The role of the manager in organisational culture and change management: an academic library perspective

Introduction

The continuous advancement of information and communication technology (ICT) has created an environment of rapid change for libraries and information organisations, and the professionals who work in them. As well as providing opportunities for innovation, an environment of fast-paced change presents challenges to information agencies as they attempt to adjust to new demands for service delivery from their users, remain relevant to their stakeholders, and fulfil their strategic goals and missions. The advancement of ICT has underpinned the most significant changes in the library sector in modern times and will continue to do so well into the 21st century and beyond (Gunapala, 2017, p. 40). Therefore, adapting to change and overcoming its challenges is necessary for the survival of information organisations in the 21^st century. Critically, the way an organisation deals with change will ultimately determine the success or failure of the organisation.

This paper will examine how the role of the manager can shape or influence organisational culture as an integral part of both corporate strategies and organisational change measures to enhance performance and innovation in an academic library setting. Examples will be provided from USQ Library, which has been undergoing significant change in the last five years across a number of change programs, including a large organisational restructure and new technology implementations. The change experience of the Library will be analysed through the functions of management, which are planning, organising, staffing, leading and controlling. When executed properly, these functions are important because they can ‘lead to organisational efficiency and effectiveness’ (Moran et al, 2018, p. 11). Ultimately, it will be argued that the role of the manager as a change leader is critical to the success of any change program, and through fostering an organisational culture of change readiness, including an open knowledge-sharing culture, and through effectively working with others, the manager can enable the organisation to be innovative and successful in achieving its goals.

Discussion

The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) is a regional university in Australia. The USQ Library operates on three campuses with approximately 68 library staff members serving a population of just over 14,000 EFTSL or 27,500 enrolments, and around 700 academic staff (Department of Education, Skills and Employment, 2018; CAUL, 2020). The structure at USQ Library is very narrow with a three-person executive, including the Director, Library Services, who has overall responsibility for the library and provides leadership and strategic direction (USQ Library, 2020). At the organisational level of the university, the Library sits within the Education portfolio. In an academic library, the executive management team are responsible for shaping ‘the strategic direction and future of the organisation and build the organisation’s capacity to embrace change’ (Bryson, 2016, p. 10). The Library is structured around three functional areas, which include: Library Experience, Content, and Learning and Research. According to Bryson (2016, p. 170), work teams, or functional teams, are important for achieving organisational and business outcomes (Bryson, 2016, p. 170).

In an academic library, the Library Director refers to the CEO of the library where the director is responsible for defining the library’s strategic direction and articulating its vision. The role is important for the success of the organisation, and due to the complex change environment, the library director ‘must ensure that the library is continually realigning strategies, innovating new products and services, and that it is sensitive to changes in client behaviours and expectations’ (Harland et al, 2017, p. 397).

Management can be described as ‘using organisational resources to achieve defined goals’ with the role of the manager being to ‘make decisions that enable the organisation to achieve its objectives’ by working with others to ‘reach these objectives effectively and efficiency’ (Moran et al, 2018, p. 9). This contrasts with leadership, which is ‘the capacity to get things done through others by changing people’s mindset and energising them to action’ (Tichy and Cohen as cited in Bradigan and Hartel, 2013, p. 13). In the library context, Olson and Singer (2004, p. xiii) describe leadership as

the capacity to develop ourselves and our organisations, partner with our stakeholders, and serve our constituents in ways that promote positive relationships, create meaningful work environments, foster new leaders, and deliver high-quality, innovative programs and services that are true to our mission.

Functions of management

A useful way for understanding the role of the manager is to examine the functions of management. These are a ‘set of common processes or functions that, when properly carried out, lead to organisational efficiency and effectiveness’, and include planning, organising, staffing, leading and controlling (Moran et al, 2018, p. 11).

Planning

The function of planning ‘allows managers to determine where the organisation wants to be in the future’ (Moran et al, 2018, p. 11). In particular, strategic planning can be ‘used to involve staff in developing a course of action that aligns with the vision’ (Bradigan and Hartel, 2013, p. 15). Planning can be seen in the example of the Vision 2022 initiative at USQ Library – a “sweeping change”, which resulted in an organisational restructure that affected all staff at all levels of the library (O’Sullivan and Partridge, 2016, p. 291).

In 2014, the USQ Library embarked on an organisational change process to better understand the future needs of the university. The result of this process was the Vision 2022 initiative, which was developed to be forward focused, and designed to be creative and inclusive (O’Sullivan and Partridge, 2016, p. 288). The initiative began with an external review and a consultant’s report, and an internal strategic visioning exercise, which included an environmental scan process that involved the participation of every library staff member (Howlett and Thorpe, 2018, p. 9; O’Sullivan and Partridge, 2016, p. 288).

According to Bell (2018), ‘environmental scanning, identifying trends, and planning for the future are all part of change readiness.’ Engaging with staff is also critical because a leader needs to ‘ensure that employees are a part of the processes of strategic development, planning and decision making’ as this inclusion helps to create ‘an open culture of knowledge sharing where employees can see the changes coming and be prepared for them’ (Yi, 2019, p. 597). Fostering a culture of knowledge sharing is critical for innovation and a vital component in achieving the organisation’s mission, goals and objectives, because it is essential for adapting to change (Yi, 2019, p. 598).

Organising

The function of organising establishes ‘the formal structure of authority through which work is divided among the employees’ (Moran et al, 2018, p. 11). This is where the manager matches individuals and their skill sets to the functions and structures to achieve the organisation’s objectives, and importantly, establishes the channels of communication among the work units (Moran et al, 2018, p. 11). For example, at USQ Library, due to the narrow structure of the executive group, a broader leadership team, which included 16% of the total staff, was established to enable ‘broader participation in decision making, and a more free flow of information’ (O’Sullivan and Partridge, 2016, p. 289). Shared leadership is important for achieving an organisation’s vision and goals as it helps grow the leadership capacity of all staff, so that everyone leads, and ‘promotes the full engagement of each staff member’s talents and energy in developing innovative services and solutions’ (Bradigan and Hartel, 2013, p. 13).

Staffing

The function of staffing, also called human resources, includes all the activities around hiring, training, compensating, and retaining the right people (Moran et al, 2018, p. 11). At USQ Library, this function is evident in the organisational restructure, which was one of the outcomes of the Vision 2022 initiative. In the new structure, employees would be provided with ‘clearer career paths, and enhanced opportunities for specialisation and leadership’ (O’Sullivan and Partridge, 2016, p. 291). Furthermore, the successful outcomes of this function can be seen in how USQ Library became an employer of choice attracting talent from within academia and other libraries who might not have otherwise considered working for the library. According to the director, there were two reasons for this: firstly, several of the staff had specifically expressed an interest to work at the library due to the leadership; and secondly, at the time of the restructure, the director re-wrote every position description, which included an element of evidence-based practice and a focus on excellence (O’Sullivan, personal communication, April 17, 2020). Staffing, therefore, is important for an organisation’s success, because when employees ‘share the same values, they also share the same vision, exhibit trust and collaboratively strengthen the competitive edge of the organization as both an employer of choice and leader in the field’ (Bryson, 2016, p. 135).

Leadership

The function of leadership ‘involves creating a shared culture and values within an organisation, communicating goals to its employees, and motivating people at all levels’ (Moran et al, 2018, p. 12). There are many definitions of organisational culture, however, the most cited definition is ‘the way we do things around here’ (Bradigan and Hartel, 2013, p. 8). In the library context, it is a ‘system of shared values, norms, rules, beliefs, behaviours, ways and assumptions that unite information professionals to provide high quality services and resources for clients’ (Bawden and Robinson, 2012, p. 257)

As a core function of management, leadership is an essential role of the manager. According to Bryson, 2016, p. 123), leadership and organisational culture are inextricably linked in ‘their influence on the dynamism and sustainability of the organisation.’ This is because the leader ‘plays a key role in shaping a group’s dynamics to reach its goals’ (Bartlett, 2014, p. 2). This can be seen in the following quote from the director at USQ Library, which clearly articulates the intent of the organisational culture: ‘we are compassionate, flexible, supportive, but also very unapologetic about striving for excellence…we are unashamed about seeking to be the best we can be, and to lead the way when we can’ (O’Sullivan, personal communication, April 17, 2020).

In an environment of  constant change, ‘leaders need to do more than manage change, they need to create a change-ready culture’ through change leadership (Bell, 2018). This can be achieved by demonstrating strong leadership skills, whereby the manager can encourage a change ready mindset that supports and actively encourages people to think differently and bring their creative talents and ideas to work. Furthermore, this objective can be achieved through a shared vision, where good managers ‘exhibit leadership and build total commitment, enabling everyone to identify personally with and own the vision, working as a team to achieve it’ (Bryson, 2016, p. 5).

For example, at USQ Library, through the Vision 2022 initiative, the leadership team engaged staff at all levels using a variety of methods, including workshops, research and writing projects, and professional development opportunities, which allowed staff to ‘fully understand and participate in the change process’ (O’Sullivan and Partridge, 2016, p. 288). These engagement efforts successfully resulted in positive buy-in from staff to the process of change, and reduced resistance to change, which can be a destabilising force in any change initiative. Indeed, Moran et al (2018, p. 72), note that when staff have the opportunity to engage and participate in the change process in an ongoing manner, not only will it reduce resistance to change, but it ‘will produce significant increases in motivation, satisfaction and performance.’

Controlling

Finally, the function of controlling, involves ‘monitoring an organisation’s activities to be sure it is on the right path to meet its goals’ and ‘requires analysing the organisation’s operations and then using that information to inform the planning process’ (Moran et al, 2018, p. 11). This function can be clearly seen at USQ Library in the adoption of evidence-based library and information practice (EBLIP) as a way of working. EBLIP is ‘a structured process of articulating questions or problems, collecting, interpreting and applying valid and reliable evidence to support decision making and continuous service improvement in professional practice’ (Howlett and Thorpe, 2018, p. 3). In the Vision 2022 initiative, focusing on EBLIP methods, library staff ‘were able to proactively identify future directions for USQ Library, rather than have new ideas and changes imposed upon them’ (O’Sullivan and Partridge, 2016, p. 288). Importantly, taking an evidence-based approach where staff were engaged and an active part of the process ‘enabled staff to move toward a state of self-confidence and self-efficacy and enabled them to push the process in directions they identified as important for USQ’ (O’Sullivan and Partridge, 2016, p. 288). In relation to the library system project, EBLIP, which had become part of the organisation’s language and way of working, by becoming an ingrained part of the organisational culture, fostering this mindset enabled the library to “question how we’d always done things”. This resulted in the implementation of innovative changes that other universities hadn’t necessarily tried (O’Sullivan, personal communication, April 17, 2020).

Conclusion

This essay has provided a discussion on how the role of the manager can shape or influence organisational culture as an integral part of both corporate strategies and organisational change measures to enhance performance and innovation in an academic library setting. This was achieved by analysing the functions of management, which were applied to examples from the  USQ Library’s change experience over the last five years. These examples demonstrated how through influencing organisational culture, and fostering a mindset of change readiness, in performing the functions of management, the library director can have a profound impact on organisational performance and the capacity to innovate (Jantz, 2012). Finally, it can be argued that the role of the manager is critical to the success and performance of the organisation, because as has been shown, when the functions of management are executed properly the organisation can harness its potential to identify opportunities for innovation, and in being a state of change readiness, quickly adapt and overcome the challenges of a constantly changing environment.

List of references

Bartlett, J. A. (2014). “That’s how we do things around here:” Organizational culture in libraries. Library Leadership and Management, 28(3), 1-6.

Bawden, D. & Robinson, L. (2012). Introduction to Information Science. Facet Publishing. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Bell, S. (2018). From change management to change-ready leadership. Library Journal. https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=change-management-change-ready-leadership-leading-library

Bradigan, P. S. & Hartel, L. J. (2013). Organizational culture and leadership: exploring perceptions and relationships. In. K. Blessinger & P. Hrycaj (Eds.), Workplace Culture in Academic Libraries: The Early 21^st Century (pp. 7-19). Elsevier Science & Technology. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/detail.action?docID=1574989

Bryson, J. (2016). Managing information services: An innovative approach (4^th ed.). NY: Routledge.

CAUL. (2020). Institutional data. Council of Australian University Librarians. https://statistics.caul.edu.au/inst_data.php

Department of Education, Skills and Employment. (2018). Selected Higher Education Statistics – 2018 Staff data. https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-statistics

Gunapala, M. A. (2017). The complexities of change, leadership and technology in Australian university libraries (Doctoral thesis, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia). https://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:162340/Gunapala.pdf

Howlett, A. & Thorpe, C. (2018). ‘It’s what we do here’: Embedding evidence-based practice at USQ Library. Asia-Pacific Library and Information Conference 2018, 1-24.

Jantz, R. C. (2012). Innovation in academic libraries: An analysis of university librarians' perspectives. Library & Information Science Research, 34(1), 3-12.

Moran, B. B., Morner, C. J., & Stueart, R. D. (2018). Library and Information Center Management, 9th Edition. California Libraries Unlimited.

O’Sullivan, C. & Partridge, H. (2016). Organizational change and renewal: Can strategic communication methods ease the pain? A case study from the University of Southern Queensland. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 22(2-3), 282-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2016.1195418

Olson, C. A. & Singer, P. M. (2004). Winning with library leadership: enhancing services though with connection, contribution, and collaboration. American Library Association. https://portal-igpublish-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/iglibrary/obj/ALAB0000056

USQ Library. (2020). About USQ Library. https://www.usq.edu.au/library/usq-libraries/about-library

Yi, Z. (2019). A leader’s approaches to fostering a culture of knowledge sharing in an information organization. Library Management, 40(8/9), 593-600.

Misinformation and disinformation in the time of a global pandemic

Introduction

At the time of writing, the world is gripped in the throes of a global pandemic due to the ongoing spread of the coranavirus known as COVID-19 with the number of known infected cases eclipsing more than 1.5 million, the number of deaths at close to 90,000, and those numbers continue to accelerate daily (Worldometer, 2020). Just as concerning as the rampant spread of the disease is the viral propagation and infection of misinformation and disinformation, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has labelled an "infodemic"; that is, ‘an over-abundance of information – some accurate and some not – that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable information when they need it’ (WHO, 2020a).

This essay will respond to the question: “how can information professionals help society identify and avoid various kinds of disinformation and misinformation”. Firstly, this will be achieved by untangling the definition problem and interrogating the relationship between the various concepts including information, misinformation and disinformation. Next through the lens of the ‘fake news’ problem, a discussion will be provided that highlights how misinformation and disinformation is a serious concern for society, and how technology companies pose a socio-technical problem and are challenged in stemming the tide of harmful and misleading information. In an effort to overcome the technical limitations of technology platforms, this paper will ultimately argue that through adopting a critical information literacy stance, information professionals have an important role in helping society identify and avoid disinformation and misinformation.

The definition problem

Attempts to define information, disinformation and misinformation have been problematic. Brock and Dhillon (2001, p. 46), provide an exhaustive review of the literature on the definition problem of information and conclude that it means ‘almost everything and anything’ and compare it to the “ether” of the middle ages. Efforts to define and understand misinformation and disinformation are understudied and have also suffered from a definition problem due to the interdisciplinary nature of LIS research, which uses terms that are also used in other disciplines; for example, psychology, philosophy and computer science (Karlova and Lee, 2011, para. 6). So, while information may surround us and be part of our daily lives, there has been a struggle to define what information means, and disinformation and misinformation have been understudied by information scientists in attempts to understand the nature of information (Karlova and Fisher, 2013, Extending information section, para. 1).

Fox’s (1983) work on information and misinformation examines the relationship between these two terms and suggests that misinformation is information that is false, such that misinformation is a species of information. Examples of misinformation include honest mistakes, negligence, unconscious bias, or intentional deception, and it is this latter, that is also called disinformation (Fallis, 2014, p. 621). According to Fallis (2016, p. 333), disinformation is a ‘species of misinformation that is intended to mislead people.' This relationship can be seen further in Floridi’s (2011, p. 260) work, where he suggests that misinformation is ‘well-formed and meaningful data (i.e. semantic content) that is false’. ‘Disinformation is simply misinformation purposefully conveyed to mislead the receiver into believing that it is information.’ Examples include forged documents, doctored photographs, deceptive advertising, deliberately falsified maps, and government propaganda, and relevant to this paper, “fake news”.

Buckland (1991) examines the informativeness of information, which he posits as situational, whereby different situations can imbue different meanings on the thing being communicated and meanings may be dependent on the knowledge of the receiver. This further highlights the definition problem, because ‘what is misinformation in one situation might not be in another because the meanings might be different’, which also makes it hard to identify (Karlova and Fisher, 2013).

The fake news problem

The advent of the Internet and widespread use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, has enabled information to be spread faster than any other time in history. Inundated with such massive volumes of information, individuals are challenged with information overload, and a rapid pace of news production and dissemination (Khan and Idris, 2019, p. 1196). In this environment, misinformation can thrive because through simply clicking, forwarding, or resharing, information can be spread at the speed of thought, and individuals either don’t have the time to fact check or lack the skills to distinguish false or inaccurate information from accurate information, so can more easily be misled.

In recent times, “fake news”, which is defined as ‘news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false, and could mislead readers’, has emerged as a critical issue for information quality and poses a challenge for individuals and society (Allcott and Gentzkow, 2017, p. 213). This is because, increasingly, more people are getting their news from online platforms, particularly social media (Tandoc et al, 2018, p. 138). According to the Global Digital Report (2019), 45% of the global population are social media users (We Are Social, 2019). Statistics in the Digital News Report: Australia 2019, show that out of 38 countries that were surveyed, 54% of news consumers used social media as a general source of news. Concerningly, the same report showed that when it came to fact-checking, Australians are more likely to share a dubious story without checking it, and even if they suspect they’ve encountered fake news, are less likely to check the veracity of a story by cross-checking it with other sources (University of Canberra, 2019).

The proliferation of fake news poses real threats to society as it has the potential to spread misinformation with serious consequences; for example, economic (stock price fluctuations), political (US election, Brexit), and public health crises (Ebola, COVID-19 pandemic). In relation to the latter, some are describing the current COVID-19 pandemic as ‘the first major pandemic of the social media age’ (Ko, 2020). As governments force their populations into nation-wide quarantines, or adopt social distancing measures, and people are trapped in their homes to avoid contracting or spreading the virus, social media has become more important than ever, not just for connecting socially, but in fulfilling the information needs of individuals with demands on timely and local information (Donovan, 2020).

Unfortunately, with more people online than ever before, seeking information on the same thing, lacking clear authoritative sources, and not fact-checking, these conditions have created a perfect storm for misinformation (Breland, 2020). Fake news about COVID-19 is spreading faster and more easily than the virus, and much of the disinformation is being spread through social media bots (algorithmic software programs) with the malicious intent of spreading fear and fake news (Ko, 2020). Concerningly, misinformation around COVID-19 is out of control and spreading so quickly that the WHO has said that it is not just fighting an epidemic, but also an “infodemic” (WHO, 2020b).

The socio-technical problem

In times of confusion and crisis, ‘social media platforms continue to be a dangerous socio-technical vulnerability’, because, paradoxically, the same social media platforms, which profit off the unrelenting spread of information, and are perpetuating the spread of misinformation, are the same platforms that are being used to fight against the pandemic (Donovan, 2020). The types of misinformation circulating through these platforms include conspiracy theories about the origins of the virus, harmful advice about false treatments, and unreliable reports of vaccines (Gold, 2020).

To fight back against this infodemic, technology companies have been taking steps to help limit the spread of misinformation and disinformation on their platforms. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have committed to moderate their sites by removing misleading information and are working with the WHO and other authoritative sources to ensure that individuals are directed to accurate information, and some are also providing the WHO free advertising space (Kassam, 2020). However, as technology companies struggle to take down misleading information using their existing tools, misinformation and disinformation is being spread through grass-roots channels, such as text and email, which poses a significant technical problem, because services such as Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp are effectively ‘locked boxes for content moderators’ (Kassam, 2020). Although these technology platforms are taking measures to limit the spread of misleading information, there is an absence of fact-checking standards, which is allowing misinformation to still slip through (Chakravorti, 2020).

A critical information literacy solution

Clearly, at times of crisis, and in normal everyday information seeking, technology companies can’t be relied on to stop the spread of misinformation and disinformation, therefore, to inoculate against this information contagion, individuals need to be equipped with the necessary skills to be able to discern false or inaccurate information from accurate information. In this environment, there is the dire need for information literacy, which has been a core service of libraries, and a core competency of information professionals, with standards and practices adopted by information organisations worldwide. In Australia, information literacy is a core competency for information professionals (ALIA, 2015).

Information literacy is defined as being ‘able to recognise when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information’ (ALA cited in Garner, 2006, p. 56). It combines elements from a number of other literacies, including media literacy, digital literacy, news literacy, and critical thinking’. When combined, information literacy becomes

an integrated set of skills, knowledge and practices, and dispositions that prepares [individuals] to discover, interpret, and create information ethically while gaining a critical understanding of how information systems interact to produce and circulate news, information, and knowledge (Head et al, 2020).

In the context of helping society to identify and avoid misinformation and disinformation, information professionals have an important role in developing information literate users so they can evaluate information critically, question its validity, and assess the quality and credibility of messages before sharing (Khan and Idris, 2019, p. 1199).

However, whilst information literacy has been a core practice of information professionals since the 1970s, there is a growing body of discourse that has criticised it for a lack of research, with some arguing that, ‘[i]nformation literacy thus far has been more of a practical and strategic concept used by librarians and information professionals rather than the focus of empirical research’ (Tuominem et al, 2005, p. 330). This is further emphasised by the work of Downey (2016), which found that research into the effectiveness of information literacy has shown poor results from efforts made by information organisations in achieving the standards, as it has been overly simplified and mechanistic in the teaching of skills. In recognition of these failures, a new subset of information literacy has been called for; that is, critical information literacy (Downey, 2106, p. 18). According to Brisola and Doyle (2019, p. 282), critical information literacy

transforms information literacy from something mechanical into something more human…it is about raising consciousness to the fact that information is socially constructed; that people do not acquire skills, but learn to have the habit of questioning the origins, interests and contexts of information production.

Critical information literacy is also in harmony with UNESCO’s (2019) efforts to aggregate the various literacies into a unified concept, which it calls Media and Information Literacy (MIL). As a composite concept, MIL

recognises the primary role of information and media in our everyday lives. It lies at the core of freedom of expression and information - since it empowers citizens to understand the functions of media and other information providers, to critically evaluate their content, and to make informed decisions as users and producers of information and media content.

Finally, critical information literacy can be understood as a ‘state of alertness, always vigilant in dealing with information’; it is a state of continuous questioning of the information that we consume and choose to share (Brisola and Doyle, 2019, p. 283). As a set of vital competencies, critical information literacy has the potential to empower individuals with the necessary skills to be able to successful navigate the complex digital media environment, identify, and avoid the pitfalls of sharing misinformation, which is harmful to individuals and has serious consequences for society at large.

Conclusion

This essay has provided a discussion on how information professionals can help individuals identify and avoid misinformation and disinformation, which is ultimately harmful to society with serious consequences, including public health, as demonstrated through the current information crisis regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. As the world is brought to the brink of economic disaster and public health calamity, now is the most dangerous time to be ill-informed. Now, more than ever, we need a polity that is critically informed and equipped with the necessary skills to be able to navigate the torrents of information being shared, read and viewed across many media including, social media, news, newspapers, messaging apps, etc. At a time of life or death, the choice of media to consume could be deadly not only for oneself, but for society as a whole. While technology companies battle to try and stop the information contagion, information professionals also have an important role to play in fighting against this information crisis. Therefore, there is an urgent need for critical information literacy to help individuals recognise misinformation and verify its veracity before sharing. Finally, post-pandemic, there will be a need for further research to assess the efficacy of current information literacy practices, and identify gaps of opportunity for redefining standards and policies, so that citizens are better prepared not just for future information crises, but for information seeking in everyday life.

List of references

ALIA. (2015). Foundation Knowledge, Skills and Attributes relevant to Information Professionals working in Archives, Libraries and Records Management. Australian Library and Information Association. https://read.alia.org.au/file/642/download?token=pTZ8q8hE

Allcott, H., & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 211-36. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.31.2.211

Breland, A. (2020). Why coronavirus misinformation is out of control. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/coronavirus-misinformation/

Brisola, A. C., & Doyle, A. (2019). Critical information literacy as a path to resist “fake news”: understanding disinformation as the root problem. Open Information Science, 3(1), 274-286. https://doi.org/10.1515/opis-2019-0019

Brock, F. J., & Dhillon, G. S. (2001). Managerial information, the basics. Journal of International Information Management, 10(2), 45-59. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/jiim/vol10/iss2/5

Buckland, M. K. (1991). Information as thing. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42(5), 351-360. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199106)42:5<351::aid-asi5>3.0.CO;2-3

Chakravorti, B. (2020). Social media companies are taking steps to tamp down coronavirus misinformation – but they can do more. The Conversation (Australian Edition). https://theconversation.com/social-media-companies-are-taking-steps-to-tamp-down-coronavirus-misinformation-but-they-can-do-more-133335

Donovan, J. (2020). Here’s how social media can combat the coronavirus ‘infodemic’. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/03/17/905279/facebook-twitter-social-media-infodemic-misinformation/

Downey, A. (2016). Critical Information Literacy: foundations, inspiration, and ideas. Library Juice Press.

Fallis, D. (2014). A functional analysis of disinformation. iConference 2014 Proceedings, 621-627. https://doi.org/10.9776/14278

Fallis, D. (Ed.). (2016). The Routledge handbook of philosophy of information. Routledge.

Floridi, L. (Ed.). (2011). The philosophy of information. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232383.001.0001

Fox, C. J. (1983). Information and misinformation: an investigation of the notions of information, misinformation, informing, and misinforming. Greenwood.

Garner, S. D. (2006). High-Level Colloquium on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning. International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/information-literacy/publications/high-level-colloquium-2005.pdf

Gold, H. (2020). Inside the WHO's fight to stop false information about coronavirus from spreading. CNN Business. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/05/tech/facebook-google-who-coronavirus-misinformation/index.html

Head, A.J., Fister, B., & MacMillan, M. (2020). Information Literacy in the Age of Algorithms: Student experiences with news and information, and the need for change. Project Information Literacy. https://www.projectinfolit.org/uploads/2/7/5/4/27541717/algoreport.pdf

Kassam, N. (2020). Disinformation and coronavirus. The Interpreter. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/disinformation-and-coronavirus

Ko, R. (2020). Meet ‘Sara’, ‘Sharon’ and ‘Mel’: why people spreading coronavirus anxiety on Twitter might actually be bots. The Conversation (Australian Edition). https://theconversation.com/meet-sara-sharon-and-mel-why-people-spreading-coronavirus-anxiety-on-twitter-might-actually-be-bots-134802

Tandoc Jr, E. C., Lim, Z. W., & Ling, R. (2018). Defining “fake news” a typology of scholarly definitions. Digital journalism, 6(2), 137-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143

Tuominen, K., Savolainen, R., & Talja, S. (2005). Information literacy as a sociotechnical practice. The Library Quarterly, 75(3), 329-345. https://doi.org/10.1086/497311

UNESCO. (2019). Media and information literacy. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/media-literacy/mil-as-composite-concept/

University of Canberra. (2019). Digital News Report: Australia 2019. News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra. https://apo.org.au/node/240786

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