Public libraries are uniquely positioned to play a central role in addressing the informational challenges we all face but only if they’re connected with the resources, tools and latest research on media literacy, mis- and disinformation and ways to share and teach vital skills with communities they serve.
Researchers at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, who were recently awarded $750,000 in funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, are starting work on a three-year project to create a comprehensive, nationwide information literacy program that aims to increase capacity for library staff and community members to address and navigate problematic information in their local communities.
When the CIP officially launched in December 2019, the multidisciplinary research center’s co-founders determined that a core component of their mission would be to translate research into curricula, tools, resources, and activities in order to build resilience to misinformation. This commitment has led to signature programs such as MisinfoDay in Washington state, to online quizzes like Which Face Is Real and Spot the Deepfake, courses, radio broadcasts, interactive gaming activities like the Euphorigen Investigation and more.
The success of these previous and ongoing efforts laid the foundation for the new project funded through the IMLS grant, Misinformation Media Literacy: Supporting Libraries as Hubs for Misinformation Education (MML).
“From the beginning, public libraries were integral partners in this work,” said CIP co-founder Jevin West, an associate professor at the UW Information School (iSchool) and the principal investigator on the project. “We’re excited to not only scale up existing resources and programs, but also to collaborate with librarians to develop new resources that are tailored to their local communities.”
In its proposal for the MML project, the CIP team identified three unmet needs.
First, libraries need resources based on the most current information literacy research, made publicly available, well-resourced, and translated to a public library context. Second, libraries need sustainable, broadly available professional development to support new resources and emerging practice and keep practitioners informed on latest developments in the misinformation research field. And third, libraries need to guide the refinement, expansion, and assessment of these resources and practices, co-developing with researchers models more suited to and sustainable in the public library context.
“Our expertise allows us to study misinformation from a variety of perspectives — covering how misinformation is generated, where and how it flows, and why people trust or believe certain information,” said CIP co-founder and MML co-principal investigator Chris Coward, an iSchool senior principal research scientist. “We’re well positioned to develop educational resources that build on latest research findings and insights while sharing those with public librarians and others in the library community.”
In the first phase of the work, researchers will be focused on consolidating existing resources from the CIP’s signature programs and tools including the SIFT method for factchecking and contextualizing claims online, data reasoning educational lessons, MisinfoDay, misinformation escape room gaming activities and play-based activities for children.
“We need to move from public education to educating the public. What works in a classroom is not necessarily what outside of one, and we’re excited to work with library partners to figure out how to move some of these methods from the classroom to the community,” said co-principal investigator Mike Caulfield, a CIP research scientist who developed SIFT — [S]top, [I]nvestigate the source, [F]ind better coverage and [T]race claims, quotes and media to their original context. As part of this work, the CIP team will adapt SIFT and lateral reading lessons and resources, which are currently used in hundreds of universities and high schools, for the public library setting.
Following that initial phase, work will shift toward building capacity for librarians to use these CIP information literacy resources through sustainable professional development opportunities and communities of practice.
“It is exciting to bring all of these resources to the library community, “ said co-principal investigator and former Washington state librarian Cindy Aden, an iSchool teaching professor who currently chairs the iSchool’s Master in Library and Information Science program. “Co-designing some of these products and strategies alongside librarians has reminded us that all of these tools will only work if librarians can adapt them to their communities, for they know best what can have the greatest positive impact. I can’t wait to see how this new shared resource resonates and evolves to become an invaluable tool for all librarians.”
The UW researchers will partner with instructional designers at WebJunction, a program of OCLC Research. WebJunction is a free online learning platform for library staff.
“As the learning place for libraries, we’re excited to be a partner in developing and sharing new information literacy training and resources. We know how valuable this will be to library staff across the country, and the communities they serve,” said Andrew Harbison, director of OCLC’s WebJunction.
WebJunction will review and offer feedback on resources and tools for use by public libraries, and it will support the project through outreach efforts through its e-newsletter, courses, and webinars that reach tens of thousands of library staff across the nation and beyond.
Through the MML project, the CIP will partner with libraries in other states to implement educational programs modeled on successful MisinfoDay and MisinfoNight programs that have reached thousands of Washington state students, teachers, librarians and other educators in recent years.
Since 2019, Washington high school students, teachers, librarians and other educators have participated in MisinfoDay, an annual program co-sponsored through a partnership between the CIP and Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. In March 2023, more than 700 students attended MisinfoDay activities hosted at the UW Seattle, WSU Pullman and WSU Vancouver.
The CIP’s efforts around MisinfoDay inspired a group of K-12 teachers and librarians in Washington state, Teachers for an Informed Public, to develop and test additional programming and lessons in their classrooms, including MisinfoNight, a social sciences fair piloted at Ballard High School in Seattle where students teach their parents and family members important skills around factchecking and assessing information and claims shared online.
“We’ve been heartened to see our media and literacy educational programs take root and inspire teachers and librarians here in Washington state,” said MML project manager, HeeJae Chung, who serves as CIP’s assistant director for education and engagement. “Our team looks forward to connecting these programs with educators and their students in other states.”
Beyond West serving as MML’s principal investigator, Aden, Caulfield and Coward serving as co-PIs and Chung serving as project manager, Stacey Wedlake, a research scientist at the iSchool’s Technology and Social Change Group (TASCHA), will serve as key personnel on the project.
Photo at top by Loren Javier / Flickr via CC BY-ND 2.0 DEED
