demonstrate awareness of the ethics, values, and foundational principles of one of the information professions, and discuss the importance of intellectual freedom within that profession.
1876 marked the beginning of the modern conception of the academic librarian. Before this, undergraduate university education was largely centered around rote memorization of classic texts, so additional materials were seldom needed for study. Priority for collections was low, so most collection growth was spurred by individual donations. This resulted in collections being too small for real academic value and containing books sometimes irrelevant to academic use. The librarians of the time generally took the position as a stopgap, recent graduates of the institution waiting to take their place in the professional world. Library use was further stifled by restrictive hours of access, sometimes below ten hours weekly, depending on the school (Budd, 2005, p. 20-21).
The year 1876 marked the founding of the American Library Association, the premier organization for the professionalization of librarianship. It also marked the founding of Johns Hopkins, a research university based on the ideals of the German university model. The model’s two central tenets—lehrfreiheit (the freedom to teach) and lernfreiheit (the freedom to learn)—promote individual freedom of inquiry (Budd, 2005, p. 23-24). This altered the direction of American higher education, and in doing so required an entirely different type of library at the figurative center of the institution.
While the conception of the modern librarian began in 1876, the foundational documents we use today to articulate our values were adopted in 1939. Both the ALA Code of Ethics and Library Bill of Rights were adopted this year, containing unambiguous statements about a librarian’s position on a variety of issues affecting the profession. The following are some of the ethics and values of the profession addressed in the most recent revisions of these documents.
Intellectual Freedom
Perhaps the overarching ethical concern for academic librarians is that of intellectual freedom. The Code of Ethics states that “we are members of a profession explicitly committed to intellectual freedom and the freedom of access to information. We have a special obligation to ensure the free flow of information and ideas to present and future generations” (para. 3). In the academic setting, advocating for intellectual freedom ensures the free flow of ideas, a concept vital to a healthy learning environment.
Service Equality
Librarians have long been committed to the ideal of equal service for all constituents. This includes service to users others, or even the librarians themselves, may find disagreeable. The prominence of this ideal can be noted as evident in the first principle of the Code of Ethics (“equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests”) and included in one form or another as part of all six policies of the Library Bill of Rights. A library providing service for only some of its constituents, or unequally doing so, is not promoting intellectual freedom but an agenda that does not have a place in the library.
User Privacy
As established in the Code of Ethics, the privacy of user records—of what they are borrowing and any other personal use information—is essential to maintain. Allowing these records to be accessed by any third party, such as government agencies or school administration, would run the risk of subjecting the user to undue hardship or retaliation. This would naturally discourage users from borrowing or using materials as desired, running counter to the library’s purpose of promoting intellectual freedom. The library is an organization committed to maintaining privacy and thus deserving of the public’s trust.
Professional Development
The field of librarianship, like so many others even tangentially connected to the business of information, is undergoing some rapid changes. Far from being resistant to change, the Code of Ethics insist librarians respond to the challenge “by maintaining and enhancing our own knowledge and skills, by encouraging the professional development of co-workers, and by fostering the aspirations of potential members of the profession” (Principle VIII). This response is essential for a viable and vibrant professional atmosphere, one that positions librarians at the center of campus information life.
Evidence
While the values and ethics of librarianship and other information science fields were evident in all of the classes I was a part of, I believe the following assignments best exemplify my understanding of the concepts.
LIBR 200: Information and Society—Article Critique
This article critique was a contrast of two articles that were both concerned with the future of librarianship, with one approaching the matter from a technological standpoint and the other from a philosophical, dialogic approach. The latter article, “Toward a Practical and Normative Ethics for Librarianship,” underscores the importance of professional dialogue regarding ethical issues; the former highlights the changes within librarianship brought about by technology and how these changes complicate ethical issues in the library. I approached the articles as complementary, one identifying ethical problems and the other arguing a way to approach those problems.
LIBR 200: Information and Society—Article Critique
LIBR 230: Issues in Academic Libraries—Paper 2
This paper documents the state of scholarly publishing and the burgeoning open access movement. The paper approaches librarian support of open access as an ethical issue, for the library and research at large. Part of this pertains to making research available to those who cannot afford the cost set by commercial publishing, limiting the ability to provide service equality.
LIBR 230: Issues in Academic Libraries—Paper 2
Conclusion
Intellectual freedom is the primary foundational value of the modern academic librarian. Once the scope of higher education changed and freedom of inquiry took hold, librarians developed their profession to facilitate that inquiry. Intellectual freedom is supported by librarians taking seriously the privacy concerns of its users and safeguarding the information entrusted to them. As an academic librarian I plan to support the ideals and values of the profession in my everyday work as well as advocating for changes that advance the cause of intellectual freedom. I also plan to remain active with the ALA, whose ability to advocate for these issues in forums affecting much larger domains than a single campus is indispensable.
References
Budd, J. M. (2005). The changing academic library: Operations, culture, environments. ACRL publications in librarianship. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries.
Life is information, information is life. 