The Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning (CPDWL) Section, in support of the Global Media and Information Literacy Week (October 24–31) cordially invites you to a webinar on:

Fighting back the Infodemic: CPD opportunities and initiatives for LIS professionals

What is infodemic? How is the library profession responding to the infodemic? How does this affect their professional development? What new demands and needs have arisen from the information disorder?

In this webinar you will learn more about infodemic as a concept and how we went from fake news to infodemic in the last five years; about training initiatives at the World Health Organization (WHO) and the ASEAN-USAID PROSPECT in Jakarta, Indonesia. You will also hear the clarion call on the role of the librarian in advocacy and skills needed to fight infodemic and infobesity.

Agenda

Opening remarks, and introduction: “From Fake News to Infodemic: where are librarians?” by Matilde Fontanin

  • The recent Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated what librarians have been saying for ages: that disinformation can kill. The keywords of the global, professional debate shifted from fake news to infodemic. Dr Fontanin will offer a brief overview, reflecting on the meaning of the scenario keywords and on the role of librarians.

“Information overload during health emergencies: how can libraries help build resilience to the infodemic?” by Tina Purnat

  • Infodemic is a phenomenon that is becoming one of the major features of our society. Libraries can help us buffering between the infodemic and our personal and professional lives — as a venue of access to health information, fostering literacies that help us cope with the changing science, uncertainty in health information quality and health-related knowledge, as well as their ability to sift through the mass of scientific and grey literature to use in our jobs and in our lives.

“ASEAN Training-of-Trainers (ToT) Program to Address Disinformation and Promote Media Literacy” by Sara Lehman

  • This brief presentation will provide a general overview of ASEAN’s efforts to address disinformation and media literacy and PROSPECT’s recent support to develop and launch the ASEAN ToT Program. The presentation will introduce the ToT Program, share lessons learned in its development and piloting, as well as potential next steps for dissemination.

“Libraries and librarians as agents of truth” by Joseph M. Yap

  • This presentation will share stories and insights of how libraries and librarians play a vital role as advocates of information based on facts. Libraries are here to preserve, defend, and patronize reliable, credible, and truthful information.

Questions & Answers, comments, and reactions moderated by Rajendra Munoo

Speakers

Tina Purnat

  • Team Lead for Infodemic Management. Unit for High Impact Events Preparedness, Department of Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness, WHO.

Sara Lehman

  • Sara Lehman is a Regional Program Coordinator with the ASEAN-USAID Partnership for Regional Optimization in the Political-Security and Socio-Cultural Communities project. Based in Bangkok, she has worked on a range of development programs in management, communications and operations over the past thirteen years. Sara received her B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia in the U.S. and M.A. in International Development Studies from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.

Joseph Yap

  • Doctoral student, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary
  • Joseph M. Yap is currently earning his Ph.D. in LIS at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. He finished his MLIS at the University of the Philippines Diliman School of Library and Information Studies. He is a part time LIS faculty at the University of Perpetual Help System Laguna and West Visayas State University in Iloilo, Philippines. As part of his extension services, he acts as the Adviser of the Association of Special Libraries of the Philippines, President-Elect of Special Libraries Association Asian Community, Deputy Chief Editor of UNILIBNSD conference proceedings, and Reference Editor of Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy. His research interests are Media and Information Literacy and Reference Services.

Moderators

Dr Matilde Fontanin

  • Matilde Fontanin in 2022 defended her PhD Thesis, “Information, disinformation and other words : a bibliographic tool for an international debate”. Academic librarian since 1995, she is member of AIB (Italian Library Association) professional development board and served two terms with CPDWL, where she is currently acting as external consultant and leading the Infodemic working group. Her professional and research interests range from language studies to learning, covering both information literacy and professional development.

Rajendra Munoo

  • Head, Learning and Engagement, Singapore Management University Libraries
  • Standing committee member of CPDWL Section