Course: Introduction to College Research, Library Science 101

Author: Dayo Abels-Sullivan, Los Angeles Harbor College

Summary

I initially had a difficult time crystalizing my vision of how to incorporate EE into LIB SCI courses. At first I was approaching it from a very literal way, thinking about the environmental impact of things like generative AI, or LLMs that students may encounter while in school and out in the world. It was only during the GEEECo culmination event listening to my colleagues that I was able to make the connection. Library science at its core is about information literacy; understanding what information is telling you not only in its text, but in its context. Climate change and environmental equity are massive, existential problems we are facing, and whenever there is something that significant there is misinformation, both intentional and unintentional. I believe it is always better to be more informed than less informed, and so I decided to stay very fundamental to LIB SCI curriculum, and focus on information literacy and identifying misinformation, specifically in the context of Environmental Equity.

Strategies

The module is built upon several foundational frameworks:

• UN Sustainability Goals: 4,10,11, and 16
  • Goal 4-Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
  • Goal 10-Reducae inquiality within and among countries
  • Goal 11-Make Cities and Human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable
  • Goal 16-Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• EECLP Paradigms: Centers equity and justice while honoring Indigenous knowledge

SLOs

After Completing this assignment, student should be able to:

1. Critically assess information to determine the 5 W’s
2. Identify intentionally misleading information
3. Connect consumed information to its broader social context

EELOs

• Lib Sci Students will be able to critically think about information sources, and how they fit into the broader world with consideration towards equity, sustainability, and justice.
  • Students will be especially aware of information manipulation in regards to attempts at censorship, plagiarism, and AI generated content
• Lib Sci Students will be able to identify gaps in information and information access, and use critical thinking skills to navigate these gaps for a more equitable information landscape.
  

Resources and Materials

Websites

• https://www.ala.org/news/2021/12/interpreting-decolonization-academic-libraries
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0099133320301956
• https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/what-are-climate-misinformation-and-disinformation-and-how-can-we-tackle-them
• https://www.nrdc.org/stories/climate-misinformation-social-media-undermining-climate-action
• https://disa.org/emerging-misinformation-and-disinformation-trends-and-tactics-for-2025/
• https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117

Assignment Introduction

Misinformation assignment:

The ability to critically think about the information you receive is the cornerstone of information science, and the primary goal of this class.

If nothing else, students should take from this class the ability and motivation to critically assess the information that is presented to you, to determine for yourself based on reliable standards whether that information is accurate.

Misinformation abounds in our current political landscape. There are ongoing misinformation campaigns that aim to socially and politically disenfranchise the population. In order to combat these bad actors, we have to excel in information literacy.

One of the greatest victims of misinformation is the movement to address climate change, and environmental concerns. Corporate and political actors have a massive vested interest in misinforming the public, and have been repeatedly caught doing so.

As learners, it is time to use your natural curiosity to better identify when someone is lying to you, or trying to influence your actions to support an agenda that is against your interests.

Assignment

Students will assess a piece of information related to climate change to determine if it is reliable, misleading, lacking context, etc.

Identify the 5 W’s of the piece of information

• Who produced the piece of information? Who do they work for?
• What are their credentials? What- Is the information telling you? Is there a clear bias or call to action?
• Where- Was the information produced? What is the current social context of that area?
• When- Was it written? Is it still relevant or has it been supplanted by more accurate information?
• Why- Was it produced? Was it commissioned? Is it independent or does it have a clear agenda?

Students should use their information detective skills to identify when they are being sold snake oil. Use the questions above as a guide to come up with your own questions about your assigned piece of information.

Assessment

Rubric	Full Marks	Partial Marks	Minimal Marks	No Marks
Identified and answered all 5Ws	5 points	3 points	2 points	0
Provided suitable Explanation and research for each conclusion made in their analysis	5 points	3 points	2 points	0

Note to Educators

Try to find examples that may be relevant to your students’ lives and interests. When I was first developing this module, I included it as an extra credit assignment, and it asked specific questions that I

wanted them to consider. It has been reformatted to be more open ended, as an important component of info literacy is the autonomy of the researcher.

This can be a tricky subject to discuss and to grade. A great deal of information and interpretation is subjective, but it is important to emphasize things that are proven, factual, and ongoing. Misinformation and propaganda frequently relies on specific rhetorical arguments. The focus of info literacy should be on seeing past the tactics and identifying the actual provenance of a story or piece of information.

Something I want to emphasize to students in this assignment is not just identifying signs that information might be misleading, but going a step further and doing background research to determine where a claim or piece of information came from.

This can be done quite easily much of the time by using fact checking sites like Snopes or the Associated Press, but not every piece of information will have a page on those sites so it is important to develop those skills independently.