Trafficking Lies to Trailing Sources: Library and Information Science Interventions Against Organized Deception

This article examines the role of Library and Information Science (LIS) in counteringorganized deception through ethical information stewardship. Drawing on PauletteRothbauer’s framework of everyday information behavior and Benson GeorgeCooke’s concept of epigenomic ignorance, it argues that truth distortion—manifested through misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation—is notmerely a cognitive hazard but a structural enabler of trafficking, cartel violence,propaganda, and other organized harms. Using a taxonomy of information disorderand theological framing from Genesis and John 8:32, the piece positions LIS as amoral and public-health intervention. It outlines accountability practices—provenance tracing, contextualization, equitable access, and verification—asessential tools for disrupting epistemic violence and restoring communal agency.The article concludes that withholding information is not only a breach ofprofessional ethics, as codified in the ALA’s Bill of Rights, but a betrayal ofliberation itself. Truth-telling, in this context, becomes a ministry of repair.