Alternative Facts, Fake News, Conflicting Perceptions, & Their Relevance to Library and Information Professionals

Abstract This article addresses contemporary and emerging issues involving perceptions of “truth,” particularly truth in social networking and other web environments. It is a work primarily tackling issues concerning perceptions of truth in the United States of America with a lesser emphasis on their impact on other developed nations. Heuristics (trial and error lessons) derived from the author’s tacit knowledge gained in the political arena communicating factual information to legislators and their staff under the American constitutional right to petition for “redress of grievances” are provided. Research dealing with the well-documented predisposition of people, both well and poorly-educated, to seek out information supporting their existing views is considered. Also reviewed are the implications of the increased availability of disinformation and misinformation from hostile, mercenary, illegal, alt-right, alt-left and other contentious online sources. The essay concludes with the examination of the feasibility of a spectrum of possible roles to be played by libraries and information centers and their personnel in support of a broader identification and provision of validated facts at a time of overabundance in often unreliable electronic information.