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Staying Informed in the Age of COVID-19: Fight Fake News and Information Overload with These Helpful Tips
April 3, 2020
By Alan Kilpatrick, Reference Librarian
Our personal and professional lives have been dramatically impacted by COVID-19. We’re are all trying our best to stay informed, remain physically and mentally healthy, and to live and work in this brave new world. I am not alone in suggesting that staying informed about this pandemic and experiencing this constant barrage of information about COVID-19 through the media, social media, and web has become mentally and physically exhausting. How do you stay informed, prevent information overload, and remain mentally well all at the same time?
Last week, nurse and legal consultant Chantel Josiak wrote about the Struggle to Stay Informed during this crisis for The Lawyer’s Daily. Aptly, Josiak identified the need to combat fake news and to detect credible information:
Knowing when to trust not only the information, but the informer, is challenging. For instance, I wonder how many people believed Fox TV’s Geraldo Rivera saying that if you can hold your breath for 10 seconds, you don’t have the virus… Accurate information is the single most powerful weapon we have right now.
As your Regina Law Librarian, one of my skill sets is navigating, curating, aggregating, and communicating sources of information and content. At the Law Society, we are doing our best to guide you towards reliable sources of information about COVID-19 and its impact on your physical and mental health, the practice of law, and the judicial system.
In this vein, we offer four suggestions that may help you to stay informed:
1. Fight Fake News:
Misinformation and unsubstantiated stories about COVID-19 are rife. Don’t forget to critically evaluate and assess the content you view. In the infographic, the International Federation of Library Associations suggests you evaluate the source, check the author, consider the supporting sources, and more.
2. Follow Legal Sourcery Daily:
Legal Sourcery, the Law Society’s award-winning blog, is already the most reliable and trusted source for Saskatchewan legal news. It’s now your leading resource for everything you need to know about COVID-19’s impact on the legal profession and judicial system in the province. Your first step should be to follow our blog daily, as well as the Law Society’s COVID-19 page. For all the information pertinent to the profession in this province, you need look no further afield than Legal Sourcery!
3. Follow These Information Sources to Learn More:
We encourage you to follow these excellent resources for frequent posts and accurate information regarding COVID-19 and the practice of law:
- Coronavirus Guidance / LexisNexis Practice Advisor
This document provides practical guidance regarding the virus’s impact on Canadian employment law, commercial law, corporate law, and litigation practices. This material is only available to those with access to LexisNexis Quicklaw.
- Court and Law Firm Updates and Roundups / Canadian Lawyer Magazine
Canadian Lawyer provides a daily post aggregating updates from Canadian courts and law firms.
- COVID-19: Emergency Measures Tracker / McCarthy Tétrault
Lawyers at McCarthy Tétrault are monitoring and reporting on all emergency measures being taken by Canada’s Federal and Provincial governments during the pandemic.
- COVID-19 Legal Materials / WestlawNext
WestlawNext, available to our members through the Member Resource Section, is collecting and curating all case law, decisions, and legislation related to COVID-19. Scroll to the bottom of the Westlaw Next homepage and select the “COVID-19 Legal Materials” link.
- COVID-19 Resource Hub / Canadian Bar Association
The CBA resource hub provides legal and justice system updates, a great collection of mental health resources, and a variety of professional development resources you may want to take advantage of during the pandemic.
- COVID-19 Updates / The Lawyer’s Daily
One of the leading news sources for news about the legal and justice systems during COVID-19, follow The Lawyer’s Daily for multiple posts per day about the coronavirus.
- Law21 Blog / Jordan Furlong
How is the pandemic driving innovation in the legal sector and the justice system? Follow Jordan Furlong’s Law21 blog to learn more!
4. Take a Break!
Finally, don’t be afraid to take an “information break” from the news media, social media, or any other sources of information about coronavirus. This is an overwhelming situation and we are experiencing a global pandemic, after all.
Despite the closure of the Law Society’s physical office and library spaces, our top-notch law library professionals are still here to support you virtually. Don’t hesitate to contact us by email at [email protected] for research assistance and legal information questions. As legal information navigators, we can quickly and efficiently locate whatever you are looking for. If it takes longer than five minutes to find, contact us!