We had a fascinating joint meeting on Saturday, October 12th, with the American Association of University Women on the topic of Fact Checking and Fake News. As news consumers we have so many places to get information; some are reliable and some are not. How do we tell the difference?

Our expert panelists included: Elena Jarvis, Retired Professor of Journalism, DSC; Clara Volker, Research Librarian, ERAU; and Krys Fulker, Opinion Editor, Daytona Beach News-Journal. They highlighted the evolution of how people get their news as well as what actions we can take to employ critical thinking when looking at news.

Some tools to use when checking the accuracy of an article include the following resources and fact-checking websites: https://www.factcheck.org/ , www.politfact.com, www.snopes.com, and www.wikipedia.org, https://archive.org/land. Our Volusia County Library System has a list of databases at http://volusialibrary.org/VCPLdba-z.html including the News Bank, for patrons of the Volusia County library system.

Krys Fulker, talked about the importance of a balanced Letters to the Editor page and looks primarily for local and state content with significant issues of public interest. She stressed the importance of letter writers quoting sources that are reliable and reminds readers, “You are entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts.”