News & Updates

Truth and disinformation are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish. The corona crisis has made this problem even more visible. With the SMILES project (Innovative MethodS for Media & Information Literacy Education involving Schools and LibrarieS), which has received funding from the European Union, organisations in three European countries are therefore joining forces to develop new methods for media and information literacy. 

Safe and digital 

Libraries, media literacy organisations and research institutes from the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain are participating in this project. The KB, national library of the Netherlands acts as project coordinator. With this project, the participating organisations hope to contribute to the safe and responsible use of digital technology by young people. They are also working on exploring and developing the role of public libraries in this area, in cooperation with secondary schools. 

Workshops 

To achieve this, thirty teachers and thirty librarians are being trained to provide workshops on fake news at secondary schools in Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands. A train-the-trainer method is used, in which the workshop leaders pass on knowledge to each other. The goal is to reach at least six hundred pupils between the ages of twelve and fifteen. To support the trainers and introduce them to digital learning, a manual and a digital toolkit are being developed. It is hoped that libraries and schools will continue to work together to combat the spread of fake news after this project. 

Impact measurement 

The effects of these workshops will be extensively measured and analysed. Attention will also be paid to the possible differences in education systems and culture in the three participating countries, which will meet regularly to compare the state of affairs. 

Duration and partners 

The project will run from 2021 to 2023. Apart from the KB, the project involves The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS), the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (NISV), Fundación Goteo, the Media & Learning Association and Public Libraries 2030. 

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National Library of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB). Press release, date: 1 March 2021.