Fake News: Identifying and Dealing with Misinformation

As librarians, one of our most important functions is to provide, or guide people to, reliable sources of information on any given topic. With misinformation and conspiracy theories currently running rampant, both online and in the real world, we need to know where to go to confirm (or disprove) potentially misleading information.

What Is Research?

The word research gets used a lot nowadays, but does it always refer to a peer-reviewed, fact-based, systematic process? Or is it too often used to refer to a Google search controlled by an algorithm that narrows results based on the searcher's interests?

For those interested in reading authenticated research articles, we are pleased to provide EBSCO articles from our website. EBSCO is a massive online research database that library members can browse for free, and contains reference books, newspapers, magazines, images and more. If you want to know more about how EBSCO can help with researching accurate and reliable information versus a general internet search, this flyer explains how.

Check Your Sources

Checking your sources is currently more important than ever. While we're always happy to direct you to reliable sources of information, Being able to independently verify potentially unreliable information you've heard or read is crucial. The Ara Institute have produced a wonderfully memorable mnemonic as part of their five-step process for checking your sources.

How Can We Help?

While the digital and online resources included above are helpful, sometimes we prefer to draw our knowledge from words on the printed page. Our libraries contain a wide range of books for children, teens and adults alike, dealing with how to identify misinformation and fake news in an uncertain time. To browse or reserve some of these titles, check out our catalogue using the search terms fake news or misinformation

Top Tips for Spotting Fake News

Finally, the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) have provided a handy little cheat sheet containing the best ways to spot information that may be a bit lacking in reliability. Always keep these tips in mind when deciding whether a piece of information you have come across is worth taking seriously – critical thinking is essential!