The Importance of Information Literacy

Once one sees the damage and distrust that “fake news” articles produce, one can see the importance of teaching information literacy. Nowadays it’s not only important to teach people how to read but it’s also important that they are able to think critically about what they read. Creating new memes and infographics can be easy ways for information professionals to help the public combat the spreading of “fake news” (Ireland, 2018). However, infographics of flowcharts, no matter how pretty, may still be too complicated and time consuming for some patrons to use on a daily basis.

Mandalios (2013) suggests using the RADAR approach. The acronym stands for Relevance, Authority, Date, Appearance, and Reason. The acronym and the word itself are easy for students to remember. Teaching students and patrons alike on how to use the RADAR approach can help staunch some “fake news” sharing. Mandalios explains that the approach can be customized for age-appropriateness. Using something like RADAR to teach children at an early age to be critical of all the information they pass, will be a crucial endeavor for information professionals in the years to come. 

References

Ireland, S. (2018). Fake news alerts: Teaching news literacy skills in a meme world. The

Reference Librarian, 59(3), 122-128. DOI:  10.1080/02763877.2018.1463890

Mandalios, J. (2013). RADAR: An approach for helping students evaluate Internet sources. Journal of Information Science, 39(4), 470–478. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551513478889