On the definition of infodemic and the role of librarians: a conversation with Tina Purnat of WHO

Abstract

If in 2017 the buzzword was ‘fake news’, since 2020 it was replaced by ‘infodemic’, a different phenomenon, yet connected to information disorder. In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) opened a call for a training for infodemic managers, within the strategy to counter Covid-19. Tina Purnat is Team Lead for Infodemic Management, Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention at WHO and, with a background in medical informatics, among librarians she feels at home.

The article is the report of a conversation with Tina on the actions undertaken by WHO and how librarians could be involved to fight infodemic, of their participation to the training for infodemic manager and how, according to WHO, they could help. Questions and answers are synthesised and integrated with references to literature and further details on specific aspects emerging either during the conversation or during the webinar organised in October 2022 by IFLA SC CPDWL. Actually, the webinar was the reason for the first contact between the conversants.

The conclusion is that at WHO there actually is awareness that librarians can play an important role both in fostering health literacy and spreading reliable information among the populations they serve. The greater goal is fostering citizens’ awareness while facing the seeming uncertainties generated by science which, in its progress, especially in emergencies, offers results which might look contradictory. Health libraries are already counted among everyday partners to manage the infodemic, but an effort is needed from both sides (health and library science) to find a common language and establish good practices to foster cooperation with different sorts of libraries.