Communicating COVID: A Series of Panel Discussions Focusing on the Strategies, Struggles, and Stories around Communicating Reliable Information about COVID-19

Background: Misinformation about COVID-19 has paralleled the spread of the novel coronavirus. Misinformation spreads insidiously and leads to poor health outcomes. Similar to there being no cure for COVID-19, there remain no clear methods for combating misinformation. Never has the relationship between health literacy and media literacy been so visible or intertwined. What messages can we disseminate about COVID-19 when not everyone shares the same underlying beliefs about COVID?

An academic library’s consumer health librarian and multimedia and teaching librarian sought to create a series of panel discussions focusing on the strategies, struggles, and stories around communicating reliable information about COVID-19.

Description: The librarians identified and invited health communications experts and community health leaders to participate in two panel discussions. Group members solicited topics from the communities they serve and identified key discussion topics: COVID-19 overview, information overload; misinformation; communication with community members and diverse populations; vaccine safety; vaccine overview; vaccine eligibility and access; guidance after receiving the vaccine; vaccine hesitancy, and strategies to share reliable information.

Prior to the live event the panel discussion sessions were advertised via various channels. The live session was broadcast via YouTube Live in order to make it publicly available to all audiences. The open source program Open Broadcast Software (OBS) was used to connect Zoom to the YouTube platform, which also allowed for more creative flexibility for screen sharing. The librarians moderated the session and guided the discussion on COVID-19 communication.

Conclusion: We measured the number of live viewers for each panel discussion and the number of subsequent viewers for each panel discussion. The COVID-19 Library guide URL will also be shared with viewers (link provided). We collected statistics on the number of hits on the library's COVID-19 Library guide following the programs and will share statistics. Additionally, we will discuss the challenges and lessons learned in creating and conducting the Communicating COVID panel discussions.