Abstract
The world over, the COVID-19 pandemic and infodemic has become a serious issue for concern for governments, citizens, health experts, researchers, pharmaceutical companies, information managers and analysts, and international organisations, among others. The epidemic of fake or unhygienic information has spiralled, and strategies to counter it are now on the agenda of governments, information experts, and all those who are on the frontline of the war against the COVID-19 pandemic and infodemic. Librarians as information experts are raising their voices as they chart a new trajectory in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative research examines how librarians in Zimbabwe are contributing to the fight against the COVID-19 misinformation through promoting praxis-oriented information hygienic practices. The study brings to light how the COVID-19 pandemic and infodemic has become a borderline for conquest by librarians.
TopIntroduction
Information overload refers to a scenario whereby there is so much relevant and potentially useful information available that it becomes a hindrance rather than a help (Bowden and Robinson, 2020). The growing volume of relevant health information over the past decades, especially through internet sources, has amplified the issue of health information overload. The COVID-19 pandemic and infodemic pose a challenge and an opportunity for libraries to rethink and restrategise on praxis-oriented ways to assist users to overcome the problems of handling the avalanche of information emanating from the traditional mainstream media and emerging web-based platforms. Information overload occurs when the volume of the information supply exceeds the limited human information processing capacity. Dysfunctional effects such as stress and confusion are the results of it (Meyer, 1998). Zimbabwe, like the rest of the world, has not been spared from the devastating effects of information overload arising from the COVID-2019 pandemic and infodemic. This scenario has forced governments in Southern Africa to promulgate laws to manage the proliferation of fake news relating to COVID-2019. The problem is compounded by information overload and this creates cyberchondriac tendencies among information users as they unwittingly search for remedies on online sites.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Information Overload: The state of being overawed by the amount of data presented for one's attention or processing. It also refers to a persistent blizzard of data from many sources that is characteristic of the post-truth era.
Coroinfodeluge: The overwhelming production and dissemination of COVID-19 information viz-a-viz the limited capacity of the human mind to make sense of it and determine its trustworthiness
Information Hygiene: Vigilant assessment of the information that one is consuming and disseminating. It also refers to the strategic sanitization of information before sharing. It is an anti-thesis of the social media obsession with sharing.