The Covid-19
pandemic illustrates the challenges of science communication and the dangers of
unreliable or false health information. How do we communicate about reliable
health information in a fluctuating information landscape, where new research
is constantly emerging, often with an absence of scientific consensus or to
patrons who lack basic scientific understanding or knowledge? Many studies and
surveys report that people trust libraries as facilitators of reliable
information on health issues. Libraries
play an active and important role as information literacy experts, where each
type of library, whether public, school, special or academic plays a critical
role in educating about and fighting misinformation.
In this presentation you will learn:About
health misinformation in historical context;
- What
are the various types of health misinformation, their definitions and how to
recognize them;
- Why
people share health misinformation or create/share harmful health information;
- What are the most common tactics or venues to
spread health misinformation;
- Strategies
on how to talk to and educate your patrons about health misinformation and how
to teach your patrons to critically evaluate the information sources they
encounter;
- Where
to find reliable and trust-worthy health information.
And finally,
provide you with a set of tools and resources to help you and your patrons understand,
identify and stop health misinformation. There is a companion LibGuide found at
https://lib.umn.edu/healthmisinformation