over time, tell-tale signs of AI-generated information include:
- Source Verification: Can all cited information be cross-checked?
- Spelling, punctuation, and grammar: AI text is typically generated in American English. If the materials come from a British source using US spelling, it may have been created using AI.
- Tone of voice: If repetitive language or an inconsistent voice are used, the text may have been created using AI.
Research from Stanford shows that it only takes 150 minutes of targeted teaching to significantly improve a student’s ability to evaluate the content they access online.
Creating posters or online resources to disseminate this information can help library users to develop these skills quickly.
Pennsylvania State University, for example, has developed a News Literacy Initiative that produces podcasts and hosts events to help students distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources.
Prioritize media literacy
The main problem with AI-generated content is that the information is presented confidently as correct, whether it is or not.
The fault isn’t with AI itself. Rather, it sits with:
- Prompts being designed to promote specific beliefs and ideas;
- A lack of fact-checking from those who generated the content before publishing it.
With so many sources of information at their fingertips, students need to learn how to evaluate materials, challenge viewpoints, and identify misinformation.
A key way librarians can get involved is to provide education on using physical and digital databases. Offer workshops on how to analyze source credibility and use available fact-checking tools.
You could also create online resources, such as PDFs or video tutorials to back up this learning. Librarians at Indiana University East in Richmond, for example, have developed a guide for students that details how to identify fake news.
Make sure this education is continuous. Instead of simply offering education to newly-enrolled students, ensure all students can access it, as our approach to identifying and addressing misinformation will evolve over time.
Resources to help Students Address Misinformation
There are a number of existing resources that academic librarians can use to help students address misinformation.
For example:
- The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) have created The Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, as a guide to define how people think about, engage, and utilize information in academic settings.
- The CRAAP Test – designed by a librarian at California State University, Chico – is an evaluation method that helps students determine the value of the information they find.
- The SIFT Method was designed by a digital literacy expert, to analyze if online content can be trusted as a credible or reliable source of information.
- UNESCO runs a Global Media and Information Literacy Week, each year in October, which can provide inspiration for themed events and resources.
Create a wide-ranging collection
Of course, the most important thing librarians can do is ensure that students have access to a variety of viewpoints, so they can compare ideas, learn different perspectives, recognize biases, and analyze contextual cues to ultimately form their own opinions.
Keeping sources up-to-date can help you avoid accidentally sharing misinformation, as theories and established viewpoints can change over time. However, time constraints, limited budgets, and even state legislation can make this more challenging.
cHQacademic has been designed to facilitate proactive, data-driven collection management in academic libraries.
Here are a few of the key tools within cHQacademic that can help to address misinformation:
- The Outdated Stock Check tool helps you to easily find and replace outdated publications across departments.
- Weeding reports can help to ensure that core learning materials remain central to the collection.
- The Schedule Management tool simplifies collection management, ensuring students can easily locate the content they need.
- The DEI Analysis module enables you to monitor and evaluate the ability of diverse and inclusive content in your collection against twelve industry-accepted topics.
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Students today have unprecedented access to information – and this comes with advantages and disadvantages.
The need to identify misinformation goes far beyond a student’s academic experience. It impacts their future career, personal life, and engagement with the wider world.
Librarians have a duty to provide students with information that is truthful, unbiased, and accurate. cHQacademic has been designed to help you do it, in the most efficient and user-friendly way possible.
If you would like to learn more about how our collection management software can benefit your team and your library users, you can book a demo with a member of our team using this link.