Tallinn librarians will help you find reliable information

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a surge in fake news. Librarians can help you out

Have you, too, lost yourselves in the huge information flow, caused by COVID-19? Do you feel like you are hardly able to tell true from fake news? There is a solution for you – ask a librarian.

A new initiative was launched by the librarians at the Tallinn Central Library that aims to support citizens in finding valuable and credible information to everyday questions. Instead of calling emergency phones or even worse – getting information from non-verified sources, which is potentially dangerous, citizens are asked to contact the library service and sort their queries.

Separating facts from fiction

At critical times like this, when disinformation is omnipresent, confusing people and causing panic, it is of utmost importance to remain calm and make decisions based on logic and facts. And that is where librarians come in.

Librarians are not just people who advise you on your next favourite book. Rather, one of their key competences is the ability to find and evaluate relevant facts, among huge amounts of information.

Hence, you can ask Tallinn Central Library’s librarians about anything – from quarantine to traffic, travel, emergency situations. For everything that is not critical to survival and vital, you can basically contact them and sort it out.

Relieving the emergency lines

"Many questions can be answered quickly and efficiently by librarians using various information channels and portals, thus reducing the burden on frontline staff and the support networks”, says Kristina Rood, senior education specialist at Tallinn Central Library, quoted by the municipal portal.

So, why not give it a try? Questions are accepted from Tuesday to Friday from 10 am to 6 pm. What is more, they can be posed in three languages – in Estonian and English at tel. 683 0917, and in Russian at tel. 632 7463. 

You are also welcome to send queries by email at ls@tln.lib.ee or Skype by searching for „Tallinna Keskraamatukogu infoteenindus“ (for service in Estonian), „Tallinn Central Library“ for questions in English and „Tallinskaja Tsentralnaja Biblioteka“ for ones in Russian.