Code of Ethics for Information Professionals in the Academic Library
by Renee Westphal
The purpose of this web site is to discuss the major principles that Academic Librarians should follow. Listed are standard ethical principles and the theories behind them. In some of the principles, I have given scenarios to clarify the underlying ethical reasoning. The Academic Library can serve a large population with varying needs. Some libraries serve the public, as well as the student and faculty of the University. In order for the Librarian to better serve their patrons, it is important that a code of ethics be followed to assure consistency and fairness to the community. Providing access to information and being a strong advocate of the profession is a key role of the librarian.
Table of Contents:
Censoring
The librarian needs to be an advocate supporting the library's role in preserving intellectual freedom. Talking to local libraries, schools, and elected officials at all levels of government. Staying current with the ever changing laws and to include the ALA guidelines on censoring as part of the libraries policy and mission statement.
The library collection should include a wide variety of topics and it should provide materials on both sides of the issues. On the issue of labeling areas of the library collection, the librarian needs to be careful of censoring the materials by the content of the biased label. If a label will organize materials in a way that would allow patrons to quickly access a particular topic, it must be kept unbiased. Labeling could save the patron the time of sorting through thousands of pieces of irrelevant information. The Rawlsian does not approve of censoring, but there are unbiased and straight forward ways of labeling or sorting information for the convenience of the patron. For example, the psychology section of the library could have the books labeled under broad categories that compliment the library of congress system. Such as a label that states Ken Wilber theorist, Ken Wilber critics, Ken Wilber Biography, or on the issue of abortion the section could be labeled “abortion” “abortion issues” “abortion critics”.. The important factor is that the label does not look like a sensor. Therefore, it must be factual and scientific rather than opinion. An improper label would be Pro-life and Pro-Abortion.
According to ALA, "Each year, between 500 and 600 challenges against library materials in public libraries, schools, and school libraries are reported to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. These challenges—defined as formal, written complaints filed with the institution (library, school, etc.) regarding the presence and/or appropriateness of specific material—only reflect incidents reported to the OIF. Judith F. Krug, OIF director, has noted that for each challenge reported, there may be as many as four or five that remain unreported. A wide array of materials are subject to attack; library displays and works of art displayed in libraries also have been targets.
In response to these challenges and attacks, OIF has developed the Intellectual Freedom Action Network (IFAN) . There is no fee to become an IFAN member; what is needed is your time: members are asked to act as “eyes” and “ears” for intellectual freedom."
Overall, librarians should encourage the patron to educate himself on how to evaluate the information he/she is choosing to read. If one hears gossip and decides to repeat it then one needs to consider the source in order to remain creditable. If a patron writes a paper with inaccurate information, then he hurts himself and his reputation or creditability and grade. Therefore it is in his best interest to know the sources and to present information that others will value. How much is the librarian going to do for the patron? How much should be done for the patron, disseminating if the information is accurate and learning how to do research is important for everyone. Even a child can begin to learn how to think critically. We must learn to place our own labels and make decisions for ourselves and debate the issues rather than be spoon fed information. In this regard, I believe that Nesta is right. The American Library Association has a web site titled What You Can Do to Oppose Censorship.
Censoring in Collection Development
Censorship occurs when expressive materials are removed or kept from public access. When librarians or community members eliminate materials from the collection to which they object. Some groups may succeed in pressuring schools not to use certain books or materials. These groups do not want the materials sold in video stores or published by publishers and they do not want art galleries to display them. Censorship can occur when materials are restricted to particular audiences, based on their age or other characteristics.
The librarian must be aware of the innocent nature of censoring. According to ALA, "In most instances, a censor is a sincerely concerned individual who believes that censorship can improve society, protect children, and restore what the censor sees as lost moral values. But under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, each of us has the right to read, view, listen to, and disseminate constitutionally protected ideas, even if a censor finds those ideas offensive."
A librarian in charge of collection development for an academic library may have strong personal and religious views against an issue such as abortion. She needs to provide a balanced and unbiased assortment of books for both pro-life and abortion issues for the patrons. The patrons include the public and the student body.
In the rights-based approach of Rawls, the people in the original position make choices for the society to form a social contract. Those in the original position will be compelled to be fair to everyone in order to be fair to themselves. The first principle is that each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of equal liberty for all. The second principle is social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both:
- to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged, consistent with the just savings principle
- attached to offices and
positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of
opportunity.
know what options are available, maybe needing to consider both the pros and cons of having the child. Access to information is considered primarily a good
thing for the society. In this case, the original position would consider the second principle and the book on abortion would be added to the library collection. The people may decide that the society is better off without content-based restrictions on books. The least advantaged person could also be a student who is not familiar with the issues of abortion and pro-life, so it would be to the person’s and society’s advantage to educate himself.
Consequentialism in Collection Development
Mill’s theory of Utilitarianism is a widely used form of consequentialism and he
would argue that any controversial material should be put on the shelf and allow
the readers to critic the contents. The first reason to add the title to the
collection would be to see how the title holds up to a variety of objections.
Readers will have their truths or convictions challenged and then they will find
truth. Mill would point out that even false theories have a little bit of truth
to them. He would argue that dead dogma is a cost to the society. Secondly, Mill
feels that not censoring information is better than censoring in order to learn
the truth. Truth will increase overall happiness. We can only
achieve our goals in a successful democracy then we do so by studying the truth.
He argues that people are fallible and in the course of censoring they will inevitably
censor out some truth and it will be lost for a period of time that could be
costly. The consequentialist goal is to maximize happiness or utility and the
actions would bring this about. Having the title in the library would promote
the maximum net expectable utility for everyone affected by the action.
| Privacy
Rights |
The responsibility of the librarian is to ethically facilitate, not monitor, access to information. According to the ALA's interpretation of the Bill of Rights, "this commitment is implemented locally through development, adoption, and adherence to privacy policies that are consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. Everyone (paid or unpaid) who provides governance, administration, or service in libraries has a responsibility to maintain an environment respectful and protective of the privacy of all users. Users have the responsibility to respect each others’ privacy." Anyone on the library staff who collects or accesses personally identifiable information in any format has a legal and ethical obligation to protect confidentiality. The American Library Association has a site on Privacy Rights.
| Intellectual
Freedom |
“Intellectual Freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored. Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas.” —
Our citizens must be informed, intellectual freedom is the basis for our democratic society. Our people are self governors and to do so responsibly, our citizenry must be able to access information to make well informed decisions. Libraries must be dedicated to providing the ideas and information, in a variety of formats, to allow people to inform themselves. Intellectual freedom is the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas.
| Library Bill of
Rights |
The Library Bill of Rights will be used by the Academic Librarian as a guideline. It is important to have a consistent set of ethical principles for the librarians to follow. Ultimately each institution will handle a particular situation in different ways according to the situation and the people involved, but the goal is that the principles will be followed by all libraries. The ethical principles give a structure to work within and not everyone is going to be happy about each circumstance. The key is that they will have a starting place to make their decisions.
The librarian should be an advocate for librarians and libraries knowing the issues and working to promote rights to information. The issue of access to information in my view it is a welfare right. A welfare right (or positive right) requires other people or institutions to take positive steps to satisfy those rights. Access to information is a welfare right. According to Rawlsian theory, people behind the veil of ignorance will need access to information. In order for a society to make informed decisions and understand the consequences of social policies, the people must have access to the information for a democratic society to function effectively. This is a basic right in order to facilitate the decision making process.
Our information professionals need to promote intellectual freedom for the welfare of our society. This includes the government agencies and the libraries collaborating to make the information accessible to everyone. And according to Mills, people need access to information and the diverse perspectives to understand a topic. The Library Bill of Rights promotes free and equal access to everyone regardless of age, level of education, or legal emancipation, or race. To accomplish the dissemination of so much information the access to information would have to be a welfare right in order to work effectively.
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American Library Association " is a nonprofit educational organization of 57,000 public, school, academic, and specialized librarians, library educators, library trustees, and friends of libraries dedicated to quality library and information services and promotion of the public's intellectual participation." The association provides guidelines for the librarian to base the library policy and mission statement. The association is a support group and network platform for the librarian to use. There are helpful guidelines and resources to promote the profession and to strengthen the mission of the library within each community. The advice and guidance from the association and it's members will provide co nsistency within libraries that will help members strengthen the crucial issues that are facing information resources and the right to equal access to information. Librarians must be active advocates for the libraries and the rights of our citizens and communities.
According to W. Lee Hisle, librarians are dedicated to maintaining the importance and relevance of the academic library as a place of intellectual stimulation and a center of activity on campus. It is essential that we emphasize information literacy instruction and the importance of the teaching role of librarians. We must find ways to promote the values, expertise, and leadership of the profession throughout the campus to ensure appreciation for the roles librarians do and can play. Though access to information is increasingly decentralized, and computer labs now compete with libraries as campus gathering points, librarians must demonstrate to the campus community that the library remains central to academic effort. Lee Hisle wrote an article titled "Top Issues Facing Academic Libraries; A Report of the Focus on the Future Task Force"
which address the issues facing academic libraries.
| Equal Access to Library
Use |
Patrons will not be denied access to materials on the basis of their age, race, gender, religion, culture, disabilities, economic status. If a patron refuses to act appropriately, then the librarian will be required to take action. For example if the safety of the other patrons was at stake then something needs to be done. The Rawlsian would agree that the patron should be denied access to the library. The Rawlsian would deny access only because the disruptive behavior is breaking the contract of the social system. Fair equality is being denied to the people who are in the library and a just society would not allow someone to harm others. Under the “veil of ignorance” a patron who is uncomfortable around the disruptive patron, may decide not to ever come back to the library. Therefore, this disruptive patron has limited others from using the library due to his presence and the Rawlsian would choose to ban the disruptive patron in order to make the majority of the patrons comfortable. Also, the least advantaged would benefit because they will have access to the information and not worry about their safety or being banned from the library unless they bothered other patrons.
Librarians need carefully consider the consequences of charging fees in libraries. In the scenario, an Academic Library offers its’ services to the public for a fee of $50.00 per semester. The users can access databases from home and have access to online encyclopedias, dictionaries, full-text databases and belong to a library discussion group and use the computer lab. The Rawlsian would be in favor of charging the fee, even though the access would not be available to people who could not afford to pay the fee. In the decision to charge for access, the “least advantaged” is not being made worse-off, they are being left in the same condition and that is acceptable to the Rawlsian. The Rawls theory states, that access to information is primarily good. The patrons who can afford access to the databases will benefit and the Rawlsian would approve of the decision.
On the other hand a Utilitarian wants to provide the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers. The idea would not appeal to the Utilitarian, if the program is limiting the use of the library's resources to the general public and the services are being accessed only by a few who can afford to pay the fee. Therefore, the overall happiness of the community is impaired. The costs and benefits would be evaluated by the utilitarian who would feel that the services are being limited by the majority of the population.