Public Libraries – Key Actors in Fighting Misinformation in the Future Digital Society

Fake news is disseminated to distribute deliberate misinformation, usually on social media. They reduce trust in communication systems and, more fundamentally, in our democracy, because third parties become able to exploit our beliefs, emotions, and identities. The misinformation-related issues are progressively amplifying in this ICT & AI-based century and have become a significant problem in our globalized world. This paper focuses on public libraries and their future key role to be played in fighting and debunking this stringent problem of misinformation, presenting the new approaches in this area in the US, more exactly implemented by the research team from the University of Washington and subsequently, the specific situation in Romania pertaining this issue. This new role of public libraries will be defined and, in our view, they need to be more engaged than they currently are. It will become even more critical as libraries are increasingly considered key points for disseminating accurate information. Libraries will be able to serve as vital pillars in the fight against fake news by promoting information and digital literacy, offering trusted sources, providing fact-checking resources, fostering critical thinking, conducting community education, and upholding intellectual freedom. These skills and resources will enable users to verify claims, debunk misinformation, and find accurate information on a particular topic, written or visual. Consequently, libraries could serve as community hubs for nowadays needed education – including fake news debunking, supporting the truth, democratic rights, and civic engagement. The steps required to achieve this goal in Romania are recommended in this paper.