I'm sure we've all read articles about the fake news that circulates in an 
information environment anchored by social media, and the relation of that 
information environment to the election.

Libraries are participants in this new information enviroment, so I have some 
questions.

1. Do libraries understand the algorithms and metadata that guide search 
results and suggestions in the services they provide? Do these algorithms 
reproduce biases in our society?
2. Are libraries provide compelling enough services to be meaningful and 
reliable participants in public discourse?
3. When libraries connect their services to social networks (for example with a 
Facebook "Like" button) are they making user's the information environment 
better or worse?
4. With many users fearing a more authoritarian state, are libraries providing 
services that are safe from surveillance by commercial or government entities?


Eric Hellman
President, Free Ebook Foundation
Founder, Unglue.it https://unglue.it/
https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/
twitter: @gluejar

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