More than a decade ago, former President Barack Obama proclaimed October as National Information Literacy Awareness Month, highlighting the need for all Americans to be adept in the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Information Age, such as learning when and how to use electronic resources. According to the American Library Association, “Being information literate includes the ability to distinguish fact from fiction… how to identify fake news sources and stories.” Information literacy also includes learning when and how to use electronic resources.
Read on to discover how TCCL can help you become more information literate!
Getting Started:
LinkedIn Learning courses:
- Information Literacy (course): Learn about strategies for finding information — from a library, archive, database or the internet — and the ethics of using it. Librarian Elsa Loftis discusses different types of resources and explains how to evaluate their usefulness and trustworthiness. She also shows how to avoid plagiarism and copyright infringement, and accurately cite sources.
- Spotting Misinformation Online (course): Whether you're seeking news, product reviews, health data or any other kind of information, it's important to use trustworthy sources. In this short course, Andrew Seaman, former ethics chair for the Society of Professional Journalists, shows how to quickly determine the accuracy and reliability of information you find online.
Tech Talks
- Tech Talk: How to Spot Fake News. This talk will be of interest to you whether you are a technology expert or enthusiast, or just want to learn more about how technology works.
- Tech Talk: Education Databases: When and How to Use Them. This talk introduces viewers to library databases that serve educators and students, all of which feature credible sources and information to make research easier and accurate.
Databases and Database Help
Get help learning how to use some of our database with these resources.
TCCL Academy
This free online resource offers video tutorials for these databases: AncestryLibrary, Auto Repair Source, EBSCOhost, Explora, FamilySearch, Gale Business: DemographicsNow, Gale eBooks, Gale LegalForms, Goodreads, Morningstar, NoveList Plus, and Reference Solutions: Business and Person Data for Reference & Research.
Database scavenger hunts
- NoveList Plus
- EBSCO Hispanic Heritage Month scavenger hunt (pairs with the Academic Search Elite database)
- EBSCO Women's History Month scavenger hunt (pairs with the Academic Search Elite database)
- EBSCO Database scavenger hunt (pairs with the Academic Search Elite database)
- eLibrary scavenger hunt
Research Databases for Educators and Students
All databases feature credible sources and information to make research easier and accurate, and are available for free library customer use. Find them all HERE.
- IssueLab (Candid) Explores thousands of case studies, evaluations, white papers and issue briefs addressing the world’s most pressing social problems.
- Issues & Controversies Hot topics in politics, government, business, education and popular culture are updated weekly, with a 13-year back file of in-depth articles.
- MAS Ultra Complete Designed specifically for high school libraries, this resource contains complete articles from hundreds of popular high school magazines and reference books, as well as thousands of biographies and primary source documents.
- New York Times Historical (1851-2017) This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily searchable firsthand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
- Tulsa World (1989-present) Full-text Tulsa World articles from 1989 to the present, exclusive of paid advertisements.
Spanish-language resources:
- The Latino American Experience: This database offers information on the history and culture of Latinos living in the United States. Content spans from the pre-Columbian Indigenous civilizations of the Americas to present-day U.S. Latinos. Although the home page of this database is not in Spanish, most other sections on this website can be translated into Spanish. Just click on a section and look for the “Translate” button on the top right-hand corner of the page.
- LearningExpress Library offers the Recursos Para Dispanohablantes: Herramientas de aprendizaje, carrera y ciudadania en espanol.
- To view LinkedIn Learning courses available in Spanish, simply toggle the upper right icon and select Spanish. Explore course options by clicking Browse in the upper left.
- Spanish Reference Center: This site offers resources in Spanish for all ages in two unique interfaces, each with its own comprehensive encyclopedia: Enciclopedia Moderna for high school ages and up; and Britannica Escolar Online for ages 6-12.
Additional resources:
- The American Library Association has a webpage called Evaluating Information that covers standard and guidelines, relevant news, initiatives, tool kits, fact checking site link, book recommendations and more.
- Fake News: A Library Resource Round-Up by ALA Public Programs Office.
- To make the most of the Internet, kids need to be prepared to make smart decisions. Be Internet Awesome teaches kids the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety so they can explore the online world with confidence.
- The Hub is a teen collections blog for YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association and offers an article called Do You Know All You Should About “News” Feeds, Click Bait, and Credible Sources?
Put your knowledge to the test!
Find neutral unbiased sources using digital literacy tools, the South Broken Arrow Library is offering a virtual escape room, “Finding Misinformation,” during the month of October. Participants are invited to sleuth out misinformation in this interactive escape room. Access the Escape Room HERE.