Information Ethics for Librarians:
Mark
Alfino & Linda Pierce (see
Library Juice
<http://www.libr.org/Juice/issues/vol1/LJ_34.html>
number 18, for some questions on neutrality from this book)
Academic Librarian’s Human Resources Handbook:
David Baldwin
Although
my liberal arts undergraduate education and my graduate education have been
worlds apart, they do share one particular aspect – the complaining of fellow
students. Besides the usual ‘too
much’ reading, work, or thinking, here in the LIS school there is the
complaint of not enough preparation in the skills one will actually need for
work in a library. The School seems
to think the way to solve this is to offer classes in technical, specific
skills. But in light of the rapid
obsolescence of each new technical fad, this seems more than foolish - it seems
counterproductive. Whether the
students or faculty realize it or not, what is needed is for students to get a
grasp on the foundations of The Library and what it means to be a Librarian.
This includes the History, Ethics, and evolving identity that is our
Profession. I had a physics teacher
in high-school who used to tell our class: “I don’t care if I see you in ten
years and you have no idea that momentum equals mass times velocity, what you
are here to learn is how to think.” Needless
to say, I did remember that equation (the only one in-fact).
But the point is that specifics fade, a foundation will stay.
The old: ‘Give a man a fish, he eats for a day – teach him how to
fish, he never goes hungry.’
This all to say that Alfino and Pierce’s Information Ethics for
Librarians (IEL) and Baldwin’s Academic
Librarian’s Human Resources Handbook (HR)
should be cornerstones in that library foundation.
IEL is a slow, thick read,
which is good, because it needs to be digested that way.
The approach is to look at three main areas: The philosophical ethics of
information, the professional ethics of librarians, and organizational ethics.
With these in mind, ethics is examined in light of the historical roles
libraries have played: that of Educators, Uplifters of the Common Man, and as
Cultural Centers. Add to this
matrix, the issues of neutrality, censorship, and intellectual freedom.
Neutrality is one issue they take on throughout the book.
The Library in recent history (IEL
refers to revisionist writings showing that this amoral orientation is clearly
new) loves to claim it is neutral in all kinds of ways.
The reference librarian is neutral in providing information resources.
The collection development policy is value neutral.
Common sense says this cannot be true.
Everyone has biases and many of us prejudices.
How can an institution that is made up of individuals claim it is
neutral? Ridding ourselves of this
myth will free us. IEL makes sure to
inform the reader that neutrality is impossible because of the nature of
reality. This is not to say, however, that librarians should not strive towards
neutrality. Holding beliefs is one
thing, imposing those beliefs on others through the role as librarian is wrong.
As always, balance seems to be the key.
This is equally as true for collection development.
Although never completely value neutral, a good collection will balance
as many as possible views on a particular subject.
And a proactive librarian will be sure to point the patron towards the
whole spectrum of material and or resources.
Once you’ve come to terms with the continual process of being an moral
librarian, you’ll want to pick up Baldwin’s Human Resources Handbook.
Being a handbook, it does not necessarily have to be read straight
through - it would however be a good idea to do so once.
Then set it on your shelf for future reference.
Everything that an employer and employee should know about the laws
governing the relationship is within these pages.
Not only is HR well written and
clear, it provides bibliographies for further reading at the end of each
section, as well as a handy glossary of terms in the back.
A great book that every library worker should have!
Alexander Zimmerman copyleft 02000