In an effort to ensure that the campus community is not duped by fake news, the University of Delaware Library has created a page on its website with tips on how to separate fact from fiction.

In addition, UD reference and instruction librarians will moderate a Faculty Commons Book Club discussion on Wednesday, Feb. 22, on Daniel Levitin’s A Field Guide to Lies. The book provides advice and examples on how to apply a scientific approach to analyzing information in a variety of forms. The discussion will last from noon until 1:30 p.m. and faculty members are invited to RSVP here.

The library’s website includes a new guide, “Busting Fake News: Evaluating Online Information,” along with other infographics and resources that can help guide classroom conversations on evaluating and choosing news sources.

This online resource also highlights tools for verifying news claims, strategies for critically analyzing news feeds in social media contexts, techniques for questioning visual content, such as images and data visualizations, and a curated list of instructor resources. The guide brings together the expertise of librarians who specialize in film, multimedia, and information literacy.

The site also links to a report released in November 2016 after the Stanford History Education Group detailed middle, high school and college students’ ability to evaluate online information. They found that students at all levels were unprepared for the task of critically questioning and verifying online information.

“Fake news stories are the cockroaches of an informed and engaged society,” said Deborah Gump, director of the UD Journalism Program. “As with so many things in life, the best defense is offense: Learn to identify the fakes, then stomp on them.”

Every student activates their inner journalist when they learn how to seek out and share only verified information, she said.

That was the idea behind a recent student workshop with Lauren Wallis, First Year Experience and student success librarian, titled “The Cure for Fake News Phobia: Becoming a Savvy Interpreter of Online News.” The workshop was well attended and helped students analyze how they interact with news and to practice strategies for evaluating it in a complex, rapidly evolving online landscape.  

To learn more about the library’s instructional services, visit this webpage.