By Kevin Spencer
(Note: Carver County Library branch managers are providing updates on programs and services for Carver County Local News. This month, Chaska location manager Kevin Spencer shares some excellent cautionary tips and where to find reliable information. Check the library Events Calendar for more details about dozens of options).
There was a time when finding information was the hard part.
Today, you can pull out your phone, type practically any question imaginable, and have an answer in seconds. Actually, you’ll probably have several thousand answers. That’s where things get complicated.
Search engines, social media, online videos, artificial intelligence, news sites, blogs, and that person your cousin follows on Facebook are all competing to tell us what’s true. Some are excellent sources. Some are mistaken. Some are trying to sell us something. And some are very confidently telling us things that simply aren’t true.
The challenge today isn’t finding information. It’s deciding which information to trust.
Who Says?
One of the simplest things to do when encountering information online is ask a few questions:
- Who created it?
- Where did their information come from?
- Are other reliable sources saying the same thing?
- Is the information current?
- Is someone trying to inform you, persuade you, frighten you, or sell you something?
- And perhaps most importantly: does this seem especially believable because it’s telling me something I already agree with?
That last question can be uncomfortable, but it’s useful anyway.
What About AI?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has added another wrinkle. AI tools can be remarkably useful for explaining concepts, brainstorming ideas, summarizing information and helping us get started on a question, but sounding authoritative isn’t the same thing as being authoritative.
AI can make mistakes, misunderstand context, rely on incomplete information, and occasionally produce an answer that sounds perfectly reasonable but isn’t true. Important information should still be checked against reliable sources. In other words, use the tool, but don’t turn off your own brain.
Librarians Can Help
This is one reason librarians still matter in a world where everyone carries a search engine in their pocket. A librarian’s job isn’t simply to know where the books are. Librarians help people identify reliable sources, search databases, distinguish evidence from opinion, track down original information and approach questions from more than one direction.
Carver County Library also provides access to research resources that aren’t always freely available through an ordinary internet search. A library card can connect you with newspapers, magazines, reference materials, research databases and other sources selected specifically for their usefulness and reliability.
If you’re not sure where to begin, ask us. You don’t have to know the name of the database or even exactly what you’re looking for. Helping you figure that out is part of the job.
Stay Curious… and a Little Skeptical
The internet has given us access to more information than any generation before us could have imagined. That’s an extraordinary thing, but it just comes with a little homework.
Ask questions. Check the source. Look for evidence. Be willing to discover that something you believed wasn’t quite right. And remember that “I don’t know yet” is a perfectly good answer while you keep looking.
Curiosity brought us to the library long before the internet existed. In the information age, we may need it more than ever.
Learn more about Carver County Library’s research resources at carverlib.org.
