Library Ethics

The evolution of ethical standards for librarians parallels the development of librarianship as a profession. Our most important professional values have been tested and debated in the course of formulating and adopting our codes of ethics. This book includes historical precedents and current examples of ethical issues facing the profession. It looks broadly at the many arenas in which librarians face ethical choices, helping practitioners identify an ethical dilemma and providing guidance on how to respond, how to separate personal belief from professional responsibility, and how to make exceptions in a principled way. Where appropriate references are included to the codes of ethics of other professions: journalists, booksellers, and lawyers.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the information profession. The series IFLA Publications deals with many of the means through which libraries, information centres, and information professionals worldwide can formulate their goals, exert their influence as a group, protect their interests, and find solutions to global problems.

Ethics and Values in Librarianship: A History addresses the processes of development of library and information sciences, largely but not exclusively in a western context. It focuses on the field’s ethics and values. Here, Wallace Koehler, a leading researcher in the area of information ethics, debunks the prevailing notion that library and information science concepts and ethics have and remain constant. He demonstrates that in almost all areas of practice, this is simply not so. Instead of staying the same, our professional ethics and standards have evolved or shifted in their application as well as in the recognition of those standards by practitioners and users. Some of these changes are of very recent etiology. Topics covered include: · the freedom of expression, · intellectual freedom, · libraries and democracy, · intellectual property, copyright, and fair use and, · professional qualifications and credentialing. Koehler examines the development of and changes to library and information science through practice and the writings of library and information theorists and practitioners from Varro during the reign of Julius Caesar to the present. He documents technological and social changes that have had foundational implications for the information professions and argues that ethical standards may be redefined overtime and new standards may emerge, older precepts and newer ones coexist. Not only a history, this is also one of the few contemporary books suitable for use in foundational courses and courses covering information and library ethics.

A library must function with integrity in order to function well. This book looks at a broad range of library functions through the lens of integrity and ethics. This largely unexplored area of study is handled exceptionally well by the library and information professionals contained in these pages. This book addresses the ethical and integrity issues that may come up in the day to day workings of the library as well considerations for the ethical education of our future librarians. Within a framework based on the ethical issues that are attached with information management, this book examines the impact of the US Patriot Act, library authentication and access management, plagiarism and social networking. This material was published in the Journal of Library Administration.

Ethics and Values in Librarianship: A History examines the development of and changes to library and information science through practice and the writings of library and information theorists and practitioners from Varro during the reign of Julius Caesar to the present. It documents technological and social changes that have had foundational implications for the information professions. The author argues that ethical standards may be redefined over time and new standards may emerge, older precepts and newer ones coexist. He also demonstrates that while specific ethical standards never disappear, they are not static. They change both to specific application and in order of emphasis among other standards. For example, Sir Thomas Bodley prohibited the lending of books from the Oxford library to protect the collection from damage and theft. While this early notion of stewardship has given way to service, stewardship nonetheless remains a core principle of the profession. Topics covered include the freedom of expression; intellectual freedom; libraries and democracy; intellectual property, copyright, and fair use; and professional qualifications and credentialing. The book is not only a history, but also suitable for use in foundational courses as well as courses in information and library ethics.

Over the last few decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of papers and journal articles dealing with various ethical issues in librarianship, but only a few books. Information workers find themselves rendering new services and providing new kinds of information without much recourse to universally accepted ethical standards. This work is an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the subject. It promotes the view that as information managers, librarians must join with other professionals to renew a commitment to and interest in ethics. The book deals with such topics as ethics in general, the control of ideas, building collections, acquisitions and cataloging, access services, the reference function, special libraries, research and publication, and intellectual property and copyright. A chapter discusses why ethics matters.

Contains essays in which various library scholars examine ethics as they relate to issues of school librarianship, including collection development, library access, confidentiality, use of technology, intellectual freedom and property, administration, and professional relationships.

The information sector has changed. This refers to libraries worldwide where libraries are still quite frequently the only institution for information provision. Mobbing, corruption as well as racism may infl uence information services and the professionals working in this field. An ethical code of behavior shall fi ght against its influences.