Digital Resilience to Disinformation: From Libraries to Citizens

Disinformation is a challenge facing democracies, most especially in the current context of “polycrisis,” in which an “illiberal public sphere” endangers public debate fed by reliable data. Media and information literacy (MIL) has emerged as potentially one of the most effective ways to promote digital resilience to disinformation. According to UNESCO’s first MIL law, libraries and their staff are key to the dissemination and implementation of MIL, since they can be the source of reliable information for all audiences. We analysed the preparedness, knowledge, and attitudes of Spanish librarians to disinformation and MIL by conducting a survey of 110 librarians prior to receiving training in the Media and Information Literacy Community Connections (MIL CC) project (2024–2025). The results show that 64.5% of our respondents had not previously received specific MIL training, although 75% were familiar with fact-checking tools and were able to detect manipulated or false information. However, the fact that over half of the responding librarians conceded that they had not organised any MIL activities for their community underscores the need to train and encourage librarians to actively engage with their central and crosscutting role in fostering MIL.