Data, information, and competence: the inevitable pervasiveness of infodemics and why we can no longer afford to go without information literacy

Abstract

In the book Introduzione all’information literacy by Maurizio Lana, the need for a literacy 2.0 is explained and argued in a detailed and compelling way. The main objectives of this new literacy are the ability to recognize information needs, together with the ability to identify, evaluate, and use the necessary information. So far, information literacy has been developed primarily in libraries and has been applied to study and scholarly research. The current extent and complexity of the information ecosystem make it imperative that information literacy becomes a basic competence like being able to read and write. This implies an evolution from the way it has traditionally been applied, and libraries have to play an active role in this change. What Lana has written in his book has become more evident and urgent in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Linked to this pandemic is an equally serious infodemic, which includes an excessive circulation of inaccurate information which, by creating confusion in the population, leads people to act in ways which endanger their health and the health of others. In this article, the infodemic and information literacy issues are juxtaposed, so as to reinforce arguments regarding each topic and vice versa.