Competency A
articulate the ethics, values and foundational principles of library and information professionals and their role in the promotion of intellectual freedom
A profession encompasses more than just a job to be performed. At its simplest, profession refers to an occupation or vocation for which a person has undergone extensive academic training equipping him or her with specialized knowledge of a field as well as formal qualifications. A profession also dictates adherence to a set of values and standards that serve as guidance for a professional's conduct and practice. In my opinion, it is precisely these set of values and the ethical motivations to practice them what makes one a professional.
As I have learned, librarians and information professionals also have a set of ethics to guide their work. They have been set forth in the Code of Ethics of the American Library Association (ALA) and The Society of American Archivists’ (SAA) Code of Ethics for Archivists. Though each organization has specific values they both have standards that revolve around a central core of values such as: upholding the good name of the profession, promoting equitable access to information, maintaining the right to privacy and confidentiality for all patrons, providing excellent service, being respectful of intellectual property and of other professionals, upholding intellectual freedom, not using the profession for personal gain, and continuing professional development.
One of the core values of the profession that I strongly identify with is the standard to provide the highest level of service to all patrons with the help of appropriate and useful organized resources. Granted, information professionals are the ones who gather, organize, and maintain information but we must do so in an effective and efficient manner in order to help users utilize all the resources that are available to them. An assignment that exemplifies my commitment to service is the pathfinder I created for a LIBR 210 (Reference & Information Services) assignment. This document aimed to gather a variety of print and
electronic resources about animal rights and welfare that would serve as ready reference for users to get educated about the animal rights movement in the United States. Although King's Library at SJSU has a vast amount of information on the subject sometimes patrons find doing research a difficult and time consuming process. By creating a document that already provides an organized and appropriate listing of resources on this research subject, I effectively made information readily accessible to the user. This pathfinder also constitutes an example of a value-added service; something that can be done in anticipation of users needs. Furthermore, what I learned in this exercise has carried over to my professional work where I find myself frequently conducting information research, whether about portfolio companies or personal computers, and organizing it in a way that is productive and easy to understand for my audience, who in my case are my supervisors.
In a final exam for LIBR 257 (Records Management), students were required to write a short essay on the ethical issues that records managers should be mindful of. As the professionals in charge of the creation, use, maintenance, and disposition of all the records that are generated within the functioning of an organization, records managers must be bound by a strict code of ethics. Besides maintaining efficient records and scrupulous recordkeeping, records managers are expected, legally and ethically, to maintain truthful and accurate records. In my essay (Part IV, page 8) I explored these issues and concluded that records managers must also be guided by their own personal system of moral principles and work ethics in their work. At the time I took this class, I was working for a construction management company. As managers of several ongoing projects, our office dealt with a massive amount of information that had to be carefully organized in order to serve the informational needs of our clients as well as our own easy retrieval and reference. The class was an eye opener in many fronts. A lawsuit about a piece of land where the company was planning to erect a building highlighted recordkeeping defficiencies when a simple blueprint of the terrain, merely a couple of years old, could not be located. It also emphasized the need to be accurate and truthful when several records surfaced that had been altered and archives as such after the closing of the project.
Having learned about the ethical issues of record management allowed me to apply these principles at work and ensure that information was being handled properly. This carried into my new position as an office manager at a venture capital firm. For example, I put in place new procedures and forms such as an employee confidentiality agreement that protects the company's proprietary information in the case of separation regardless of cause.
A final value of the profession that I cherish is the upholding of the principles of intellectual freedom. According to ALA's (2008) Intellectual Freedom and Censorhip Q & A guide, "intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas." For people to be able to exercise this basic democratic right, they must be well informed. This is accomplished with the help of information professionals and institutions such as libraries. I am inspired by the core values and ethics of the profession and aim to keep them present in my professional dealings. Further, I pledge to take my understanding of the core of ethics, enriched through my learnings in the MLIS program, to secure the people's right to free and equitable access to information without fear of censorship, consequences or retaliation by ensuring their right to privacy, and the honorable treatment of all patrons, professionals, and organizations.
As someone who was born and raised in Cuba, a tightly controlled society where information is heavily censored, I can unequivocally attest to the importance of the code of ethics set forth for library and information professionals. Not only do these principles serve as the focus and inspiration of our profession but they also ensure we respect the basic human right of intellectual freedom. My understanding and continuous enforcement of the elements of core of ethics will ensure that I provide the highest level of service to information seekers.
References
American Library Association. (2008). Code of Ethics. Retrieved August 28, 2008, from
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/codeofethics/codeethics.cfm
American Library Association. (2008). Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q & A. Retrieved August 28, 2008, from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/basics/intellectual.cfm
The Society of American Archivists. (2005). Code of Ethics for Archivists . Retrieved on August 28, 2008 from http://www.archivists.org/governance/handbook/app_ethics.asp
Evidentiary
LIBR 210 - Reference & Information Services - Animal Welfare & Animal Rights Pathfinder
LIBR 257 - Records Management - Record Managers and Ethical Issues (section IV, p. 8)